Requires lobby security for certain senior citizen high-rise buildings in areas with high violent crime rates.

S3926

SENATE, No. 3926

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 12, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires lobby security for certain senior citizen
high-rise buildings in areas with high violent crime rates.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning senior citizen security in certain high rise
buildings and amending P.L.1967, c.76 and
P.L.1983, c.154.

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

���� 1.��� Section 7 of P.L.1967,
c.76 (C.55:13A-7) is amended to read as follows:

���� 7.��� The commissioner shall
issue and promulgate, in the manner specified in section 8 of P.L.1967, c.76
(C.55:13A-8), such regulations as the commissioner may deem necessary to assure
that any hotel or multiple dwelling will be maintained in such manner as is
consistent with, and will protect, the health, safety and welfare of the
occupants or intended occupants thereof, or of the public generally.

���� Any such regulations issued
and promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to this section shall provide
standards and specifications for such maintenance materials, methods and
techniques, fire warning and extinguisher systems, elevator systems, emergency
egresses, and such other protective equipment as the commissioner shall deem
reasonably necessary to the health, safety and welfare of the occupants or
intended occupants of any units of dwelling space in any hotel or multiple
dwelling, including but not limited to:

���� (a)�� Structural adequacy
ratings;

���� (b)�� Methods of egress,
including fire escapes, outside fireproof stairways, independent stairways, and
handrails, railings, brackets, braces and landing platforms thereon, additional
stairways, and treads, winders, and risers thereof, entrances and ramps;

���� (c)�� Bulkheads and scuttles,
partitions, walls, ceilings and floors;

���� (d)�� Garbage and refuse
collection and disposal, cleaning and janitorial services, repairs, and
extermination services;

���� (e)�� Electrical wiring and
outlets, and paints and the composition thereof;

���� (f)�� Doors, and the manner of
opening thereof;

���� (g)�� Transoms, windows,
shafts and beams;

���� (h)�� Chimneys, flues and
central heating units;

���� (i)��� Roofing and siding
materials;

���� (j)��� Lots, yards, courts and
garages, including the size and location thereof;

���� (k)�� Intakes, open ducts,
offsets and recesses;

���� (l)��� Windows, including the
size and height thereof;

���� (m)� Rooms, including the area
and height thereof, and the permissible number of occupants thereof;

���� (n)�� Stairwells, skylights
and alcoves;

���� (o)�� Public halls, including
the lighting and ventilation thereof;

���� (p)�� Accessory passages to
rooms;

���� (q)�� Cellars, drainage and
air space;

���� (r)��� Water-closets,
bathrooms and sinks;

���� (s)�� Water connections,
including the provision of drinking and hot and cold running water;

���� (t)��� Sewer connections,
privies, cesspools, and private sewers;

���� (u)�� Rain water and drainage
conductors;

���� (v)�� Entrances and ramps;
[
and
]

���� (w)� Presence of lead-based
paint hazards in multiple dwellings and in single-family and two-family
dwellings, exclusive of owner-occupied dwelling units, subject to P.L.2003,
c.311 (C.52:27D-437.1 et al.).� In a common interest community, any inspection
fee for and violation found within a unit which is solely related to this
subsection shall be the responsibility of the unit owner and not the
homeowners' association, unless the association is the owner of the unit
;
and

����
(x)�� Security of residents
in lobbies and interior common areas
.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.251, s.5)

���� 2.��� Section 2 of P.L.1983,
c.154 (C.55:13A-13.1) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.��� a.� Any retirement
community as defined in the� "Retirement Community Full Disclosure
Act,"� P.L.1969, c.215 (C.45:22A-1 et seq.) shall be exempt from inclusion
in the definition of multiple dwellings contained in paragraph (k) of section 3
of P.L.1967, c.76 (C.55:13A-3), provided that the retirement community complies
with the basic standards relating directly to
resident physical safety and
to
fire safety which are established for its buildings by
subsection d.
of this section and by
rule or regulation of the commissioner and provided
further, that the retirement community files with the commissioner, at least
once every five years, as evidence of a satisfactory self-inspection, a
completed checklist, which shall be provided by the commissioner, of items
established under the fire safety regulations.� The retirement community shall
also file a certification, from the municipal fire protection subcode official
or an equally competent person selected and paid by the municipality in which
the retirement community is located, that the self-inspection has been properly
carried out.� A fee schedule for certification may be established by the
municipality providing for a charge of up to $8.00 per dwelling unit for each
of the first 100 units inspected and up to $5.00 per unit for each unit
inspected thereafter.

