Adopts State definition of Islamophobia for certain civil and criminal purposes.

A1146

ASSEMBLY, No. 1146

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN

District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Reynolds-Jackson, Drulis and Assemblyman
Freiman

SYNOPSIS

���� Adopts State definition of Islamophobia for certain
civil and criminal purposes.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the definition of Islamophobia in the State
of New Jersey and supplementing Title 10 of the Revised Statues.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:

���� a. Islamophobia and harassment
on the basis of actual or perceived national origin, shared ancestry, or ethnic
characteristics with a religious group, remains a persistent, pervasive, and
disturbing problem in contemporary American society.

���� b.��� Data shows that Muslims
are among the most likely of all minority groups to be victimized by incidents
of hate, and such incidents are increasing at an alarming rate.

���� c.���� Data also shows that
the State of New Jersey ranked amongst the highest of states in the nation in
Islamophobic incidents in 2020.

���� d.��� State officials and
institutions, including educational institutions, have a responsibility to
protect the public from hate and bigotry, and must be given the tools to stem
both criminal conduct as well as discriminatory acts motivated by Islamophobia.

���� e.���� Valid monitoring,
informed analysis and investigating, and effective policymaking all require
uniform definitions.

���� f.���� Instituting a standard
definition of Islamophobia will provide an essential definitional tool to
determine manifestations of Islamophobia.

���� g.��� In addition to
Islamophobia, the terms �intolerance against Muslims,� �anti-Muslim prejudice,�
�anti-Muslim hate,� �hatred of

Muslims,� �anti-Islamism,�
�Muslimophobia,� and �racism towards Muslims� may also be used to define the
same characteristics of Islamophobia.

���� h.��� Awareness of this
definition of Islamophobia will increase understanding of the parameters of
anti-Muslim crime, harassment, and discrimination.

���� 2.��� a.� For the purposes of
this act:

���� �Islamophobia� means a type of
racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness, which
may be expressed as hatred toward Muslim persons, including, but not limited
to, the following:

���� (1) hatred or severe
disparagement towards Muslim persons or their culture;

���� (2) hostility and fear of
Islam, and as a result, a fear of and aversion to all Muslims or the majority
of Muslims;

���� (3) discrimination,
harassment, prejudice, and unequal treatment of Muslim persons or
Muslim-majority communities;

���� (4) exclusion of Muslim
persons or Muslim-majority communities from major political and social spheres;

���� (5) making mendacious,
dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims, or of
Muslims as a collective group, especially but not exclusively, conspiracies
about Muslims entry into politics, government, or other societal institutions, the
myth of Muslim identity having a unique propensity for terrorism, and claims of
a demographic threat posed by Muslims or of a Muslim takeover;

���� (6) rhetorical, violent, or
physical anti-Muslim manifestations directed against Muslim or non-Muslim
individuals, or their property, or Muslim community institutions and religious
facilities;

���� (7) shouting, verbal or
physical abuse, pushing, spitting, pulling hijabs from Muslim women, and other
forms of prejudicial abuses that target Muslims;

���� (8) calling for, aiding,
encouraging, supporting, or justifying the killing, harming, or defaming of
anyone, simply for practicing Islam or exhibiting a Muslim identity or
heritage;

���� (9) expressing an outlook or
worldview involving an unfounded dread and dislike of Muslims, which results in
practices of exclusion and discrimination;

���� (10) accusing those practicing
Islam, or exhibiting a Muslim identity or heritage, whether singularly or
collectively, as being wholly responsible for any real or imagined wrongdoing
committed by a single Muslim person or group;

���� (11) accusing Muslim citizens
of being more loyal to a transnational Muslim community or to their countries
of origin, or to the alleged priorities of Muslims worldwide, than to the
interests of the people of New Jersey or the interests of the people of the
United States;

���� (12) accusing those practicing
Islam, or exhibiting a Muslim identity or heritage, whether singularly or
collectively, as being wholly responsible for any real or imagined wrongdoing
committed by any Muslim-majority country; and

���� (13) accusing those practicing
Islam, or exhibiting a Muslim identity or heritage, whether singularly or
collectively, as being more loyal to any foreign Muslim-majority country, or
the alleged priorities of Muslim persons worldwide, than to the interests of
the people of the State of New Jersey, or to the interests of the people of the
United States.

���� The term �Islamopobia� shall
not include any criticism of any Muslim-majority country similar to that
leveled against any other country.

���� b.��� In reviewing,
investigating, or deciding whether there has been a violation of any policy,
law, or regulation prohibiting discriminatory acts under the civil or criminal
laws of this State, a public official or law enforcement officer shall take
into consideration the definition of Islamophobia contained in subsection a. of
this section for the purposes of determining whether the alleged act was
motivated by Islamophobia and discriminatory anti-Muslim intent.

���� c.���� Nothing contained in
this act, P.L.���� , c.���� (C.������ ) (pending before the Legislature as this
bill), shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected
under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or paragraph 6 of
Article I of the New Jersey State Constitution.� Nothing in this act shall be
construed to conflict with local, State, or federal anti-discrimination laws or
regulations.

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill adopts the
first-ever State definition of Islamophobia in New Jersey and in the nation.�
Attacks on persons who are Muslim or perceived to be Muslim have grown
significantly since September 11, 2001.� From 2014 to 2019, there were 10,015
anti-Muslim bias incidents, which included 1,164 anti-Muslim hate crimes.� This
rise in Islamophobic sentiment is widely acknowledged by the American people,
as a 2019 study by Pew found that most American adults (82%) say that Muslims
are subject to at least some discrimination in the United States today.�
According to the FBI, approximately 19% of religion-based incidents from
2015-2019 were against Muslims, who make up only about 1% of the United States
population.

���� Furthermore, the United States
Attorney General has commented that since September 11, 2001, the Justice
Department has led more than 1,000 investigations into �anti-Muslim hatred�
acts and bigoted behavior that have led to more than 45 prosecutions.� According
to a 2017 Pew Poll, while perceptions of religious groups improved overall in
2017, Muslims rated most negatively of all religious groups, scoring a 48 out
of 100.� New Jersey ranked among the top 10 states for anti-mosque incidents
according to the ACLU, including multiple incidents against Muslim persons and
Muslim institutions.

���� This bill provides a State
definition of Islamophobia modeled in part after the All-Party Parliamentary
Group (APPG), which is composed of British Parliament Members of both the House
of Commons and the House of Lords. Awareness of this definition of Islamophobia
will increase understanding of the parameters of contemporary Islamophobia
crime and discrimination.

���� Under the bill, the definition
of Islamophobia in the bill would not include any criticism of any
Muslim-majority country similar to that leveled against any other country.

���� The bill provides that in
reviewing, investigating, or deciding whether there has been a violation of any
policy, law, or regulation prohibiting discriminatory acts under the civil or
criminal laws of this State, a public official or law enforcement officer is
required to take into consideration the definition of Islamophobia contained in
this bill for the purposes of determining whether the alleged act was motivated
by Islamophobia and discriminatory anti-Muslim intent.

���� Nothing contained in this bill
is to be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or paragraph 6 of Article I
of the New Jersey State Constitution, and nothing in this bill is to be
construed to conflict with local, State, or federal anti-discrimination laws or
regulations.