The Fanwood Borough Council, at its monthly agenda/work session on Monday, February 6th, passed a resolution appointing a Redaction Officer to comply with Daniel’s Law, a 2020 measure signed by Governor Phil Murphy that allows public officials to have their home addresses and other personal information removed from public government records.

Daniel’s Law was enacted in response to the murder of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas and Mark Anderl. The crime occurred at the judge’s home in July of 2020. The law prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of certain persons covered by the law on websites controlled by state, county, and local government agencies. Those covered included former, active, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and members of law enforcement and their immediate family members residing in the same household.

The law requires each municipality to appoint a Redaction Officer who will be the point person in submitting names of covered individuals to a central clearing house which will then carry out the removal of addresses and other personal information from public records. Under the law, the town clerk assumes the responsibility of Redaction Officer. In Fanwood, that’s Kathleen Holmes.

The law calls for the Redaction Officer to receive training, then sign-on to an online portal to begin the process. The details of the law are below.

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Daniel’s Law (P.L. 2021, c. 371)

Daniel’s Law was enacted in response to the tragic death of Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas and Mark Anderl. The law prohibits disclosure of the residential addresses of certain persons covered by the law (“Covered Persons”) on websites controlled by state, county, and local government agencies. The community of Covered Persons includes former, active, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and members of law enforcement and their immediate family members residing in the same household.

On November 20, 2020, Governor Murphy signed Daniel’s Law (P.L. 2020, c.125) into law, which prohibits the disclosure of certain personal information of judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and their family members. The information provided below is for use by individuals protected by the new law.

Daniel’s Law continues to evolve to address concerns across the State of the prohibition of the disclosure of active, formerly active, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers’ home address. To address challenges in implementing the law, legislation (A-6171/S4219) was introduced on December 2, 2021 and is fast-tracked. The law as written, took effect December 10, 2021.

Governor Murphy recently signed P.L.2021, c.371, which created the Office of Information Privacy (OIP) in the Department of Community Affairs to facilitate the State’s implementation of Daniel’s Law. The OIP has developed the rules, policies, and procedures that authorized persons use when they request the redaction of these residences from State, county, and municipal agencies’ websites and records. These guidelines also inform those agencies of the steps they need to follow when a redaction request has been approved by the OIP.

The portal is the landing place for all authorized persons and public agencies to initiate and achieve compliance with Daniel’s Law. Currently the law establishes January 13, 2023 as the official date of compliance.

The OIP has launched their portal that manages all requests related to Daniel’s Law. The Portal’s website is https://danielslaw.nj.gov/Default.aspx