TRENTON, N.J. — A bill that would have prohibited background checks from containing criminal records under expungement was blocked by Governor Phil Murphy today.
Gov. Phil Murphy has conditionally vetoed Assembly Bill No. 3881, a bipartisan measure aimed at preventing criminal records from appearing in background checks while expungement orders await processing. Instead, he has proposed revisions to codify ongoing reforms, citing concerns that the bill would slow down expungement processing.
Sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Union), the bill passed unanimously in the state Senate with bipartisan support. It sought to require the New Jersey State Police’s State Bureau of Identification (SBI) to omit records subject to pending expungement orders from background check reports. Murphy argued that manually reviewing over one million background check requests annually would divert resources from processing expungements.
“The disruption to the processing of expungement orders and the re-allocation of resources necessary to perform the tasks required by this bill would frustrate the very ends the bill seeks to achieve,” Murphy wrote in his veto message.
Murphy pointed to a recently settled lawsuit that had already led to reforms, including faster expungement processing and the creation of an online portal for applicants to track their status. His proposed changes would require the State Police to maintain the portal and submit annual reports on expungement processing times.
The conditional veto means the bill returns to the legislature for potential amendments.
Murphy’s veto sets up a debate over whether the governor’s alternative plan will satisfy lawmakers who had unanimously backed Quijano’s bill.
