Bill > A5365

This bill requires all New Jersey executive branch departments and their associated boards, commissions, and offices—collectively defined as State agencies—to black out or remove handwritten signatures from any documents they post online. Recognizing that cybercriminals can exploit authentic signatures found on public government websites for identity theft or forgery, the legislation mandates that agencies moving forward must protect these personal identifiers. Additionally, agencies must temporarily take down older documents published before this law takes effect if those files display handwritten signatures, though they are permitted to put those documents back online once the signatures are properly hidden. Importantly, this privacy measure does not block public transparency, as the archived or edited files remain fully accessible to citizens under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, a state law that guarantees public access to government records.