Bill Text: NJ S2028 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns access to public accommodations by persons with disabilities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S2028 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S2028-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator STEVEN V. OROHO
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns access to public accommodations by persons with disabilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning access to public accommodations by persons with disabilities and supplementing P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Before filing a civil action alleging that a public accommodation that is operated by a private entity has a building, facility, or parking lot, that prohibits access by persons with disabilities in violation of the "Law Against Discrimination," P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.), the aggrieved person, or that person's attorney, shall provide written notice to the private entity with sufficient detail to allow the private entity to identify and cure the violation or comply with the law within 90 days after receiving the notice. At the same time, a copy of the notice shall be provided to the director. If the private entity has not cured the violation or complied with the law by the 90th day after receiving the notice, the aggrieved person may notify the director, and file a civil action in Superior Court.
b. If the private entity is required to obtain a construction permit in order to make the changes necessary to cure the violation or comply with the law, and the private entity, within ninety days after receiving the notice required in subsection a. of this section, provides the aggrieved person, or the person's attorney, and the director, with a corrective action plan and submits the completed application for the construction permit to the enforcing agency for a determination, the aggrieved person may not file the civil action for an additional sixty days from the date that the private entity provided the corrective action plan to the aggrieved person or the person's attorney. The time after the completed application for the building permit is submitted to the enforcing agency, up until a final determination is provided to the private entity, is tolled and is not included in calculating the additional sixty days, except that any delay that is caused by the private entity before the final determination is provided is not tolled.
2. The Attorney General shall
promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the
provisions of P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) not later than the first day of
the sixth month next following enactment, pursuant to the "Administrative
Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would require that, prior to filing a civil action alleging that a public accommodation operated by a private entity has a building, facility, or parking lot, that prohibits access by persons with disabilities in violation of the "Law Against Discrimination," P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.), the aggrieved person, or that person's attorney, would have to provide written notice to the private entity with sufficient detail to allow the private entity to identify and cure the violation or comply with the law within 90 days after receiving the notice. At the same time, an aggrieved person, or that person's attorney, must provide a copy of the notice shall be provided to the Director of the Division on Civil Rights.
If the private entity has not cured the violation or complied with the law by the 90th day after receiving the notice, the aggrieved person may notify the Director of the Division on Civil Rights, and file a civil action in Superior Court.
The bill would provide for an extension of the 90 day period if a private entity is required to obtain a construction permit in order to make the changes necessary to cure the violation or comply with the law.