���� b.��� The commissioner may
require common area smoke detectors in buildings, and the retirement community
may utilize detector units which are either (1) of the alternating current (AC)
constantly active electric circuit type, which cannot be deactivated by the
operation of any interconnected switching device and which comply with the
latest NJPA-70 (National Electrical Code) requirements or (2) of the
battery-powered single station type.� The owners of each unit utilizing any
common area shall be jointly responsible for inspecting the detector unit in
the common area and for ensuring that its battery is inspected periodically and
replaced at least annually.

���� c.���� If the municipality
determines, as a result of the most recent self-inspection of any building or
unit as required by this amendatory and supplementary act, that any building or
unit does not comply with the provisions of this amendatory and supplementary
act and regulations promulgated thereunder, then the municipality shall issue
to the nonprofit corporation a written notice stating the manner in which a
building or unit does not comply with this amendatory and supplementary act or
regulations promulgated thereunder.� The notice shall fix a date, not less than
60 days nor more
[
then
]

than
180
days, upon which a building or unit shall comply with the provisions of this
amendatory and supplementary act and regulations promulgated, thereunder.� If
building or unit does not comply with the provisions of this amendatory and
supplementary act and regulations promulgated, on or before the date fixed in
the notice, the municipality shall notify the commissioner, who shall enforce
the provisions of P.L.1967, c.76 (C.55:13A-1 et seq.) against the nonprofit
corporation or the unit owner thereof, based on their respective liabilities as
contained in the nonprofit corporation's master deed, bylaws, and rules and
regulations.

����
d.��� (1)� In every
municipality for which the violent crime rate exceeds six per 1,000 persons
according to the average of the three most recent Uniform Crime Reports issued
by the New Jersey State Police, the lobby of a retirement community that is a
multiple dwelling consisting of at least 50 dwelling units shall have 24-hour
security monitoring.� In municipalities for which the violent crime rate is six
or less per 1,000 persons according to the average of the three most recent
Uniform Crime Reports issued by the New Jersey State Police, the commissioner
may require lobby or interior common area security monitoring upon evidence of
persistent criminal activity against residents in the building.� The security
monitoring required by this subsection shall be accomplished through the use of
video surveillance cameras operated 24 hours a day, trained on and recording
all building exits and entrances, as well as any common areas, including
parking lots, where criminal

incidents have occurred within the past 12
months.� If the multiple dwelling consists of 75 dwelling units or more, then
the building shall also be monitored 24 hours a day by the on-site security
guard or guards.� The recordings of the video surveillance cameras shall be
maintained for at least 60 days.� A licensed security guard shall be a
uniformed employee of a licensed security officer company or a uniformed
special police officer of the municipality, and shall comply with the
requirements as set forth in the "Security Officer Registration Act,"
P.L.2004, c.134 (C.45:19A-1 et seq.) when applicable.�

����
The security standards set
forth in this subsection are minimum standards, and shall not prevent any
municipality from enacting greater security standards.
�

����
(2)�� The Commissioner of
Community Affairs, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall annually
notify each retirement community that is a multiple dwelling and is located in
a municipality for which the violent crime rate exceeds six per 1,000 persons according
to the three most recent Uniform Crime Reports issued by the New Jersey State
Police, of its lobby security requirement pursuant to this subsection.

(cf: P.L.1983, c.154, s.2)

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately, but, except for the promulgation of rules, regulations, and
notices, shall remain inoperative until the first day of the seventh month next
following enactment.

STATEMENT

����� This bill requires the owners of senior citizen
high-rise buildings having 50 units or more to provide 24-hour security if the
building is located in a municipality with a violent crime rate exceeding six
per 1,000 persons, according to the average of the three most recent Uniform
Crime Reports issued by the New Jersey State Police.�

����� The Commissioner of Community Affairs, in
consultation with the Attorney General, would be responsible for annually
notifying the owners of those buildings of their security obligations under the
law.� The bill requires buildings consisting of 75 dwelling units or more to
meet their security obligation through 24-hour monitoring by on-site security
guards.� If the building consists of at least 50, but fewer than 75 dwelling
units, then the security obligation may be satisfied through the use of video
surveillance cameras operated 24 hours a day, recording all building exits and
entrances, as well as any common areas, including parking lots, where criminal
incidents have occurred within the past 12 months.� The bill enables the
Commissioner of Community Affairs to order a building owner in a municipality
with a violent crime rate of six or less per 1,000 persons to provide security
in the lobby or other common area upon evidence of persistent criminal activity
against residents in the building.�

���� The bill also gives the
commissioner the authority to issue regulations concerning the security of
residents in lobbies and interior common areas of hotels and multiple dwellings
in general.� The bill contains a delayed operative date of approximately six
months to allow time for the promulgation of rules, regulations, and notices.