Expands "Body Armor Replacement Fund" eligibility.

A193

ASSEMBLY, No. 193

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA

District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)

SYNOPSIS

���� Expands "Body Armor Replacement Fund"
eligibility.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
concerning eligibility for �Body Armor Replacement
Fund� grants and amending P.L.1997, c.177.

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

���� 1.��� Section 1 of P.L.1997,
c.177 (C.52:17B-4.4) is amended to read as follows:

���� 1.��� There is created in the
Department of Law and Public Safety a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as
the "Body Armor Replacement" fund.� This fund shall be the repository
for moneys provided pursuant to subsection d. of R.S.39:5-41 and shall be
administered by the Attorney General.� Moneys deposited in the fund, and any
interest earned thereon, shall be used exclusively for the purpose of making
grants to local law enforcement agencies, the Division of State Police, the
Division of Criminal Justice, the Administrative Office of the Courts
,

and the Department of Corrections for the purchase of body vests for the law
enforcement officers, investigators, probation officers and corrections
officers of those agencies
, and any other State department or agency that
appoints law enforcement officers
.� Of the moneys deposited into the fund,
an amount not to exceed $75,000 shall be allocated annually to the Department
of Law and Public Safety exclusively for the administration of the grant
program.

���� The grant program shall be
designed to effectuate a five-year vest replacement cycle, to the extent
practicable, for local law enforcement officers, the officers and troopers of
the State Police, investigators in the Division of Criminal Justice and State
corrections,
and any other law enforcement officers appointed by a State
department or agency,
and probation officers.� The Attorney General shall
provide for the distribution of the initial grants in a manner which is
conducive to establishing a balance among the number of local law enforcement
officers who are eligible for vest replacement grants in each year of the
five-year cycle.� In the same manner and to the greatest extent practicable,
the Attorney General shall establish a grant distribution schedule for the
officers and troopers of the State Police and investigators in the Division of
Criminal Justice that provides for a balance among the number of officers,
troopers and investigators receiving vest replacements in each year of the
five-year cycle.� In establishing a distribution schedule for State corrections
and probation officers, the Attorney General shall give first priority to those
State corrections officers assigned inmate supervision and control
responsibilities in the State's maximum security correctional facilities and
second priority to those officers assigned inmate supervision and control
responsibilities in the State's medium security correctional facilities.� The
distribution schedule for State corrections and probation officers shall be
based on a five-year cycle, but need not provide for a balance among the number
of officers receiving vests in each year of the five-year cycle.� The number of
probation officers, the replacement of whose vests shall be funded from grants
under this section, shall not exceed 200.

���� The Attorney General shall
promulgate rules and regulations to implement this grant program.� Those rules
and regulations shall include, but not be limited to application procedures for
local law enforcement agencies seeking vest replacement grants; criteria, such
as crime rates and the age and condition of the body vests currently utilized
by a local law enforcement agency's officers, to prioritize the awarding of
grants; and guidelines identifying those body vests, by manufacturer or brand
name, which may be purchased with grant moneys.�

���� As used in this section:

���� "Body vest" means
bullet resistant body armor which is intended to provide ballistic and trauma
protection; and

���� "Probation officer"
means a probation officer whose daily duties expose the officer to a
substantial risk of assault by deadly weapon.

����
�Law enforcement officer�
means a person who is empowered to act for the detection, apprehension, arrest,
conviction, detention, or rehabilitation of persons in violation of the law.

(cf: P.L.1999, c.360, s.1)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment, except
that the Attorney General may take any anticipatory administrative action in
advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

���� This bill expands the
eligibility criteria for recipients of grants provided by the �Body Armor
Replacement� fund.

���� Currently, local law
enforcement agencies, the Division of State Police, the Division of Criminal
Justice, the Administrative Office of the Courts, and the Department of
Corrections are entitled to grants from the �Body Armor Fund�.� This bill would
permit the Attorney General to administer grants to any other State agency or
department that appoints law enforcement officers, such as the Department of
Environmental Protection, which could then procure body vests for conservation
officers and State Park Police officers.

���� The bill also defines �law
enforcement officer� for the purpose of determining eligibility to receive
grant funding.