Bill Text: NJ A5511 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Stolen Car Accountability Act;" Creates duty in transportation industry to prevent theft of stolen motor vehicles and permits civil penalties.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-09-17 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A5511 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A5511-Introduced.html
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.
