LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
ASSEMBLY, No. 1408
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
DATED: OCTOBER 22, 2026
SUMMARY
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Synopsis: |
Broadens public awareness signage to include notices in Chinese and Korean. |
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Type of Impact: |
One-time State cost increase. |
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Agencies Affected: |
Department of Law and Public Safety. |
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Office of Legislative Services Estimate |
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Fiscal Impact |
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One-time State Cost Increase |
Indeterminate |
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· The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concludes that this bill will result in a one-time, indeterminate State cost increase for the Department of Law and Public Safety to provide the required translations for the updated human trafficking public awareness signs.
· One provider of translation services that serves State government entities informed the OLS that it charged $0.15 per word to translate documents into Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean. Document translations also incur an additional cost of $39.50 per hour for desktop publishing.
· The website for the Department of Law and Public Safety provides business owners and other establishments with a downloadable sign that can be printed and displayed on their premises to be compliant with current law. The OLS does not anticipate the department having any additional costs to print and distribute the signage in Chinese and Korean. However, some costs may be incurred to update the department’s website to provide links to the signs in the new languages.
BILL DESCRIPTION
This bill broadens the public awareness signs containing the national, 24-hour hotline information about human trafficking to include translations in Chinese and Korean. This bill is in response to the Commission of Investigation report released on October 17, 2024, entitled “An Inquiry into Human Trafficking Activity in the Massage and Bodywork Therapy Industry in New Jersey.”
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS concludes that this bill will result in a one-time, indeterminate State cost increase for the Department of Law and Public Safety to provide the required translations for the updated human trafficking public awareness signs. One provider of translation services that serves State government entities informed the OLS that it charged $0.15 per word to translate documents into Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean. Document translations also incur an additional cost of $39.50 per hour for desktop publishing. The OLS cannot deduce how the State’s Language Access Law will impact the department’s costs under this bill, if at all. Detailed below are the printable signs, in English and Spanish, currently available on the department’s website showing both the national, 24-hour toll-free hotline telephone service on human trafficking as well as the State’s hotline.
The website for the Department of Law and Public Safety provides business owners and other establishments with a downloadable sign that can be printed and displayed on their premises to be compliant with current law. The OLS does not anticipate the department having any additional costs to print and distribute the signage in Chinese and Korean. However, some costs may be incurred to update the department’s website to provide links to the signs in the new languages.
Human Trafficking Background - Human trafficking is the second-largest criminal industry in the world and is prevalent in every state in the United States. New Jersey is considered particularly vulnerable to the proliferation of human trafficking due to its dense population and location along the I-95 corridor. In 2025, there were 528 reported cases to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in New Jersey. There were 295 cases identified in 2023, and 352 victims were involved in these cases.
During a 2022 Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee meeting, a representative from the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence indicated that women are the most likely to be sex trafficked, accounting for 94 percent of cases. Of those cases, 40 percent were Black, and 24 percent were Latina. During the same meeting, a representative from the Department of Law and Public Safety indicated that roughly 100 human trafficking cases had been prosecuted in New Jersey from 2017 to 2022.
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Section: |
Law and Public Safety |
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Analyst: |
Lead Fiscal Analyst |
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Approved: |
Thomas Koenig Legislative Budget and Finance Officer |
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).