'Fair Play Act,' Civil Immunity for Emergency Responders, Justice Reform Highlight Trenton Voting Sessions
From civil immunity to civil rights, each chamber also gave a moment of silence to honor the late John Lewis.
July 30, 2020 at 10:21 PM
7 minute read
Fairness and equity were largely the themes in the Legislature's dual-house voting sessions on Thursday.
Several bills that sailed through both chambers included ones helping collegiate athletes get paid, preventing first responders who use forced entry from being sued, allowing inmates who served their time adjust back to society, and reforming police to be more sensitive, diverse and transparent in response to a national outcry for racial and criminal justice reforms.
A-2106/S-971, known as the New Jersey Fair Play Act, which allows student-athletes to earn compensation from the use of their name, image or likeness, and also obtain professional representation, including by attorneys and agents, without impacting their scholarship eligibility, cleared another legislative hurdle and appears bound for passage. On Thursday the bill was approved on a third reading by a vote of 56-15 with two abstentions in the Assembly.
A-2106 was first introduced Jan. 14 and approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee by a 4-2 vote on March 5.
The measure now heads to Gov. Phil Murphy's desk for signature since the Senate version, S-971, passed on Feb. 10 by a 21-11 vote.
Likewise, A-306, which provides paid and volunteer first responders civil immunity from lawsuits over breaking into homes under emergency situations or answering an alarm to save those in distress, passed the Assembly by a vote of 72-1 with one abstention.
A-306 is sponsored by Joe Danielsen, D-Middlesex, Vince Mazzeo, D-Atlantic, and Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex, in the Assembly.
Danielsen said in a release following the bill's vote out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Feb. 13 that the measure "is designed to ensure that no one in need of emergency assistance goes without care because they cannot physically or verbally grant entry into their property."
From civil immunity to civil rights, each chamber also gave a moment of silence to honor the late John Lewis, the longtime Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who passed away on July 17 from cancer at age 80.
The New Jersey Legislature honored Lewis and his contributions to racial justice on the same day that former President Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, eulogized Lewis at his memorial service in Atlanta. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also paid homage.
Lewis was almost beaten to death by state troopers during a civil rights march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 15, 1965. The clash, which became known as "Bloody Sunday," helped to inspire passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act two months later that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
In Trenton, several senators and members of the Assembly took to the floor separately and spoke glowingly of how Lewis impacted history for Black Americans.
Sen. Joe Cryan, D-Union, introduced a resolution for the state of Alabama to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Lewis' honor. The resolution, SR-79, received overwhelming support in a voice vote on Thursday.
But another figure is also forcing major change: George Floyd.
With mass protests for racial justice still reverberating across the country in response to the death of Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day, the New Jersey Legislature has taken an active role all summer in making criminal justice reform a priority.
During its 2 p.m. voting session, the Senate approved a police reform package consisting of a half-dozen bills aimed at ending brutality and rooting out racist practices among police, and addressing other issues in criminal justice. The bills cleared the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee earlier in the week.
The measures are:
• S-401: Would require law enforcement agencies in the state to establish minority recruitment and selection programs. It passed the Senate by a 39-1 vote.
• S-415: Would require the Division of Parole to offer parole services to certain defendants who have served their maximum sentence. Currently, parole services are only offered to those released on parole. The bill passed 32-6 in the Senate.
• S-419/A-3641: Would require law enforcement agencies to provide law enforcement officers with cultural diversity training and develop a diversity action plan. The bill was released from the Senate 39-0.
• S-2635/S-2578: Would include false incrimination and filing false police reports as a form of bias intimidation. It would also establish making false 9-1-1 calls with the purpose to intimidate or harass based on race or other protected class a crime. The bills were released from the Senate by a 40-0 vote.
• S-2638/A-1076: Would require the state attorney general to collect, record and report certain prosecutorial and criminal justice data. The Senate passed the bill by a 40-0 vote.
• S-2689/A-3641: Would require the Department of Law and Public Safety to incorporate implicit bias in cultural diversity training materials for law enforcement officers, and make cultural diversity and implicit bias training mandatory for all law enforcement officers. The Senate voted it out 39-0 on Thursday.
In addition, the Senate and Assembly approved S-19/A-4315 to make Juneteenth, or June 19, a state and public holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
The bill passed the Assembly earlier in the day 62-0 with a dozen abstentions, and was later substituted by S-19, which passed the Senate by a 35-3 vote.
"Juneteenth marks a day of freedom for Black Americans and an opportunity to honor the history and contributions of African Americans," Senate President Steven Sweeney, D-Gloucester, one of the prime sponsors, said in a statement.
"This takes on greater significance as the entire country is confronting the racism and inequality that is the bitter legacy of slavery," added Sweeney. "We can use June 19th and the days that follow to undo past harms and renew our commitment to justice and equality for all."
The lower house considered more than six dozen bills during its two-hour voting session that began at noon. Among them was A-4366, which would provide police with mental health training programs. The bill passed 75-0.
Several others also were passed.
A-4369/S-2586, which implements sentencing recommendations of the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition, passed 52-19 with three abstentions.
A-4370/S-2593, which would allow the Administrative Office of the Courts to retroactively rescind or modify mandatory terms of parole ineligibility for certain offenses, passed 51-21 with two abstentions.
A-4371/S-2595, which requires a cost-savings study of compassionate release programs and elimination of mandatory minimum terms, and establishes Corrections Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention Fund, passed 75-0.
A-2370/S-2594, which establishes a compassionate release program for certain inmates and repeals the law that establishes medical parole, passed the Assembly 68-2 with four abstentions.
And A-4373/S-2592, which establishes "youthful age of defendant" as a mitigating factor in sentencing, passed the Assembly 70-3 with six not voting and one abstention.
"For far too long we have seen the spark of action after a police killing die down before meaningful change occurs, but not anymore," said Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, prime sponsor of many of the police reform bills after the package cleared the upper chamber.
On June 8 Turner also introduced a measure to classify the use of chokeholds by law enforcement officers as deadly force. "There is still much work to be done but I am confident we will get this legislation, and more, across the finish line this session," said Turner.
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