Sponsored by:
Assemblyman AL ABDELAZIZ
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman KENYATTA STEWART
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Speight
SYNOPSIS
Permits Paterson and Newark police who were promoted following February 2019 police sergeant exam to have those promotions deemed regular appointments.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the February 2019 civil service police sergeant exam.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
b. Following the exam, the commission's Division of Test Development, Analytics and Administration analyzed the examination's raw data results and recommended that, in accordance with a consent decree reached with the United States Department of Justice, as well as existing law, the last 10 exam questions should not be scored because they disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic candidates, revealing a disparity in racial minority and non-racial minority candidates' performance. The commission agreed and released the scoring results, excluding the last 10 questions from scoring.
c. Following the commission’s decision, a challenge of that decision was raised by several petitioners arguing that the commission's action was arbitrary and capricious, adversely impacted the examinees that followed the instructions, managed their time properly, and completed the exam in the allotted time and, therefore the test results should be nullified.
d. On August 22, 2025, an Appellate Division decision was issued requiring that the 2019 test results be invalidated, and a new exam be administered.
e. Following the Appellate Division decision, the commission issued an order on November 10, 2025, which determined that the court’s decision will only apply to police officers in Paterson and Newark who took the 2019 exam and therefore ordered that only those officers from those cities who were promoted following that exam be required to retake the exam.
f. The commission’s order further stated that appointments from the police sergeant eligible lists in Newark and Paterson resulting from the examination, as well as any other appointments from subsequent police promotional lists of employees who were originally promoted from these police sergeant lists were deemed conditional, pending the results of a new examination.
g. As a result of these decisions, over 100 police officers in Newark and Paterson may face demotions.
h. The potential demotion of so many police officers would negatively impact morale, disrupt the chain of command, compromise internal operations, and therefore pose a risk to the public safety of two of the State’s largest cities.
i. This potential risk to public safety poses an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to the citizens of this State.
2. Notwithstanding any law, rule, regulation, or administrative decision or action to the contrary, any promotions determined to be conditional as a result of the final administrative action of the Civil Service Commission issued on November 10, 2025, In the Matter of Gabriele Spallacci, et al., CSC Docket No. 2026-1023, shall be deemed to be regular appointments as of the date the original appointments were initially made, without need to take a new examination. Such regular appointments shall be considered to be permanent appointments following the individual’s successful completion of any applicable working test period requirements. The personnel records of such appointees shall be adjusted by the appointing authority as may be necessary to reflect the original appointment dates.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill permits Paterson and Newark police officers who were promoted following the February 23, 2019, police sergeants exam to have those promotions deemed as regular appointments.
On February 23, 2019, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission administered a promotional police sergeant exam. Following the exam, the commission's Division of Test Development, Analytics and Administration analyzed the examination's raw data results and recommended that, in accordance with a consent decree reached with the United States Department of Justice, as well as existing law, the last 10 exam questions should not be scored because they disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic candidates, revealing a disparity in racial minority and non-racial minority candidates' performance. The commission agreed and released the scoring results, which excluded the last 10 questions from scoring.
Following the commission’s decision, a challenge of that decision was raised by several petitioners arguing that the commission's action was arbitrary and capricious, adversely impacted the examinees that followed the instructions, managed their time properly, and completed the exam in the allotted time and, therefore the test results should be nullified.
On August 22, 2025, an Appellate Division decision was issued requiring that the 2019 test results be invalidated, and a new exam be administered. Following the Appellate Division decision, the commission issued an order on November 10, 2025, which determined that the court’s decision applied only to police officers in Paterson and Newark who took the 2019 exam and therefore ordered that only those officers from those cities who were promoted following that exam be required to retake the exam. The commission’s order further stated that appointments from the police sergeant eligible lists resulting from the examination in Newark and Paterson, as well as any other appointments from subsequent police promotional lists of employees who were originally promoted from these police sergeant lists were deemed conditional. As a result of these decisions, over 100 police officers in Newark and Paterson may face demotions. The potential demotion of so many police officers would negatively impact morale, disrupt the chain of command, compromise internal operations, and therefore pose a risk to the public safety of two of the State’s largest cities. This potential risk to public safety poses an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to the citizens of this State.
This bill requires that any promotions determined to be conditional as a result of the final administrative action of the Civil Service Commission issued on November 10, 2025, In the Matter of Gabriele Spallacci, et al., CSC Docket No. 2026-1023, will be deemed to be regular appointments as of the date the original appointments were initially made. Such regular appointments will be considered to be permanent appointments following the individual’s successful completion of any applicable working test period requirements. The personnel records of such appointees must be adjusted by the commission as may be necessary to reflect the original appointment dates.