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A1683 • 2026

Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.

Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.

Crime
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Reynolds-Jackson, Verlina
Last action
2026-01-13
Official status
Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.

Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.

What This Bill Does

  • Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.
  • Topic: Public Safety and Preparedness Fiscal note: This bill has been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-13 New Jersey Legislature

    Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee

Official Summary Text

Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.
Topic:
Public Safety and Preparedness
Fiscal note:
This bill has been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
A1683

ASSEMBLY, No. 1683

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes crime of law enforcement officer choking
another person; designated as George Floyd's Law.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
concerning law enforcement, designated as George
Floyd�s Law, and supplementing Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.�

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

���� 1.��� a.�� As used in this
act, �law enforcement officer� means a person whose public duties include the
power to act as an officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and
conviction of offenders against the laws of this State and who is acting in the
performance of the officer�s duties while in uniform or exhibiting evidence of
the officer's authority or status.�

���� b.��� A law enforcement
officer who knowingly places pressure on a person�s throat, windpipe, or
carotid artery, thereby hindering or preventing that person�s ability to
breathe, or interfering with the flow of blood from the person�s heart to the brain,
shall be guilty of a crime of the first degree.�

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill establishes a first
degree crime of a law enforcement officer choking another person.�

���� Under the bill, a law
enforcement officer who knowingly places pressure on a person�s throat,
windpipe, or carotid artery, thereby hindering or preventing that person�s
ability to breathe, or interfering with the flow of blood from the person�s
heart to the� brain, is guilty of a crime of the first degree.�
First degree crimes are punishable by a prison term of 10
to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both.

���� On June 5, 2020, the New
Jersey Office of the Attorney General issued notice that it will ban police
departments from using chokeholds, carotid artery neck restraints, or similar
tactics, except where deadly force is necessary.� This bill prohibits these
chokeholds.� The bill is designated as George Floyd�s Law, after George Floyd,
who died while being choked by a Minneapolis law
enforcement officer during an
arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill.