New Jersey S 2929: Creates first degree crime of home invasion, makes crime subject to No Early Release Act, and upgrades burglary of residence to second degree crime under certain circumstances.

Bill Text

S2929 

SENATE, No. 2929 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator RAJ MUKHERJI

District 32 (Hudson)

Senator JAMES BEACH

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

SYNOPSIS

���� Concerns false public alarms involving places of 
worship.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

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

�� 

An Act concerning false public alarms involving places of 
worship, and amending N.J.S.2C:33-3 and P.L.1999, c.195.

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

���� 1.��� N.J.S.2C:33-3 is amended 
to read as follows:

���� 2C:33-3. False Public Alarms. 
a. (1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person is guilty of 
a crime of the third degree if he initiates or circulates a report or warning 
of an impending fire, explosion, crime, catastrophe, emergency, or any other 
incident knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is 
likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of 
public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm. 

���� (b) A person is guilty of a 
crime of the second degree if the false alarm involves a report or warning of 
an impending bombing, hostage situation, person armed with a deadly weapon as 
defined by subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:11-1, or any other incident that elicits 
an immediate or heightened response by law enforcement or emergency services.

���� (c)�� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the second degree if the false alarm involves a report or warning 
about any critical infrastructure located in this State.� For purposes of this 
subparagraph, �critical infrastructure� means any building, place of assembly, 
or facility that is indispensably necessary for national security, economic 
stability, or public safety.

���� (d)�� A person is guilty of 
a crime of the second degree if the false alarm involves a report or warning 
about any church, synagogue, temple, mosque, gurdwara, or other place of 
worship.� For purposes of this subparagraph, �place of worship� means a 
building capable of seating more than 50 people used primarily as a place of 
public or private worship on a permanent basis by a recognized and established 
religious sect or denomination registered as a not-for-profit organization 
pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, 26 
U.S.C. s.501(c)(3).

���� (2)�� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the third degree if he knowingly causes the false alarm to be 
transmitted to or within any organization, official or volunteer, for dealing 
with emergencies involving danger to life or property.

���� b.��� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the second degree if in addition to the report or warning initiated, 
circulated or transmitted under subsection a. of this section, he places or 
causes to be placed any false or facsimile bomb in a building, place of assembly, 
or facility of public transport or in a place likely to cause public 
inconvenience or alarm.� A violation of this subsection is a crime of the first 
degree if it occurs during a declared period of national, State or county 
emergency.

���� c.���� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the second degree if a violation of subsection a. of this section in 
fact results in serious bodily injury to another person or occurs during a 
declared period of national, State or county emergency.� A person is guilty of 
a crime of the first degree if a violation of subsection a. of this section in 
fact results in death.

���� d.��� For the purposes of this 
section, �in fact� means that strict liability is imposed.� It shall not be a 
defense that the death or serious bodily injury was not a foreseeable 
consequence of the person�s acts or that the death or serious bodily injury was 
caused by the actions of another person or by circumstances beyond the control 
of the actor.� The actor shall be strictly liable upon proof that the crime 
occurred during a declared period of national, State or county emergency.� It 
shall not be a defense that the actor did not know that there was a declared 
period of emergency at the time the crime occurred.

���� e.���� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the fourth degree if the person knowingly places a call to a 9-1-1 
emergency telephone system without purpose of reporting the need for 9-1-1 
service.

���� f.���� A person is guilty of a 
crime of the third degree if the person knowingly places a call to a 9-1-1 
emergency telephone system with purpose to intimidate or harass an individual 
or group of individuals because of race, color, religion, gender, disability, 
sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or 
ethnicity. 

���� All local and county law 
enforcement authorities shall submit an annual report, on a form prescribed by 
the Attorney General, to the Uniform Crime Reporting Unit, within the Division 
of