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S3946 1R FISCAL ESTIMATE
LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
SENATE, No. 3946
[First
Reprint]
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
DATED: JULY 2, 2026
SUMMARY
Synopsis:
Expands criminal and civil penalties for human trafficking,
and expands human trafficking training requirements for law enforcement.
Type of Impact:
Annual State expenditure and revenue increases.� Annual
local expenditure increase.
Agencies Affected:
Department of Law and Public Safety; County Prosecutors; the
Judiciary; Department of Corrections; State Parole Board; Office of the Public
Defender.
Office of
Legislative Services Estimate
Fiscal Impact
�
Annual�
�
State Expenditure Increase
Indeterminate
State Revenue Increase
Indeterminate
Local Expenditure Increase
Indeterminate
�
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that this bill
will result in an indeterminate annual increase in State and local expenditures
and State revenues.� The bill expands criminal and civil penalties for human
trafficking,
and expands human trafficking
training requirements for law enforcement.� The bill amends current law to
provide that an attempt to commit the crime of human trafficking is a crime of
the first degree.� Therefore, the OLS finds that the following State and local
agencies may incur caseload and expenditure increases: a) the Department of Law
and Public Safety may need to prosecute cases and provide guidance to the
county prosecutors, as well as �address new training requirements; b) county
prosecutors may have to prosecute additional cases and negotiate an increased
number of plea agreements; c) the Judiciary may have to adjudicate additional
cases; d) the Department of Corrections may have to house more offenders for
longer terms of imprisonment; e) the State Parole Board would have to supervise
an additional number of offenders returning to society; and f) the Office of the
Public Defender would have to represent additional low-income criminal
defendants.
�
The OLS notes that the Judiciary will incur an indeterminate
increase in annual operating expenditures, as additional resources will likely
have to be allocated to a potentially increased civil caseload for lawsuits
related to human trafficking.� The OLS also anticipates collections from court
fees to grow in tandem with the caseload.
BILL DESCRIPTION
����� The bill clarifies several aspects of current human
trafficking law.� First, the bill clarifies that a person who knowingly
receives anything of value, including non-monetary items, or benefits
financially from participation in a scheme or course of conduct which the
person knows or should have known violates the provisions of the statute, is
guilty of human trafficking.� Second, the bill clarifies that a person is
guilty of human trafficking if the person knowingly holds, recruits, lures,
entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains, by any of the means
enumerated in the statute, a child under 18 years of age to provide labor or
services, whether or not the actor mistakenly believed that the child was 18
years of age or older, even if that mistaken belief was reasonable.� Third, the
bill separates sex trafficking of adults and sex trafficking of children into
distinct crimes which may be charged under the statute.
����� The bill amends current law to provide that an attempt
to commit the crime of human trafficking is a crime of the first degree, the
same degree under current law for committing the crime or a conspiracy to
commit the crime.� A crime of the first degree is punishable by a term of
imprisonment of 10 to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both.�
����� The bill expands the crime of failure to report an act
of child abuse or sexual abuse of a child, by adding provisions concerning a
person�s efforts to prevent or attempt to prevent the making of a report.� Such
criminal prevention efforts would be graded as a crime of the fourth degree,
punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to
$10,000, or both.� If an employer engaged in such criminal prevention efforts,
the employer would be guilty of a crime of the third degree, punishable by a
term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.
����� The bill provides that a
prosecutor,
in consideration of the interests of the
victim, may offer a negotiated plea agreement in which the defendant would be
sentenced to a specific term of imprisonment that is not less than 10 years,
during which the defendant shall not be eligible for parole.� The prosecutor is
required to provide, in writing, specific reasons for making such an offer.�
The court is authorized to accept a negotiated plea and, upon conviction,
impose the term of imprisonment and period of parole ineligibility provided in
the plea agreement.� However, the court may not impose a sentence that is less
than the term provided in the plea agreement.
����� The Attorney General is required to develop guidelines
to ensure the uniform exercise of discretion regarding a negotiated plea
agreement.�
����� In addition to civil liability for certain other
crimes pursuant to current law, the bill provides that certain individuals or
entities are not entitled to immunity from civil liability for damages
resulting from human trafficking offenses or advertising commercial sexual
abuse of a minor caused by a willful, wanton, or certain grossly negligent acts.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
����� None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
����� The OLS finds that this bill will result in an
indeterminate annual increase in State and local expenditures and State
revenues.� The bill expands criminal and civil penalties for human trafficking,
and expands human trafficking training requirements
for law enforcement.� The bill amends current law to provide that an attempt to
commit the crime of human trafficking is a crime of the first degree.�
Therefore, the OLS finds that the following State and local agencies may incur
caseload and expenditure increases: a) the Department of Law and Public Safety
may need to prosecute cases and provide guidance to the county prosecutors, as
well as� address new training requirements; b) county prosecutors may have to
prosecute additional cases and negotiate an increased number of plea
agreements; c) the Judiciary may have to adjudicate additional cases; d) the
Department of Corrections may have to house more offenders for longer terms of
imprisonment; e) the State Parole Board would have to supervise an additional number
of offenders returning to society; and f) the Office of the Public Defender
would have to represent additional low-income criminal defendants.
����� The OLS notes that the Judiciary will incur an
indeterminate increase in annual operating expenditures, as additional
resources will likely have to be allocated to a potentially increased civil
caseload related to human trafficking.� The OLS also anticipates collections
from court filing fees to grow in tandem with the caseload.
����� The OLS finds that to the extent that the bill will
result in additional incarcerations, based on information provided by the
Department of Corrections, the average annual cost of incarceration is
projected to be $78,848 per incarcerated person in FY 2026 and the marginal
cost of housing one additional incarcerated person, accounting for food,
clothing, and wages is projected to be $4,385.
����� According to the State Parole Board, the annual
average marginal cost of supervising one additional parolee is estimated at
$4,002 for FY 2026.� The average cost per parolee, with all overhead costs
included, is estimated at $6,884 for FY 2026.
����� The OLS also notes the State may receive indeterminate
revenue from fines imposed on individuals convicted of human trafficking;
however, the State�s ability to collect fines has historically been limited.
����� For informational purposes, the OLS notes that the
Attorney General listed combating human trafficking as one of her top five
priorities in her April 8, 2026 testimony to the Assembly Budget Committee, and
that there is a dedicated Human Trafficking Unit in the Division of Criminal
Justice.
Section:
Judiciary
Analyst:
Anuja Pande Joshi
Senior Fiscal Analyst
Approved:
Thomas Koenig
Legislative Budget and Finance Officer
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the
Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to
respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980,
c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).