ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5905

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 18, 2025

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5905.

      As amended, this bill requires a prosecutor or law enforcement officer to notify the State Parole Board (SPB) when a parolee is charged with violating a domestic violence restraining order.  The bill establishes procedures for reflecting a person’s status as a parolee in the domestic violence central registry and, as amended, requires the prosecutor or law enforcement agency to notify the SPB when a parolee is charged with a violation.

      Under current law, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is required to maintain a domestic violence central registry of any person who has had a domestic violence restraining order entered against them, who has been charged with a crime or offense involving domestic violence, and who has been charged with a violation of a court order involving domestic violence.  Current law does not, however, establish procedures for notifying the SPB when a parolee is charged with violating a domestic violence restraining order, or for notifying the AOC that a person on the registry is on parole or will be paroled.

      Under the bill, SPB is required to notify the AOC, and the AOC is required to update the registry, to reflect that a person in the registry is currently serving a term of parole supervision.  As amended, the bill requires the AOC, in consultation with the SPB, to develop a data sharing system within one year of the bill’s effective date. 

      To facilitate this notification process, the bill authorizes the SPB to access the registry to determine if a parolee is the subject of a domestic violence restraining order or has been charged with a violation of a domestic violence restraining order.  The SPB is required to notify the AOC when the term of parole supervision has terminated.  The SPB is also required to indicate in the parole report, which is required to be filed with the board panel prior to an inmate’s parole eligibility date, whether the person is the subject of a domestic violence restraining order.  Finally, as amended, if a restraining order is in effect, the bill authorizes the SPB to impose conditions of parole to conform to the terms of the restraining order.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

- Remove the requirement that the court notify the State Parole Board when a parolee is charged with violating a domestic violence restraining order;

- Clarify that a law enforcement officer investigating a violation of a restraining order may search both the domestic violence registry and State Parole Board information;

- Clarify that the State Parole Board is required to search the domestic violence registry and notify the Administrative Office of the Courts concerning persons already on parole;

- Clarify that the State Parole Board may impose conditions of parole to conform to the terms of a restraining order; and

- Require the Administrative Office of the Courts, in consultation with the State Parole Board, to develop and implement an appropriate data sharing system within one year of the bill’s effective date.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.