Stranger stalking bill edges closer to law

Senate lawmakers on Monday unanimously approved an expansion of state protective order statutes to provide stalking and harassment victims a smoother path to recourse when they’re targeted by a stranger.

The bipartisan bill would end a so-called “stranger loophole” that makes it more difficult — and sometimes impossible — for victims of stalking or cyber harassment to seek protective orders against people they’re not related to.

“While most stalkers tend to be current or former partners, in nearly one-fifth of cases, the perpetrator is a stranger. Stalking can go on for months or even years, forcing people to live in fear with no legal recourse until the situation escalates,” Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex), the bill’s prime sponsor, said in a statement.

She said the legislation would allow victims to protect themselves before a situation escalates.

Protective orders afforded under the bill would bar alleged assailants from contacting the victim or from entering their victim’s workplace, residence, and other locations named in court-issued orders. They would also prohibit future acts of stalking, cyber harassment, and sexual assault.

Though existing state laws allow victims of domestic violence to seek protective orders over stalking and cyber harassment, the Sexual Assault and Survivor Protection Act does not allow victims to seek protective orders against individuals with whom they have no relation.

That law, which the bill would rename the Victims Assistance and Survivor Protection Act, allows victims to seek protective orders against individuals who sexually assaulted them or engaged in other unwanted sexual contact.

Existing law allows adult stalking victims to obtain a restraining order against a stranger, but the latter individual must first be convicted on related charges. Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union), a sponsor of the bill, said this handcuffs how police can handle harassment complaints from some victims.

“They can’t take her to a court and get a restraining order against this guy because she never dated him or has no relationship, so what do you have to do? You then have to go to the court, fill out a criminal complaint, and now it comes up in the municipal court,” Bramnick said. “If you’ve had any experience in municipal court, it’s a nightmare.”

Electronic threats to commit violence, release or threatening to release obscene photos, or commit a crime would meet the bill’s definition of cyber harassment.

The bill awaits a full vote before the Assembly.

20-and-out

The Senate also unanimously concurred with Gov. Phil Murphy’s conditional veto of a bill to create a three-year pilot program allowing members of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System to retire after 20 years and receive pension payments equal to half their final salary.

As originally passed, the bill would have allowed the early retirements in perpetuity, but Murphy in his conditional veto said a two-year program enacted in 2021 that afforded PFRS members the same benefits did not provide the state with enough information on how such retirements would affect New Jersey’s debt-ridden pension system.

“New Jersey’s overall pension system is still suffering from decades of underfunding that preceded my time in office,” the governor said in his veto message.

Police unions supporting the bill have said early retirements would save the state money in the long run, noting those who retire after 20 years receive no health benefits and smaller pension payments than peers who put in at least 25 years.

The Assembly has yet to concur with the governor’s veto.

Payroll oversight for public contractors

Senators unanimously voted to require public contractors to submit payroll records related to public projects to a yet-to-be-created electronic system maintained by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The measure would also require public contractors to register online instead of in writing, as current law mandates.

Under the bill, contractors would still be required to make payroll records available to the government that awarded the contract and would be required to extend that same right to union representatives.

The bill would go into effect one year after being signed into law. The Assembly is set to vote on the measure Thursday.