New Jersey A 4385: Requires institutions of higher education to offer cats and dogs no longer used for educational, research, or scientific purposes to animal rescue organizations for adoption.

Bill Text

A4385 

ASSEMBLY, No. 4385 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ALEX SAUICKIE

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Prohibits ownership of real property in State by 
adverse foreign governments and certain associated persons. 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� As introduced.

�� 

An Act concerning the ownership of real property by adverse 
foreign government interests and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 46 of the 
Revised Statutes.

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

���� 1.� The Legislature finds and 
declares that:

���� a.� A security threat is 
exacerbated if the actor posing the threat owns real property in the area being 
threatened;

���� b.� The People�s Republic of 
China (PRC), Russia, Iran, and North Korea have been listed as threats to the 
national security of the United States and its citizens in each of the 2023, 
2024, and 2025 Annual Threat Assessments of the United States Intelligence 
Community; 

���� c.� The PRC and other 
adversaries continually employ aggressive efforts to target and steal sensitive 
information, research, and technology of the United States, resulting in 
billions of dollars in economic losses, damage to the competitiveness of the United 
States, and the transfer of cutting-edge technology to adversarial militaries; 

���� d.� Since 2023, United States 
authorities have charged more than 20 individuals for activities related to 
intellectual property theft and for violations of sanctions or export controls 
for China, Iran, and Russia; 

���� e.� PRC-affiliated cyber 
actors are known to exploit vulnerabilities and publicly-available tools to 
pre-position efforts to disrupt the nation�s critical infrastructure;

���� f.� Russian-affiliated cyber 
actors are known to continually seek access to government networks, including 
those of state and local governments, for espionage purposes, posing a threat 
to critical infrastructure;

���� e.� North Korean cyber actors 
continuously target financial entities within the United States, including 
venture capital firms, exchanges, and individual accounts, to finance 
Pyongyang�s strategic priorities and weapons programs, posing a continuing threat 
to national security;

���� g.� The Iranian government and 
other affiliated cyber actors are known to target the critical infrastructure 
of the United States, in retaliation for support provided to Israel, using a 
range of tactics, including exploiting publicly known software and hardware 
vulnerabilities, social engineering techniques, and publicly available 
cybersecurity tools; 

���� h.� As the United States 
Supreme Court observed in Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564 (1972), 
property interests are not created by the United States Constitution, but by 
independent sources such as state law;

���� i.� Accordingly, the 
Legislature acts within the scope of its traditional competence when it 
provides statutory requirements governing the disposition of real property and 
restrictions on ownership, despite any incidental effect on foreign policy and 
affairs; and

���� j.� Therefore, it is 
appropriate, and a narrowly tailored remedy for the Legislature to prohibit the 
ownership of real property in the State by adverse foreign governments and 
persons affiliated with those governments, in order to achieve the compelling government 
interest of the security of this State and its residents.� 

���� 2.� As used in P.L.��� , c.��� 
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� "Adverse foreign 
government" means any government other than the government of the United 
States or any of its states, territories, possessions, or any political 
subdivision thereof that is listed, or a military company of which is listed, 
as posing a threat of terrorism and transnational repression, or as a threat to 
the critical infrastructure or economic security of the United States, in at 
least one of the three most recent Annual Threat Assessments of the U.S. 
Intelligence Community issued pursuant to section 108B of the National Security 
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. s.3043b).� "Adverse foreign government" 
includes an agent, trustee, or fiduciary thereof, acting on behalf of an 
adverse foreign government.

���� "Beneficial 
owner" means, with respect to a 
partnership, corporation, association, limited liability company, trust, or 
other legal entity, or an affiliate, subsidiary, or holding company thereof, an 
individual who, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, 
understanding, relationship, or otherwise, exercises substantial control over 
the entity, or owns or controls not less than 10 percent of the ownership 
interests of the entity.� "Beneficial 
owner" shall not include:

���� (1)� an individual whose only 
interest in a corporation, limited liability company, or other similar entity 
is throug