New Jersey S 407: Clarifies spitting in law enforcement officer's food or drink constitutes aggravated assault; requires certain sanctions on restaurant employees who commit this crime.

Bill Text

SENATE, No. 407  
 
STATE OF NEW JERSEY 
221st LEGISLATURE 
   
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION 
 
 
Sponsored by: 
Senator  JOSEPH PENNACCHIO 
District 26 (Morris and Passaic) 
 
 
 
 
SYNOPSIS 
 Clarifies  spitting  in  law  enforcement  officer’s  food  or  drink  constitutes 
aggravated  assault;  requires  certain  sanctions  on  restaurant  employees  who 
commit this crime.  
 
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT  
 Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel. 
    

 
S407 PENNACCHIO 
2 
 
 EXPLANATION – Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is 
not enacted and is intended to be omitted in the law. 
 
 Matter underlined thus is new matter. 
 
 
AN ACT concerning  aggravated  assault  against  law  enforcement 1 
officers,  amending  P.L.1997,  c.182,  and  supplementing  Title  26 2 
of the Revised Statutes.   3 
 4 
 BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State 5 
of New Jersey: 6 
 7 
 1. Section  2  of  P.L.1997,  c.182  (C.2C:12-13)  is  amended  to 8 
read as follows:    9 
 2. a.  A  person  who  throws  a  bodily  fluid  at  a  Department  of 10 
Corrections  employee, county  correctional  police  officer,  juvenile 11 
correctional police officer, State juvenile facility employee, juvenile 12 
detention  staff  member,  probation  officer,  any  sheriff,  undersheriff 13 
or   sheriff's   officer   or   any   municipal,   county,   or   State   law 14 
enforcement officer  while in the  performance  of  the  person's  duties 15 
or otherwise purposely subjects [such] an employee to contact with 16 
a  bodily  fluid  commits  an  aggravated  assault.    If  the  victim  suffers 17 
bodily  injury,  this  shall  be  a  crime  of  the  third  degree.   If the 18 
victim’s food was spit upon or beverage spit into, this shall be a 19 
crime  of  the  third  degree,  and,  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of 20 
N.J.S.2C:43-3,  the  person  shall  be  fined  $15,000.  Otherwise,  this 21 
shall  be  a  crime  of  the  fourth  degree.    A  term  of  imprisonment 22 
imposed  for  this  offense  shall  run  consecutively  to  any  term  of 23 
imprisonment currently being served and to any other term imposed 24 
for  another  offense  committed  at  the  time  of  the  assault.  Nothing 25 
herein  shall  be  deemed  to  preclude,  if  the  evidence  so  warrants,  an 26 
indictment  and  conviction  for  a  violation  or  attempted  violation  of 27 
chapter 11 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes [or] , subsection 28 
b. of N.J.S.2C:12-1, or any other provision of the criminal laws.   29 
 b. For  the  purposes  of  this section,  a  person  “subjects  an 30 
employee to contact with a bodily fluid” if the person spits on an 31 
employee’s food or into an employee’s beverage.   32 
(cf: P.L.2019, c.219, s.4) 33 
 34 
 2. (New  section)    a.    A  restaurant  employer  shall  immediately 35 
suspend  any  employee  that  is  charged  with  a  violation  of  section  2 36 
of  P.L.1997,  c.182  (C.2C:12-13).    If  the  employee  is  convicted  of 37 
the  violation  of  section  2  of  P.L.1997,  c.182  (C.2C:12-13),  the 38 
restaurant employer shall terminate the employee.     39 
 b. A  restaurant  employer  who  fails  to  comply  with  subsection 40 
a. of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not 41 
to   exceed   $500   for   the   first   violation   and   $1,000   for   each 42 
subsequent  violation,  collectible  by  the  Department  of  Labor  and 43 
Workforce  Development  in  a  summary  proceeding  pursuant  to  the 44 

 
S407 PENNACCHIO 
3 
 
 
“Penalty  Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 1 
et seq.).   2 
 c. The   Commissioner   of   the   Department   of   Labor   and 3 
Workforce   Development   shall,   pursuant   to   the   "Administrative 4 
Procedure  Act,"  P.L.1968, c.410  (C.52:14B-1  et  seq.),  adopt  rules 5 
and regulations to effectuate the purposes of P.L.     , c.     (C.     ) 6 
(pending before the Legislature as this bill).   7 
 d. For  the  purposes  of  this  section, “restaurant” shall have the 8 
same meaning as defined in section 1 of P.L.1983, c.488 (C.26:3E-1). 9 
 10 
 3. This act shall take effect immediately.   11 
 12 
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STATEMENT 14 
 15 
 This bill clarifies that spitting on the food or into the beverage of 16 
a  law  enforcement  officer  constitutes  aggravated  assault.    The  bill 17 
also requires restaurants to impose certain sanctions on an employee 18 
who engages in this conduct. 19 
 Under  current  law,  a  person  who  throws  a  bodily  fluid  at  a  law 20 
enforcement officer  while in the  performance  of  the  person's  duties 21 
or  otherwise  purposely  subjects  the  officer  to  contact  with  a  bodily 22 
fluid commits aggravated assault.  It is a crime of the third degree if 23 
the  officer  suffers  bodily  injury.    Otherwise,  it  is  a  crime  of  the 24 
fourth  degree.    A  third  degree  crime  gene