ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5426

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 10, 2025

      The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5426.

      As amended, this bill requires the State domestic violence public awareness campaign by the Division on Women in the Department of Children and Families, created pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:27D-43.36, to also include, subject to the availability of funds, information concerning the recognition of the indicators of coercive control.

      Under current law. indicators of coercive control by an abuser include, but are not limited to:

      (1) isolating a person from friends, relatives, transportation, medical care, or other source of support;

      (2) depriving a person of basic necessities;

      (3) monitoring a person’s movements, communications, daily behavior, finances, economic resources, or access to services;

      (4) compelling a person by force, threat, or intimidation, including, but not limited to, threats based on actual or suspected immigration status;

      (5) threatening to make or making baseless reports to the police, courts, the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) within the Department of Children and Families, the Board of Social Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or other parties;

      (6) threatening to harm or kill an individual’s relative or pet; and

      (7) threatening to deny or interfere with an individual’s child custody or parenting time, other than through enforcement of a valid custody arrangement or court order.

      Additionally, the bill expands the range of languages for the public awareness campaign beyond English and Spanish to include other languages that the Advisory Council on Domestic Violence may recommend, and requires the Director of the Division on Women to report annually on the activities of the campaign.  As amended, the bill further provides that outside funding from the federal government or private organizations accepted by the Director of the Division on Women for the campaign will not diminish any State funds appropriated to the campaign.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

- make the new requirement of information concerning coercive control be subject to available funds; and

- provide that the director’s acceptance of federal or private funds for the campaign will not diminish any State funds appropriated to the campaign.