The "New Jersey Bleacher Safety Act."

S3783

SENATE, No. 3783

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 5, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANTHONY M. BUCCO

District 25 (Morris and Passaic)

Senator� KRISTIN M. CORRADO

District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)

SYNOPSIS

���� The "New Jersey Bleacher Safety Act."

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning bleacher safety and supplementing P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-119 et
seq.).

����
Be It Enacted

by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� P.L.��� , c.��� (C.�����
��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be known and may be
cited as the "New Jersey Bleacher Safety Act."

���� 2.��� As used in P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� "Bleachers" means
structures that provide tiered or stepped seating, generally without backrests,
and may be permanent, stationary, temporary, portable, or telescopic and are
used in a place of public accommodation for the seating of its occupants.

���� "Commissioner" means
the Commissioner of Community Affairs.

���� "Governmental
entity" means the State, its agencies and instrumentalities, a county or
municipality, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, a school district, or
any other similar public entity or agency, but not the federal government or its
agencies and instrumentalities.

���� "Nonprofit entity"
means a person or entity which operates a place of public accommodation
containing bleachers open to the public or open to users of a facility operated
by the person or entity, and which is an exempt organization pursuant to section
9 of P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-9), the "Sales and Use Tax Act," but
not a governmental entity or the federal government or its agencies and
instrumentalities.

���� "Place of public
accommodation" means a public or privately- owned sports or entertainment
arena or park, gymnasium, auditorium, stadium, hall, special event center in a
public park or other facility for public assembly.

���� "Private entity"
means any person or entity which operates a place of public accommodation
containing bleachers open to the public or open to users of a facility operated
by the person or entity, but not a governmental entity, a nonprofit entity or
the federal government or its agencies and instrumentalities.

���� 3.��� a.� The commissioner
shall adopt within six months of the effective date of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.�����
��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) and pursuant to the
"State Uniform Construction Code Act," P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-119
et seq.), safety standards for existing bleachers to minimize the risk of falls
or injuries from these bleachers.� The commissioner shall utilize, in
promulgating these standards, the guidelines created by the United States
Consumer Product Safety Commission for the retrofitting of existing bleachers,
or other standards adopted by a nationally or internationally recognized model
code organization concerning safety standards for existing bleachers.

���� b.��� The commissioner shall
adopt the rules and regulations necessary to effectuate P.L.��� , c.���
(C.����� ��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), including regulations
for the certification and inspection of bleachers pursuant to the
"Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).

���� 4.��� a.� All governmental
entities operating a place of public accommodation containing bleachers shall
upgrade their bleachers by replacement or improvement as necessary to satisfy
the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��)
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) to the extent State funds are
available for that purpose through State bonds or other means, or within one
year following the effective date of those rules and regulations.� Bleachers
not certified to the commissioner as complying with the provisions of P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) by the end of
the one-year period shall be forbidden to be used.

���� b.��� All private entities
operating a place of public accommodation containing bleachers shall upgrade
their bleachers by replacement or improvement as necessary to satisfy the rules
and regulations promulgated pursuant to P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) within two years following the effective
date of those rules and regulations.� Bleachers not certified to the
commissioner as complying with the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) by the end of the two-year period
shall be forbidden to be used.

���� c.���� All nonprofit entities
operating a place of public accommodation containing bleachers shall upgrade
their bleachers by replacement or improvement as necessary to satisfy the rules
and regulations promulgated pursuant to P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) within two years following the effective
date of those rules and regulations.� Bleachers not certified to the commissioner
as complying with the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) by the end of the two-year period
shall be forbidden to be used.

