New Jersey S 1720: Makes technical corrections to individual health coverage and small employer health benefits programs and to NJ FamilyCare.

Bill Text

S1720 

SENATE, No. 1720 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator PARKER SPACE

District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)

SYNOPSIS

���� Increases penalty for certain acts of trespass and 
vandalism on agricultural and horticultural lands.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative 
Counsel.

�� 

An Act concerning trespass and vandalism on agricultural or 
horticultural lands and amending R.S.4:17-2.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� R.S.4:17-2 is amended to 
read as follows:

���� 4:17-2.�� a.�� Except as 
provided otherwise pursuant to subsection b. of this section, any person who 
trespasses upon the agricultural or horticultural lands of another is liable to 
a civil penalty of not less than [$100.00] $100.

���� b.��� In addition to any other 
applicable fines, penalties, or restitution that may be assessed pursuant to 
section 3 of P.L.1983, c.522 (C.2C:18-6) or any other law, any person who 
knowingly or recklessly operates a motorized vehicle or rides horseback upon 
the lands of another without obtaining and in possession of the written 
permission of the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee thereof, or damages or 
injures any tangible property, including, but not limited to, any fence, 
building, feedstocks, crops, live trees, or any domestic animals, located on 
the lands of another shall be liable to:

���� (1)� a civil penalty of not 
less than $1,000; and

���� (2)� the owner, occupant, 
lessee, or licensee of the lands for any reasonable and necessary expenses, 
including reasonable attorney fees, incurred by the owner, occupant, lessee, or 
licensee to ensure that the lands are restored to their condition prior to commission 
of the offense.

���� The court shall make a finding 
of the amount of expenses incurred and damages sustained and order the 
defendant to pay as appropriate.� Notwithstanding the provisions of 
paragraph (1) of this subsection to the contrary, if the court makes a finding 
that the damages sustained exceed $10,000, the court shall order the defendant 
to pay a civil penalty of not less than $2,500. 

���� c.��� Any civil penalty 
imposed pursuant to subsection a. or b. of this section shall be collected in a 
civil action by a summary proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 
1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).� The Superior Court and the 
municipal court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the "Penalty 
Enforcement Law of 1999."� If the violation is of a continuing nature, 
each day during which it continues shall constitute an additional, separate and 
distinct offense.

���� d.��� Nothing in this article 
shall relieve owners of agricultural or horticultural lands from the obligation 
to provide conspicuous posting prohibiting trespass on the waters or banks 
along or around any waters listed for stocking with fish in the current fish 
code adopted pursuant to section 32 of P.L.1948, c. 448 (C.13:1B-30) before a 
trespass violation may be found.

���� e.��� As used in this article, 
"agricultural or horticultural lands" means lands devoted to the 
production for sale of plants and animals useful to man, encompassing plowed or 
tilled fields, standing crops or their residues, cranberry bogs and appurtenant 
dams, dikes, canals, ditches and pump houses, including impoundments, man-made 
reservoirs and the adjacent shorelines thereto, orchards, nurseries and lands 
with a maintained fence for the purpose of restraining domestic livestock.� 
"Agricultural or horticultural lands" shall also include lands in 
agricultural use, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-13) where 
public notice prohibiting trespass is given by actual communication to the 
actor, conspicuous posting, or fencing or other enclosure manifestly designed 
to exclude intruders. 

(cf: P.L.2018, c.121, s.3)

���� 2.��� This act shall take 
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would amend current 
law concerning penalties for trespass and vandalism on agricultural and 
horticultural lands.� Specifically, this bill would increase the penalty for trespass 
and vandalism on agricultural and horticultural lands when the damage incurred 
by the landowner exceeds $10,000.

���� Under current law, it is a 
criminal offense to knowingly or recklessly damage or injure any tangible 
property, including, but not limited to, any fence, building, feedstocks, 
crops, live trees, or any domestic animals located on agricultural or horticultural 
lands.� In addition, current law provides a civil penalty of at least $1,000 
for a person who engages in such an offense.� 

���� Under this bill, the minimum 
civil penalty would be increased from $1,000 to $2,500 if the court determines 
that the damages sustained from trespass upon the agricultural or horticultural 
land exceed $10,000.� This increased civil pe