STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires municipalities which license canvassers, peddlers, and solicitors to accept background check results from other municipalities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning municipal licensing of canvassers, peddlers, and solicitors, and supplementing Title 53 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A municipality shall accept, for the purposes of licensing a person as a canvasser, peddler, or solicitor, the results of a criminal history record background check of State records indicating no disqualifying information which was required for that person to be licensed in another municipality as a canvasser, peddler, or solicitor.
b. For the purposes of this section:
"Canvasser" means any person, other than a peddler or solicitor, traveling by foot or vehicle of any kind, who distributes printed matter or any other thing from house to house or who calls in person upon the occupants of these houses seeking contributions or anything of value.
"Peddler" means any person traveling by vehicle of any kind, who conveys or transports goods, articles or property of any kind or description for the purpose of offering for sale, selling and delivering the same to customers, or offering to render immediate services of any kind or description; and shall include the words "hawker," "huckster" or "itinerant vendor."
"Solicitor" means any person traveling by foot or vehicle of any kind, who sells or offers to sell goods, articles or property of any kind or description by sample or otherwise for future delivery, or who offers to render services at some time in the future, with or without accepting payment or partial payment for the same.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would require municipalities to accept the results of a criminal history record background check of an applicant for a canvasser, peddler, or solicitor license which the applicant underwent to be licensed as such in another municipality.
Many municipalities require applicants for a canvasser, peddler, or solicitor license to provide their fingerprints so that a State criminal history record background check of the applicant can be conducted by the State Police. The fee for fingerprinting and conducting the check currently is $41. A background check that indicates the applicant has a criminal record may disqualify an applicant from being issued the license.
Often, an applicant seeks licensure in multiple towns as a canvasser, peddler, or solicitor. This bill is intended to avoid duplication and save these applicants time and money by eliminating the need for them to have their fingerprints taken and pay the fee more than once.