Bill Text: NJ A180 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Directs Attorney General to establish program for anonymous reporting of potential threats to school safety.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-07 - Reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments, and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee [A180 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2022-A180-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 180

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

220th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  LINDA S. CARTER

District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)

Assemblyman  ANTHONY S. VERRELLI

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Assemblyman  RAJ MUKHERJI

District 33 (Hudson)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Caputo and Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Directs Attorney General to establish program for anonymous reporting of potential threats to school safety.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Education Committee on February 7, 2022, with amendments.

  

An Act concerning school safety threats and supplementing chapter 41 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

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

 

     1.    The Attorney General of the State of New Jersey ¹, in consultation with the New Jersey Education and Law Enforcement Working Group,¹ shall establish a program that provides the ability for the public to anonymously report information concerning unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities in schools or the threat of those activities.  The program shall:

     a.     establish and maintain readily accessible methods of anonymous reporting, which may include, but need not be limited to, a telephone tip line¹, that is staffed by trained individuals at reasonable hours each day of the week,¹ and ¹a¹ mobile application;

     b.    allow for any member of the public to report information, including students, parents, school staff members, and other community members;

     c.     establish methods and procedures to ensure that the identity of the reporting party remains unknown to all persons and entities, except in instances where the reporting party voluntarily discloses his identity and verifies that his identity may be shared with law enforcement officers, school officials, and employees operating the program;

     d.    promptly forward information received by the program to the appropriate law enforcement agencies or school officials;

     e.     provide training to law enforcement dispatch centers, school districts, nonpublic schools, and other entities determined by the Attorney General on awareness of the program and appropriate response to tips received through the program; ¹[and]¹

     f.     ¹provide proper guidelines for students regarding the procedures for anonymously reporting information concerning potential threats to school safety; and

     g.¹   provide program awareness and education materials to all public and nonpublic schools in the State.

 

     2.    a.   The Attorney General shall annually prepare a report on the program.  The report shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

     (1)   the total number of reports made to the program, disaggregated by subgroups to be determined by the Attorney General;

     (2)   the dates, times, and means of reporting;

     (3)   the total number of instances of misuse of the program; and

     (4)   a summary of the outcomes and actions taken on reports made to the program.

     b.    The Attorney General shall submit the report to the Governor and the Education Committees of the Senate and General Assembly and post the report on the Internet website of the Department of Law and Public Safety by January 1 of the following year.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment.