Bill > A1025

Introduced Session

This bill requires persons who request a name change to undergo a criminal background check. The bill also prohibits applicants who have been convicted of violent crimes or domestic violence crimes from changing their names. Under the bill, when a person applies to the Superior Court for the authority to assume another name, the court is to request the State Police to conduct a criminal history record background check of the applicant. The State Police is to conduct the background check by cross-referencing the applicant's name and fingerprints with those on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identification Division and the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police. The bill prohibits a background check from being performed without the applicant's consent. Applicants would be required to assume the cost of the check. The bill also prohibits the court from authorizing an applicant who has been convicted of a violent crime or a domestic violence offense to assume another name, unless the applicant establishes that the request is for religious reasons. Violent crimes under the bill include but not limited to: murder; manslaughter; vehicular homicide; aggravated assault; disarming a law enforcement officer; kidnapping; sexual assault; robbery; carjacking; aggravated arson; burglary; extortion; terrorism; first degree racketeering; and firearms trafficking. Domestic violence offenses include homicide; assault; terroristic threats; kidnapping; criminal restraint; false imprisonment; sexual assault; criminal sexual contact; lewdness; criminal mischief; burglary; criminal trespass; harassment; stalking; criminal coercion; robbery; contempt of a domestic violence order that constitutes a crime or disorderly persons offense; any other crime involving risk of death or serious bodily injury to a person protected under the "Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 1991"; and cyber-harassment. The bill also requires the court to notify the victim, or a member of the victim's immediate family, when an applicant who has been convicted of a violent crime or domestic violence offense requests a name change.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Michele Matsikoudis (R)*,  Nancy Muñoz (R)*,  Bob Auth (R), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document