New Jersey Assembly Bill A1921 Comm Sub / Analysis

                    ASSEMBLY PUBLIC SAFETY AND PREPAREDNESS 
COMMITTEE 
 
STATEMENT TO  
 
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR 
ASSEMBLY, No. 1921  
 
STATE OF NEW JERSEY 
 
DATED:  JANUARY 27, 2025 
 
 The Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee reports 
favorably an Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill No. 
1921. 
 This committee substitute concerns the Attorney General 
guidelines on bias incident investigation standards. 
 Under the committee substitute, the Office of the Attorney General 
is to maintain and periodically review the guidelines on bias incident 
investigation standards, revise the guidelines as needed, and ensure 
that the Superintendent of State Police and every county and municipal 
law enforcement agency and county and municipal prosecutor are 
provided with prompt notice of any revisions to the guidelines on bias 
incident investigation standards. 
 The committee substitute requires the guidelines to, at a minimum: 
 require county and municipal law enforcement agencies to report 
all confirmed or suspected bias incidents through the Electronic 
Uniform Crime Reporting system within 24 hours and provide 
immediate notification to the Attorney General and the county 
prosecutor when the suspected or confirmed bias incident involves 
certain circumstances, as determined by the Attorney General; 
 require county prosecutors to promptly notify the Attorney General 
when they intend to file an accusation or seek an indictment 
alleging bias intimidation; 
 establish procedures for initial and follow-up investigations of a 
reported bias incident including the responsibilities of an 
investigator or a supervisor upon the arrival at the scene; 
 establish criteria for law enforcement officers to apply in 
confirming a bias incident; 
 establish requirements for providing instant notification, through 
means that the Attorney General deems appropriate, to the Office 
of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the Division of State 
Police, the Division of Criminal Justice, and the bias crime officers 
of each county prosecutor’s office; 
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 ensure that a victim of a bias incident receives appropriate 
information and referral to the Division on Civil Rights when the 
incident involves a suspected or confirmed violation of the “Law 
Against Discrimination”; and 
 include provisions for training and continuing education for law 
enforcement officers on detecting and reporting bias incidents and 
investigating and prosecuting bias crimes.