ASSEMBLY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY, No. 3497

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 23, 2026

      The Assembly State and Local Government Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3497 ACS.

      As amended and reported, this bill establishes the “Forbidding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent (FAIR) Act.” 

      Specifically, the bill makes it unlawful under the “New Jersey Antitrust Act” for:

(1)    a rental property owner, or any agent, representative, or subcontractor thereof, to receive, subscribe to, contract for, or otherwise exchange any form of consideration in return for the use of, the services of a coordinator;

(2)    a coordinator to facilitate a tacit or express agreement among rental property owners that restricts competition with respect to residential dwelling units, including by performing a coordinating function; 

(3)    two or more persons to engage in parallel pricing coordination;

(4)    any agent or representative of a coordinator or subcontractor thereof to engage in parallel pricing coordination; or

(5)    any person to perform a coordinating function.

      The bill defines “coordinator” to mean any person who operates algorithmic revenue management software or an algorithmic device that performs a coordinating function for any rental property owner, including a rental property owner performing a coordinating function for their own benefit. “Coordinator” excludes a government entity setting or limiting rents or sale prices of residential property through affordability controls in accordance with law.  “Algorithmic device” is defined in the bill to mean a device that uses one or more algorithms to process or otherwise perform calculations of data, including, but not limited to, data concerning rental prices, material lease terms, or occupancy levels.  It does not include: (1) a spreadsheet that (a) operates without artificial intelligence and (b) requires human analysis to process or otherwise perform calculations of data; or (2) a database that only uses an algorithm to query unprocessed data stored on or within that database.  Additionally, “rental property owner” is defined to mean a person that owns, directly or indirectly, one or more rental residential dwelling units.  Any person that holds a controlling interest in an entity that owns a rental residential dwelling unit is to be deemed to constitute a single rental property owner with that entity.

  Additionally, the bill states that its provisions:

      (1)  do not limit the application of authorization under current law to investigate antitrust violations or alleged violations; and

      (2)  do not authorize or permit conduct already illegal under current antitrust law.

      A municipality is also prohibited from enacting an ordinance that conflicts with the bill.

      Lastly, the Attorney General is charged with establishing, on the official website of the Department of Law and Public Safety, a location to receive complaints alleging any violation or suspected violation of the bill.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  add definitions for “algorithmic device” and “rental property owner”; 

      (2)  modify the definition of “coordinator” to mean any person who operates algorithmic revenue management software or an algorithmic device that performs a coordinating function for any rental property owner, including a rental property owner performing a coordinating function for their own benefit; and

      (3)  specify that any facilitation of parallel price coordination, under the bill, is to constitute a violation of the “New Jersey Antitrust Act,” P.L.1970, c.73 (C.56:9-1 et seq.).