New Jersey S 971: Eliminates requirement that at least one of two licenses issued under small-scale and staged casino facility pilot program must be staged casino facility license; permits these facilities to be located in renovated buildings.

Bill Text

S971 

SENATE, No. 971 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator JON M. BRAMNICK

District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Upgrades crime of stalking when stalking activity is 
carried out or assisted by installation or use of communication or location 
monitoring program or device on cellular phone or wireless mobile device.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

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

�� 

An Act 
concerning stalking by means of certain electronic, mechanical, or other 
devices, or computer programs, and amending P.L.1992, c.209. 

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

���� �1.�� Section 1 of P.L.1992, 
c.209 (C.2C:12-10) is amended to read as follows:

���� �1.�� a.� As used in this act:

���� (1)�� "Course of 
conduct" means repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a 
person; directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, 
device, or means, following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening, 
or communicating to or about, a person, or interfering with a person's 
property; repeatedly committing harassment against a person; or repeatedly 
conveying, or causing to be conveyed, verbal or written threats or threats 
conveyed by any other means of communication or threats implied by conduct or a 
combination thereof directed at or toward a person.

���� (2)�� "Repeatedly" 
means on two or more occasions.

���� (3)�� "Emotional 
distress" means significant mental suffering or distress.

���� (4)�� "Cause a reasonable 
person to fear" means to cause fear which a reasonable victim, similarly 
situated, would have under the circumstances.

���� b.��� A person is guilty of 
stalking, a crime of the fourth degree, if he purposefully or knowingly engages 
in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a 
reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a third person or 
suffer other emotional distress.� Stalking is a crime of the third degree if 
the person�s course of conduct is carried out or assisted by means of 
installation or use of any electronic, mechanical or other device as defined in 
subsection d. of section 2 of P.L.1968, c.409 (C.2A:156A-2), or 
installation or use of a computer program as defined in subsection e. of 
section 2 of P.L.1984, c.184 (C.2C:20-23), on a cellular phone or wireless 
mobile device owned, subscribed to, or used by the victim, in order to 
intercept any form of communication or acquire that communication from 
electronic storage kept by an electronic communication service or remote 
computing service, as those terms are defined in subsections p., q., and s. of 
section 2 of P.L.1968, c.409 (C.2A:156A-2), or to intercept or acquire the 
victim�s location information.

���� c.���� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking in violation of 
an existing court order prohibiting the behavior.

���� d.��� A person who commits a 
second or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim is guilty of a 
crime of the third degree.

���� e.���� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking while serving a 
term of imprisonment or while on parole or probation as the result of a 
conviction for any indictable offense under the laws of this State, any other 
state or the United States.

���� f.���� This act shall not 
apply to conduct which occurs during organized group picketing.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.28, s.1)

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

STATEMENT

����� This bill upgrades the crime of stalking when the 
stalking activity is carried out or assisted by installation or use of a 
communication or location monitoring program or device on the stalking victim�s 
cellular phone or wireless mobile device. 

����� A person commits the crime of stalking when the 
person �purposefully or knowingly engages in a course of conduct directed at a 
specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his safety or 
the safety of a third person or suffer other emotional distress.�� Stalking is 
ordinarily graded as a crime of the fourth degree, punishable by up to 18 
months imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

����� Under the bill, if a person�s �course of conduct� in 
committing the stalking is carried out or assisted by means of installation or 
use of any communication or location monitoring program or device on the 
victim�s cellular phone or wireless mobile device in order to intercept or 
acquire any form of communication or location information, the stalking would 
be upgraded to a crime of the third degree.� A crime of the third degree is punishable 
by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or 
both.

����� Communication and location monitoring programs or 
devices are ofte