ASSEMBLY, No. 1890

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 6, 1996

By Assemblywomen WEINBERG, BUONO, Friscia, Turner, Gill, Cruz-Perez and Quigley

An Act concerning the release of driver information and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. The Division of Motor Vehicles shall not distribute, sell or otherwise make available personal information in its driver's license or motor vehicle registration records pertaining to a person who has requested, in a form and manner as specified by the director in regulations, that this information be suppressed.

     The division shall prepare and distribute with applications for a driver's license or motor vehicle registration a form which may be used by the applicant to request the division to prohibit the release of any personal information pertaining to the applicant.

    b. Personal information, as used in this act, means information that identifies an individual, including the individual's photograph, social security number, driver identification number, name, address, telephone number or medical or disability information.

    c. The provisions of this act shall not apply to personal information provided:

    (1) to persons authorized by court order to receive personal information;

    (2) to federal, state or local governmental agencies for legitimate governmental or law enforcement purposes; and

    (3) when authorized by regulations adopted by the director, for credit transactions, the issuance or renewal of automobile insurance policies, consumer product recalls, the reporting or litigation of claims involving motor vehicles, and news reporting by a member of the news media who holds valid press credentials.

    d. The director may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this act, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).

    2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month

following enactment, except that subsection d. of section 1 shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    The purpose of this bill is to safeguard the confidentiality of motor vehicle records maintained by the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the Department of Transportation. It prohibits DMV from selling, distributing or otherwise making available personal information in its files upon the request of the subject of that information. DMV would be required to include a form in license and registration applications that would allow the applicant to prohibit the distribution of his personal information.

     Personal information is defined by the bill as information that identifies an individual, including the individual's photograph, social security number, driver identification number, name, address, telephone number or medical or disability information.

    DMV has recently indicated it is considering a plan to sell information from its files to commercial interests as a means of raising revenue. This bill would allow motorists who oppose this use of motor vehicle information a means to protect their privacy. The bill also would curtail the current DMV practice of providing the name and address of a motor vehicle owner to any person who submits the person's license plate number along with a fee of $8. This practice exposes motorists to risks posed by stalkers, would-be burglars and others with no legitimate right to this information.

    The bill would allow DMV to release personal information for certain legitimate uses, including law enforcement and other governmental purposes, credit transactions, automobile insurance purposes and motor vehicle recalls.

Permits motorist to suppress release of personal information by DMV.