Bill Text: NJ A2234 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Increases protections for domestic violence victims as part of driver's license application or renewal.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-01 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Women and Children Committee [A2234 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A2234-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Increases protections for domestic violence victims as part of driver's license application or renewal.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning voter registration and amending P.L.1994, c.182.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 23 of P.L.1994, c.182 (C.39:3-10m) is amended to read as follows:
23. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, each in-person applicant for a State motor vehicle driver's license [application] or non-driver identification card, including any new application [for a renewal thereof, submitted to] , renewal, or change of address, appearing before an agent of the [Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety] New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall be offered an opportunity to register to vote or update the applicant's voter registration information on an electronic signature pad system.
b. The commission shall include on the electronic signature pad system a notification to applicants who are subject to section 1 of P.L.1994, c.148 (C.19:31-3.2) that they may register to vote or update their voter registration information without disclosing their street address, and shall direct the applicants to the appropriate agency in order to do so.
(cf: P.L.1994, c.182, s.23)
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment, but the chief administrator may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to offer a person an opportunity to update her or his voter registration information on the commission's electronic signature pad system, and provides increased protections for domestic violence victims.
Under current law, each applicant for a driver's license is offered by the MVC an opportunity to simultaneously register to vote. The bill provides that the MVC would be required to include on the electronic signature pad system a notification to any applicant who is a victim of domestic violence or stalking, and is authorized by law to withhold disclosure of her or his street address when registering to vote, that the applicant may register to vote or update voter registration information without disclosing a street address. The MVC would also be required to direct the applicants to the appropriate agency in order to register or update the information.
This bill would ensure that the MVC's automated system provides greater protection for victims of domestic violence and stalking by notifying them that they may register to vote or update their voter registration information without disclosing their street address, as recommended by the Governor in 2016.