���� 5.��� a.� All governmental
entities, private entities, and nonprofit entities operating a place of public
accommodation containing bleachers which are not certified to be in compliance
with the regulations promulgated pursuant to P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��)
(pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall post in a conspicuous
place on each bleacher until such compliance is achieved, a notice, in 24-point
bold-faced capital letters, as follows:

���� "
WARNING:� P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) REQUIRES
BLEACHERS TO BE EQUIPPED WITH CERTAIN SAFETY FEATURES TO PREVENT ACCIDENTAL
FALLS OR INJURIES.� THIS BLEACHER IS NOT CERTIFIED AS BEING IN COMPLIANCE WITH
THAT ACT.� PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
"

���� b.��� All governmental
entities, private entities, and nonprofit entities operating a place of public
accommodation containing bleachers which are not certified to be in compliance
with the regulations promulgated pursuant to P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��)
(pending before the Legislature as this bill), upon the deadline for compliance
as set forth in section 4 of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.����� ��) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill), shall post in a conspicuous place on each bleacher,
a notice, in 24-point bold-faced capital letters, as follows:

���� "
NOTICE THIS BLEACHER
IS NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE "NEW JERSEY BLEACHER SAFETY ACT," P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill), AND THEREFORE SHALL NOT BE
OCCUPIED OR USED UNTIL PROPER CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE IS MADE TO THE
COMMISSIONER OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, STATE OF NEW JERSEY."

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

STATEMENT

���� The "New Jersey Bleacher
Safety Act" would require stricter safety standards to be adopted for
existing bleachers at places of public accommodation within the State.� Each
year, there are an average of 19,100 injuries to people in the United States,
many of them children, directly attributable to falls from bleachers or unsafe
conditions of bleachers.� In the past twenty years, there have been at least 10
deaths related to falls from bleachers, four of them involving children under
the age of 15.� In New Jersey, three-year old Adam J. Graham suffered severe
injuries when he tumbled through a gap in the bleacher seating at a school
athletic event.� According to the United States Consumer Product Safety
Commission, falls from bleachers can occur when guardrails are missing from the
backs or open sides of bleachers.� Falls from bleachers also occur when there
are large enough openings between components in the seating and the guardrails
to permit a person to pass through them.� Often the falls involve openings
between the components of the seating, such as between the footboard and seat
board, as was the case with Adam's fall, but other falls through spaces related
to the guardrails have occurred as well.� In addition to the risk of falls,
some bleachers are dilapidated or poorly constructed, and are at risk of
collapsing.�

���� Although the New Jersey State
Uniform Construction Code (UCC) has incorporated standards for bleacher safety,
these standards are applicable to new bleachers only, and do not require the
retrofitting of existing bleachers with safety features to prevent falls or
injuries.� This bill would require the Commissioner of Community Affairs to
adopt, within six months of the effective date of the bill, safety standards
for existing bleachers, which would involve replacement of these bleachers, or
their retrofitting to make them safe.� In promulgating the standards, the
commissioner is directed by the bill to utilize the guidelines created by the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for the retrofitting of existing
bleachers, or to use standards for the retrofitting of bleachers developed by
nationally or internationally recognized model code agencies.� The commissioner
is also directed by the bill to establish certification and inspection
procedures.

���� The bill requires a place of
public accommodation, defined as a public or privately- owned sports or
entertainment arena or park, gymnasium, auditorium, stadium, hall, special
event center in a public park or other facility for public assembly, to replace
or retrofit existing bleachers in compliance with the code.� Governmental
entities from which funding would be available for such purposes are required
to comply immediately after regulations are adopted by the commissioner.� An
example of governmental entities which may have access to funding for such
purposes would be school districts which are eligible for funds from bond acts
or other funding for school facilities.� Governmental entities not having
access to immediate funding would have one year from the date of the
promulgation of the regulations requiring retrofitting to comply.� Private or
nonprofit entities would have two years to comply with the regulations.�
Entities would be required to post a warning notice on bleachers that have not
yet been certified as being in compliance with the UCC for safety features.� A
bleachers that is not certified as in compliance with the State Uniform
Construction Code by the end of the allotted time period (one year for
governmental entities, two years for all others) will be required to have a
notice posted in a conspicuous place forbidding its use until certification has
occurred.