New Jersey A 5511: Makes Fiscal Year 2021 supplemental appropriation of $1,500,000 to BPU for certain broadband telecommunications service subscriber assistance.

Bill Text

A5511 

ASSEMBLY, No. 5511 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

INTRODUCED SEPTEMBER 17, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ANDREW MACURDY

District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� �Stolen Car Accountability Act;� Creates duty in 
transportation industry to prevent theft of stolen motor vehicles and permits 
civil penalties. 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� As introduced.

�� 

An Act concerning transnational motor vehicle theft and 
supplementing chapter 20 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

���� 1.� This act shall be known 
and may be cited as the �Stolen Car Accountability Act.�

���� 2.� a.� A person who offers 
storage, transportation, or transportation brokerage services for a motor 
vehicle has a duty to take reasonable measures to prevent the transportation of 
a stolen motor vehicle into or out of this State.� 

���� b.� (1)� In addition to or in 
lieu of any other civil or criminal remedy provided by law, upon a 
determination that any person has violated subsection a. of this section, that 
person shall be liable to a civil penalty not exceeding $1,000,000 for each 
stolen motor vehicle he stores, transports, or brokers, and for a subsequent 
offense shall be liable to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000,000.� 

���� (2)� It is an affirmative 
defense that the property was received with purpose to restore it to the 
owner.� 

���� (3)� "Receive" means 
acquiring possession, control, or title, or lending on the security of the 
property.

���� c.� An action to recover a 
civil penalty under this section shall be brought by the Attorney General in 
the Superior Court pursuant to section 2 of P.L. 1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-11).

���� d.� A criminal conviction is 
not necessary for a civil penalty enforcement action pursuant to this act.

���� 3.��� Permissive inference.� A 
violation of paragraph (a) of section 3 of P.L.�� , c.�� (C.������ ) (pending 
before the Legislature as this bill) may be inferred in the case of a person 
who:

���� (1)� is in the business of 
storing, transporting, or brokering transportation of motor vehicles, and 
acquires the motor vehicles without having ascertained by reasonable inquiry 
that the person from whom he obtained it had a legal right to possess and 
dispose of it; or

���� (2)� is found in possession or 
control of two or more motor vehicles stolen on two or more separate occasions; 
or

���� (3)� has received a stolen 
motor vehicle in another transaction within the year preceding the transaction 
charged; or

���� (4)� is found in possession of 
a motor vehicle without proper documentation or other evidence of right to 
possession; or

���� (5)� has received stolen 
property in another transaction within the year preceding the transaction 
charged; or

���� (6) is found in possession of 
property of a cargo carrier without proper documentation or other evidence of 
right to possession. 

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill would impose civil 
penalties for facilitators of transnational auto theft, including, but not 
limited to, transportation brokers, to reduce the incentive for facilitators in 
auto theft operations, such as transportation brokerage services, to (1)� 
ignore obvious indicia of theft, or (2)� maintain ineffective business 
practices.

�� Under 
current law, the penalties for theft of a motor vehicle are set forth in the 
State�s general statute consolidating theft and computer criminal activity 
offenses, N.J.S.A.2C:20-2.� Receiving a stolen motor vehicle is punishable as a 
crime of the third degree unless the vehicle is valued at $75,000, or greater, 
in which case it is a crime of the second degree.� Separately, under 
N.J.S.A.2C:20-10.1 et seq. "receiving" a stolen vehicle means 
acquiring possession, control or title, or lending on the security of the 
property.� 

���� Under the bill, a person who 
offers storage, transportation or transportation brokerage services for a motor 
vehicle has a duty to take reasonable measures to prevent the transportation of 
a stolen motor vehicle.� A person who violates that duty shall be liable to a 
civil penalty not exceeding $1,000,000.� For a second or subsequent offense, 
the civil penalty shall be $5,000,000.

���� The commercial port areas around 
New York and New Jersey are major exit points for international car theft 
rings.� The federal United States Customs and Border Patrol, CBP, and the 
Department of Homeland Security, DHS, in coordination with local and State law 
enforcement entities, prosecute transporting, buying, selling or storing stolen 
vehicles, as federal crimes under federal importing and exporting laws.� New 
Jersey criminal offenses related to stolen motor vehicles include theft and 
receiving crime.