ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 5426
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MARCH 10, 2025
The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably and with
committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5426.
As amended, this bill requires the State domestic violence public
awareness campaign by the Division on Women in the Department of
Children and Families, created pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:27D-43.36, to
also include, subject to the availability of funds, information
concerning the recognition of the indicators of coercive control.
Under current law. indicators of coercive control by an abuser
include, but are not limited to:
(1) isolating a person from friends, relatives, transportation,
medical care, or other source of support;
(2) depriving a person of basic necessities;
(3) monitoring a person’s movements, communications, daily
behavior, finances, economic resources, or access to services;
(4) compelling a person by force, threat, or intimidation, including,
but not limited to, threats based on actual or suspected immigration
status;
(5) threatening to make or making baseless reports to the police,
courts, the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP)
within the Department of Children and Families, the Board of Social
Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or other
parties;
(6) threatening to harm or kill an individual’s relative or pet; and
(7) threatening to deny or interfere with an individual’s child
custody or parenting time, other than through enforcement of a valid
custody arrangement or court order.
Additionally, the bill expands the range of languages for the public
awareness campaign beyond English and Spanish to include other
languages that the Advisory Council on Domestic Violence may
recommend, and requires the Director of the Division on Women to
report annually on the activities of the campaign. As amended, the bill
further provides that outside funding from the federal government or
private organizations accepted by the Director of the Division on
Women for the campaign will not diminish any State funds
appropriated to the campaign. 2
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :
The committee amended the bill to:
- make the new requirement of information concerning coercive
control be subject to available funds; and
- provide that the director’s acceptance of federal or private
funds for the campaign will not diminish any State funds
appropriated to the campaign.