Bill Text: NJ A4808 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits monitoring devices in certain personal privacy areas within certain government buildings open to public and requires posted notices of monitoring devices used in personal privacy areas in private buildings open to public.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-18 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A4808 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A4808-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits monitoring devices in certain personal privacy areas within certain government buildings open to public and requires posted notices of monitoring devices used in personal privacy areas in private buildings open to public.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the monitoring in certain government and private buildings and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes and Title 10 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation to the contrary, a governmental entity of this State shall not use a monitoring device in a space in a public building where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, including but not limited to, a space that includes toilets, bathing or showering stalls, sinks for cleansing, a lactation area, or changing tables for children. A monitoring device may be used where it is necessary to protect the health or safety of a patient or person with a disability receiving services or residing in the building.
b. As used in this section:
(1) "Public building" means any building, structure, facility, or complex, or those portions thereof, and provides offices, courtrooms, hearing rooms, auditoriums, meeting rooms, classrooms, and other educational facilities, eating or sleeping facilities, medical or dental facilities, transportation terminals, libraries, museums and the like, which are intended for the use or accommodation of the general public that is owned, leased or otherwise operated by any governmental entity.
(2) "Monitoring device" means a digital video or audio streaming or recording device that is part of a system of monitoring activity in an area or building in which signals are transmitted from a video camera or microphone to the receivers by cables or wirelessly, forming a closed circuit.
(3) "Governmental entity" means the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the State government; any agency or instrumentality of the State, including any board, bureau, commission, corporation, department, or division; any independent State authority; any State institution of higher education; any county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of the State; and any agency, authority, or instrumentality of any political subdivision.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation to the contrary, a private entity shall not use a monitoring device in a space open to the public where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, including but not limited to, a space that includes toilets, bathing or showering stalls, sinks for cleansing, a lactation area, or changing tables for children, unless a private entity has posted, in a conspicuous manner, both outside the facility and within the facility, signage indicating that the specific facility is being monitored.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit governmental entities in the State from using monitoring devices in public buildings in spaces open to the public, but where the public has a reasonable expectation of privacy. As defined in the bill, the term governmental entity encompasses both State and local political subdivisions. The bill provides an exception for buildings to use monitoring devices when it is necessary for the health or safety of patient or a person with a disability.
Additionally, the bill requires private entities to notify the public of monitoring devices in spaces open to the public in which the public has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The bill requires the notification to be conspicuous, and it requires there to be notification within and outside the area being monitored.
Similar legislation has been introduced in Iowa after a public library in that state faced criticism for using a video camera for security purposes in the common area of a restroom.
