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A4322
ASSEMBLY, No. 4322
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman� SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� Concerns prohibition of certain residential tenant
evictions and removals due to residential foreclosure during federal government
shutdown.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning foreclosure and tenant evictions during federal
government shutdown and supplementing Title 2A 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 P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.��������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
���� �Eligible resident� means a
resident of this State who is: (1) an employee of a federal government agency
who is furloughed because of a federal government shutdown and receives
unemployment benefits during the shutdown or who works during a shutdown but is
not paid because of the shutdown; or (2) a recipient of the federal
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program established pursuant to the �Food and
Nutrition Act of 2008,� Pub.L.110-246 (7 U.S.C. s.2011 et seq.).
���� �Federal government shutdown�
or �shutdown� means any period in which there is more than a 24-hour lapse in
appropriations for any federal government agency as a result of a failure to
enact a regular appropriations bill or continuing resolution due to an impasse
between the President and the Congress of the United States or between the two
Houses of Congress.
���� �Residential property� means
any property rented or owned for residential purposes, including, but not
limited to, any house, building, mobile home or land in a mobile home park, or
tenement leased for residential purposes, but shall not include any hotel,
motel, or other guest house, or part thereof, rented to a transient guest or
seasonal tenant, or a residential health care facility.
���� b.� Notwithstanding any other
law to the contrary, except as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection
c. of this section, whenever a federal government shutdown is in effect, the Governor
may issue an executive order to declare that an eligible resident shall not be
removed from a residential property as the result of an eviction or foreclosure
proceeding.� This executive order shall remain in effect for no longer than one
month following the end of the federal government shutdown.
���� c.���� Eviction and
foreclosure proceedings may be initiated or continued during the time of an
executive order issued pursuant to this section, but enforcement of all judgments
for possession, warrants of removal, and writs of possession shall be stayed
during this period if the Governor has issued an executive order prohibiting
certain removals from residential property pursuant to subsection b. of this
section, unless:
���� (1)� the court determines on
its own motion or motion of the parties that enforcement is necessary in the
interest of justice; or
���� (2)� in the case of an
eviction proceeding, the eviction action is not based on the nonpayment or
habitual late payment of rent, or the failure to pay a rent increase.
���� d.��� Sheriffs, court
officers, and their agents shall refrain from acting to remove individuals from
residential properties through the eviction or foreclosure processes during the
time of an executive order issued by the Governor prohibiting certain removals
from residential property pursuant to subsection b. of this section, except as
otherwise provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection c. of this section.
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.�
STATEMENT
���� This bill would provide that,
whenever a federal government shutdown is in effect, the Governor may issue an
executive order to declare that an eligible resident is not to be removed from
a residential property as the result of an eviction or foreclosure proceeding.�
The bill defines �eligible resident� as: (1) a federal government employee
furloughed due to the federal government shutdown; or (2) a recipient of
federal food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.�
An executive order would remain in effect for no longer than one month
following the end of the federal government shutdown.
���� The bill would permit eviction
and foreclosure proceedings to be initiated or continued during the time of the
executive order, but enforcement of all judgments for possession, warrants of
removal, and writs of possession would be stayed, unless:
�
the court
determines on its own motion or motion of the parties that enforcement is
necessary in the interest of justice; or
�
in the case of
an eviction proceeding, the eviction action is not based on the nonpayment or
habitual late payment of rent, or the failure to pay a rent increase.
���� With these exceptions, the
bill would require sheriffs, court officers, and their agents to refrain from
acting to remove individuals from residential properties through the eviction
or foreclosure processes during the time of the executive order.