Bill Text: NJ A4347 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires State Police to conduct criminal history record background check for taxicab driver applicants.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-05-07 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A4347 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A4347-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblyman JOSEPH A. LAGANA
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires State Police to conduct criminal history record background check for taxicab driver applicants.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning criminal history record background checks and amending R.S.48:16-3.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.48:16-3 is amended to reach as follows:
48:16-3. [No such consent] Municipal consent to operate along any street in a municipality pursuant to R.S.48:16-2 shall not become effective until the provisions of [subsections a. and b. of] this section have been satisfied[:] .
a. The owner of the autocab shall [have filed] file with the clerk of the municipality in which [such] operation is permitted, an insurance policy which shall be issued by an admitted insurance company duly licensed to transact business under the insurance laws of this State or a company registered to do business in the State, the policy providing for not less than $35,000 of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage or the amount of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage required pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1972, c.197 (C.39:6B-1), whichever is greater, to satisfy all claims for damages, by reason of bodily injury to, or the death of, any person or persons, resulting from, or on account of, an accident, by reason of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of [such] the autocab upon any public street; and to satisfy any claim for damages to property of any person or persons, resulting from, or on account of, an accident, by reason of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of [such] the autocab upon any public street.
Nothing contained in this subsection shall prohibit the owner of an autocab from obtaining any additional amount of motor vehicle liability insurance coverage from a company licensed outside the State of New Jersey.
The consent shall be effective and operation thereunder shall be permitted only so long as the insurance policy shall remain in force to the full and collectible amounts as aforesaid.
The insurance policy shall provide for the payment of any final judgment recovered by any person on account of the ownership, maintenance, or use of the autocab or any fault in respect thereto, and shall be for the benefit of every person suffering loss, damage, or injury as aforesaid[; and] .
b. Each operator or driver
of the autocab for which the owner thereof is seeking the consent to operate in
a municipality [has
submitted to the performance of a criminal history record background check] shall submit to the governing
body of the municipality the operator or driver's name, address, fingerprints,
and written consent for a criminal history record background check to be
performed by the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public
Safety or by agents appointed by, or under contract with, the division. The governing
body of the municipality 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. The
division shall inform the governing body of the municipality if the operator or
driver's criminal history record background check reveals a conviction for a
disqualifying crime provided in subsection c. of this section. The cost
for the criminal history record background check, including all costs of
administering and processing the criminal history record background check,
and any costs incurred by the municipality in implementing the provisions of
P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill),
shall be borne by the operator or driver of the autocab. As used in this
section, "criminal history record background check" means a determination of
whether a person has a criminal record by cross-referencing that person's name
and fingerprint data with those on file with the State Bureau of Identification
in the Division of State Police.
c. A person shall be disqualified from operating or driving an autocab if a criminal history record background check required pursuant to [this subsection] subsection b. of this section reveals a record of conviction of any of the following crimes:
(1) In New Jersey [or elsewhere] , any crime as follows: aggravated assault, arson, burglary, escape, extortion, criminal homicide, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault or endangering the welfare of a child pursuant to N.J.S.2C:24-4, whether or not armed with or having in his possession any weapon enumerated in subsection r. of N.J.S.2C:39-1, a crime pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.2C:39-3, N.J.S.2C:39-4, or N.J.S.2C:39-9, or other than a disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offense for the unlawful use, possession, or sale of a controlled dangerous substance as defined in N.J.S.2C:35-2.
(2) In any other state, territory, commonwealth, or other jurisdiction of the United States, or any country in the world, as a result of a conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, a crime which in that other jurisdiction or country is comparable to one of the crimes enumerated in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
If a person who has been convicted of one of the crimes enumerated in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection can produce a certificate of rehabilitation issued pursuant to N.J.S.2A:168A-8 or, if the criminal offense occurred outside New Jersey, an equivalent certificate from the jurisdiction where the criminal offense occurred, the criminal offense shall not disqualify the applicant from operating or driving an autocab.
d. The provisions of [this subsection] subsections b. and c. of this section shall not apply to an operator or driver of an autocab who has received the consent to operate in a municipality prior to the effective date of [P.L.2011, c.135 (C.48:16-2.1 et al.)] P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(cf: P.L.2011, c.135, s.5)
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that the criminal history record background checks required of autocab (taxicab) drivers and operators under current law be conducted by the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety (division). The governing body of the municipality consenting to the taxicab operation is authorized to exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the State Bureau of Identification in the division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consistent with applicable State and federal laws, rules, and regulations. The division is to inform the governing body of the municipality if the operator or driver's criminal history record background check reveals a conviction for a disqualifying crime. The crimes which would disqualify an operator or driver are not changed from the current law and are: aggravated assault; arson; burglary; escape; extortion; criminal homicide; kidnapping; robbery; aggravated sexual assault; sexual assault or endangering the welfare of a child; possession of a prohibited weapon or device; possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; the manufacture, transport, disposition, and defacement of weapons and dangerous instruments and appliances; or the unlawful use, possession, or sale of a controlled substance (except for disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offenses), unless the person can produce a certificate of rehabilitation or similar document.
Under current law, applicants to be limousine drivers are required to submit to being fingerprinted by and subjected to a criminal history record background check conducted by the division.
