President Obama heads to Newark, where he will announce his new executive order this afternoon. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

President Barack Obama will announce an executive order this afternoon to ease the transition of former prisoners back into society, including a measure that will ban federal employers from asking job applicants about their criminal history early in the hiring process.

Washington D.C. and 13 states—including New Jersey, California, Illinois, Maryland, and more—already have the so-called “ban the box” laws on the books. The name refers to the box on a job application that forces individuals to disclose their criminal history. Advocates say that this causes many employers to weed out candidates who have committed crimes in the past, preventing them from moving forward in the hiring process.

All three Democratic candidates for president have supported “ban the box” policies on the campaign trail, as has Republican candidate Rand Paul, who has introduced legislation in the Senate with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker to seal criminal records for non-violent offenders.

Booker will be in attendance at the President’s announcement this afternoon in Newark, New Jersey, as well the city’s mayor, Ras Baraka.

The executive order includes other proposals to prevent discrimination based on criminal history, like helping former prisoners apply for public housing and better funding for legal aid programs.

You can watch a live-stream of the announcement here at 4:20 p.m.