SENATE ECONOMIC GROWTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 168

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 11, 2025

      The Senate Economic Growth Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Joint Resolution No. 168.

      As amended and reported, this joint resolution recognizes the right to adequate food.  The right to adequate food includes, but is not limited to:

     (1)   the satisfaction of nutritional needs;

     (2)   food availability;

     (3)   physical access to food;

     (4)   economic access to food;

     (5)   the acceptability and cultural relevance of foods, considering the non-nutrition related values associated with food and food consumption, and the well-founded concerns of consumers about the nature of the foods available;

     (6)   sustainability;

     (7)   food sovereignty; and

     (8)   access to, and the availability and sanitation of, water for use by individuals for personal and domestic consumption and for the production of food in a sufficient, healthy, acceptable, and affordable manner.

     Pursuant to the joint resolution, the right to adequate food is not to be construed as providing the basis for, or subject to, a private right of action for violations of the resolution or any other law.

     The joint resolution also encourages State, county, and municipal entities to take certain actions outlined in the joint resolution.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Senate Joint Resolution No. 168 is identical to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 229, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the joint resolution to: (1) clarify that the defined term “access” includes prohibitions upon infringing on the intellectual property rights under the federal “Plant Variety Protection Act”; (2) clarify that no individual is permitted to sell, trade, or allow reproduction of trademarked or patented seeds for commercial purposes in a manner that would infringe or otherwise violate the rights of the original rightsholder; and (3) make technical corrections.