Bill Text: NJ A3480 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires prospective volunteer firefighters to undergo criminal history record background checks.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-08 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A3480 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A3480-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires prospective volunteer firefighters to undergo criminal history record background checks.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning background checks for volunteer firefighters and supplementing Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
a. "Criminal history record background check" means a determination of whether a person has a criminal record by cross-referencing that person's name or fingerprints with those on file with the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identification Division.
b. "Disqualifying crime or offense" means arson and related offenses as set forth in N.J.S.2C:17-1 et seq. and any criminal offense involving moral turpitude.
2. a. The governing body of a municipality or the board of commissioners of a fire district maintaining a volunteer fire department shall require an applicant to undergo a criminal history record background check upon application to be a volunteer firefighter in that municipality or fire district. For the purposes of this section, each applicant shall submit to the appointing body of the municipality or fire district the applicant's name, address, fingerprints and written consent for a criminal history record background check to be performed. The appointing body of the municipality or fire district is authorized to exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistent with applicable State and federal laws, rules, and regulations.
b. An applicant shall be ineligible to serve if the applicant's criminal history record background check conducted pursuant to subsection a. of this section reveals a record of conviction of a disqualifying crime or offense. An applicant shall be ineligible to serve for a period of ten years from the date of conviction if the background check reveals a conviction for a violation of N.J.S.2C:33-3, in accordance with subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1985, c.323 (C.15:8-1.1).
3. This act shall take
effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of
enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires prospective volunteer firefighters to undergo a criminal history record background check as part of the application process to become a volunteer firefighter.
The bill provides that the governing body of a municipality or the board of commissioners of a fire district maintaining a volunteer fire department would be required to ensure that an applicant undergo a criminal history record background check upon application to be a volunteer firefighter. Specifically, the applicant would be required to submit to the appointing body of the municipality or fire district the applicant's name, address, fingerprints, and written consent for a criminal history record background check to be performed.
Under the bill, the appointing body of the municipality or fire district would be authorized to exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistent with applicable State and federal laws, rules, and regulations.
The bill provides that an applicant would be ineligible to serve if the applicant's criminal history record background check reveals a record of conviction for a disqualifying crime or offense. The bill defines a "disqualifying crime or offense" as arson and related offenses, and any criminal offense involving moral turpitude. The bill also provides that if the background check reveals a conviction for raising false public alarm, the applicant would be ineligible to serve for a period of ten years following the date of conviction.
Current law requires members of paid fire departments to undergo a criminal history record background check, and it is the sponsor's intent that this bill will protect members of the public by requiring that all persons seeking to serve in the role of firefighter be screened appropriately before acceptance to a position of public trust.
