Safe At Home Compliance

Safe At Home Compliance

Safe at Home program participants use the substitute address when interacting with state and local government agencies. When presented a Safe At Home ID card, state and local government agencies must accept the substitute address as the participant's address when creating a public record. The substitute address may be used in place of the participant's home, work, school, or mailing address. Generally, agencies cannot require the participant to disclose her or his real address. However, some agencies may have a need to know your physical address.  If they have been granted a bona fide exemption from the Secretary of State's Office, they may require a physical address. The agencies are strictly prohibited from publicly sharing the address information.

Under O.C.G.A. §50-18-155, the Secretary of State’s Office has granted the following agencies a bona fide need exemption for a participant’s confidential address.
 
In effect, this means the following agencies can collect and record a physical address for a Safe at Home enrollee, but only for the purpose specified here; and such information cannot be made publicly available, be subject to Open Records Requests, or disclosed to a third party, including another government organization. 
 
School Districts:
  • For the purpose of determining residency in the district
  • Establishing bus service to Safe at Home enrollees​
Department of Revenue:
  • ​Tax purposes
Georgia Department of Driver Services:
  • For issuance of driver's licenses​
  • Police data sharing when necessary 
Secretary of State's office
  • Enroll Safe at Home participants
  • Creation or maintenance of new business
All municipal and county utility providers
Any State or Local government employing a Safe at Home enrollee.  

Agencies

Safe at Home laws require state and local​ government agencies to accept a Safe at Home participant's substitute address when presented with a current Safe at Home ID card. Please contact Safe at Home with any questions about the requirements and agency compliance at [email protected], or 404-656-2881

The Department of Human Services may ask for your physical address to verify you receive the proper services. They are required to use the substitute address when processing applications and for all correspondence.

School districts may have the participant’s physical address to determine eligibility of enrollment and to establish bus service but are required to use the substitute address on all public records. 

The Secretary of State's Office serves as the participant's legal agent for service of process. Staff can accept service on behalf of the program participant with any process, notice, or demand. Service can be accepted by mail or in-person but must include the participant's name and substitute address.

Real estate holdings are exempt from the program. If a participant purchases real estate, the address will be publicly available. 

Law enforcement agencies are not excluded from accepting a participant's substitute address. The substitute address must be used as the participant's home, work, or school address on new records created by a law enforcement agency. Those include incident reports, citations, witness statements, or arrest reports.

Safe At Home Contact Information

Contact

Address

214 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Phone

404-656-2881

Service Hours

Mon - Fri 8:00am - 4:00pm