New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that would establish and maintain an online portal to allow petitioners to obtain the status of their expungement orders. A3881 (Quijano)/S2513 (Stack) was introduced in response to concerns that expungement orders were taking too long for the New Jersey State Police’s State Bureau of Identification (SBI) to process, causing backlogs and ensuing issues for those seeking expungements. The New Jersey State Bar Association supported the bill.
“Timely expungements are crucial for individuals who have made earnest efforts to reintegrate into society when applying for jobs, housing and other opportunities that require criminal background histories,” NJSBA President William H. Mergner, Jr. said. “This new law furthers the goal of rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.”
In its original form, A3881/S2513 required SBI to respond to inquiries for criminal history record background information by verifying whether the person whose background information is sought has been granted an order of expungement, but had not yet been processed. In these cases, the bill prohibited the dissemination of any information related to the expungement. The bill emanates from concerns that SBI was facing an increasing backlog of expungement orders due to significant overhauls in New Jersey’s expungement laws that made hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents eligible for expungements. The backlog compelled the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) to file a class action lawsuit to compel the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) to timely process court orders.
Following OPD’s lawsuit, the parties of the lawsuit entered into interim settlement agreements to require the NJSP to report quarterly on its progress in processing expungement orders. Just last month, OPD entered into an agreement with the Attorney General and NJSP to settle the lawsuit. As a result, the bill was conditionally vetoed by the governor as moot following the agreement. Acknowledging this, the conditional veto codifies terms of the settlement including proposed timeframes under which SBI will resolve the backlog and process future orders, and requiring an online portal be maintained by the NJSP “where expungement applicants can review the status of the processing of their expungement orders.”
“Expungements are intended to provide people with a second chance, leading to the ability to obtain access to housing, employment, educational opportunities and more,” said the bill’s Assembly sponsor, Annette Quijano. “Now, thanks to this law, individuals whose criminal histories are updated will be able to see the status of their expungement order.”
NJSBA Opposes Fixed Timelines for PERC Unfair Practice Proceedings
The NJSBA urged the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission’s (PERC) to reject a proposal to fix a 60-day complaint issuance deadline on all unfair practice proceedings, responding to PERC’s Notice of Action on Petition for Rulemaking. PERC’s notice followed a request from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) to implement this rule, which PERC declined. PERC then sought comments on the issue.
“Imposing such a deadline on all unfair practice complaints could hinder the negotiation process that often leads to a resolution of a majority of unfair practice charges,” NJSBA President William H. Mergner, Jr. said. “PERC has the authority, which it typically exercises, to direct parties involved in these charges to negotiate.” The NJSBA noted that this allows flexibility in the handling of these matters to accommodate the complexity of each case.
“It is the experience of our member practitioners that PERC’s agents strike a good balance between pushing a matter through the dispute resolution process or pacing it more slowly based on the course of discussion or mediation,” Mergner said.