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In November 2020, Governor Murphy signed Daniel’s Law, which amended the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and other statutes protecting personal information for certain persons in public service. Specifically, Daniel’s Law is designed to expand protections from public exposure for personal information about active and retired judges, law enforcement officers, and prosecutors, and their immediate family members. For purposes of Daniel’s Law, the following definitions apply: • “personal information” includes home address (primary and secondary residences), Social Security number, credit card number, unlisted telephone numbers, and driver’s license number. Although not expressly stated in the law, cell phone numbers generally would be considered to be unlisted because there is not a published directory of cell phone numbers like there is for residential home phone numbers. • “judge” includes all federal, state, county and municipal judges serving in any court or administrative agency, including, for example, the Office of Administrative Law, Workers’ Compensation Court, and other administrative judges. • “immediate family member” includes a spouse, child or parent of a covered individual, and any blood relative a covered individual or of a covered individual’s spouse, who lives in the same residence as the covered individual. Although not expressly stated in the law, spouse should be interpreted to include legally established civil union partners and domestic partners. • “law enforcement officer” is not defined within Daniel’s Law, but in numerous other N.J. statutes, is defined to mean a person whose public duties include the power to act as an officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and conviction of offenders against the laws of this State. Based on this definition, law enforcement officer would include police officers of any rank, constables, sheriff’s officers, State troopers, FBI agents, and similar positions.BecausethelawamendsOPRA,librariesmustensurethatbeforedisclosinganygovernmentrecordsinresponsetoanOPRArequest,thedocumentsarescreenedtoensurethatanypersonalinformationisredacted.Thismeansthatlibrariesshouldsurveytheirstaff,includingallemployeesandvolunteers,todetermineifanyofthempersonally,orifanyoftheirimmediatefamilymembers(asdefinedabove)isanactiveorretiredjudge,lawenforcementofficerorprosecutor,andthelibraryshouldkeeparecordofthestaffmemberswiththisaffiliation.Then,priortomakinganypublicdisclosureofanygovernmentrecordinresponsetoanOPRArequest,therequestedrecordsmustbereviewedtoensurethatifanythose“staff”membersarereferenced,nopersonalinformationisincludedin,oranyincludedisredactedfrom,therecords. Inadditiontolibrarystaff,theserestrictionsalsowouldapplytoanyLibraryuser,whoisanactiveorretiredjudge,lawenforcementofficerorprosecutor,andtotheimmediatefamilymembersofthoseusers.Fortunately,aslongasalibraryremainscompliantwiththestatutoryrequirementsformaintainingtheconfidentialityoflibraryrecordswithregardtoinformationaboutlibraryusers,thelibrarywouldnotneedtotakeanyfurtherprecautionstoavoidbeingatriskforviolatingDaniel’sLawwithregardtolibraryusers. InadditiontoOPRArequests,thesesamerestrictionsprohibitthepostingsuchpersonalinformationontheInternet.Thelawfurtherprovidesthatanyactiveorretiredjudges,lawenforcementofficersandprosecutors,wholearnthattheirpersonalinformationisavailableontheInternet,mayprovidewrittennoticetothepartywhichpostedit,orwhichisresponsibleforthesiteonwhichtheinformationappears,andrequestthatthepersonalinformationberemovedfromthesite.Anypartyreceivingsuchnotice,mustcomplywithin72hoursorriskcriminalandcivil liability. If you have any questions about Daniel’s Law and its applicabilityto your library, or about anyother aspect of library law, please contact Douglas S. Zucker, Esq. at [email protected], office 973–403–1100, or cell 973–919–7259.