The passage of Daniel's Law – the law that protects the private information of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement – is set to go live on Jan. 12, 2023.
Christine Campbell, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Office of Information Privacy (OIP)spoke at the New Jersey League of Municipalities in one of many public information sessions held during the convention in Atlantic City last week to explain the new portal designed to keep track of the redaction process. The New Jersey State Bar Association strongly supported protections for judges at both the state and federal levels following the tragic death of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas' son, Daniel Anderl, after an attack targeting Judge Salas at their home which also critically injured her husband, Mark.
"New Jersey is the first to implement such a program" said Campbell, who said that she already received a call from Illinois officials about the portal following an incident in that state. She acknowledged that the newly implemented program will need to be updated.
The portal went live in July where those protected under the statute may make a request for redactions. But by January each public entity must have a designated redactor who must redact information within 30 days of the posting of an approved request for redaction.
The two-step process is not perfect, said Campbell, who described this as the first phases of a multiphase process to capture those public-facing records that may contain the private information.
Under the statue, a covered person includes both state and federal judges – active, formerly active or retired – law enforcement officers, or prosecutors, as well as any immediate family member living in the same household as one of these individuals. The covered person is required to submit the request to the OIP for redaction, which must then be approved by the office. Upon approval, the public entity has 30 days to redact this information from all of their public-facing websites. There are already approximately 4,300 requests for redactions that have been approved, said Campbell.
Officials have already identified some issues that will need to be addressed. Campbell and spokespeople from the software vendor that created the portal answered questions from designated redactors about the process. Many of the redactors, already designated as the Open Public Records Act designee, expressed concerns about inadvertent disclosures due to conflicting statutes that expressly prohibit redactions on certain forms.
Covered entities are urged to reach out to OIP because it will ensure that the redactions take place at all levels of public disclosure – state, county and municipal.
A pending bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would offer a different level of protection to federal judges nationally including expanded funding. The NJSBA continues to monitor the movement of this bill after urging each state bar association to write their local representatives to urge its passage.