Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH P. CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes three-year pilot program encouraging development of nonlethal weapons.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a three-year pilot program to encourage the development of nonlethal weapons for law enforcement purposes and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. There is created a special fund in the Department of Law and Public Safety, which shall be designated the Non-Lethal Weapons Innovation Fund. The fund shall be maintained in a separate account and administered by the Attorney General to carry out the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The fund shall be credited with the amount appropriated pursuant to section 4 of this act and any contributions made to the fund. All interest or other income or earnings derived from the investment or reinvestment of moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
2. a. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Higher Education, shall create and administer a three-year pilot program to encourage the development of non-lethal weapons for use by law enforcement. Under the program, the Attorney General shall award grants to institutions of higher education located in the State that successfully apply for selection to the program
b. Within 90 days of the effective date of this act, the Attorney General shall forward to each of the States four-year institutions of higher education information concerning the pilot program. To be eligible for consideration of a grant award under the program, an institution of higher education shall submit an application to the Attorney General within 90 days of receiving notice of the program. The application shall include a proposal providing a description of the institutions plan to conduct research and development of a non-lethal weapon or weapons for use by law enforcement and any other information as required by the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall provide a copy of each grant application received to the "Non-Lethal Weapons Innovation Technical Review Committee" established pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
c. The Attorney General shall establish selection criteria for the awarding of grants under the program and shall select institutions to participate in the program with the advice of the committee. Applicants that partner with private sector companies shall receive priority in the selection process. Each institute of higher education selected for a grant award shall receive a maximum of $1,000,000. A maximum of three institutions of higher education shall be selected as program participants.
d. Each program participant shall submit an annual report to the Attorney General and the committee. The first two annual reports shall include, but not be limited to, information concerning the use of the grant funds and progress in research and development during the preceding year. The final annual report shall include, but not be limited to, a summary of the use of grant funds and progress in research and development for the entirety of the three-year program.
e. Ninety days following receipt of the final annual reports submitted by the program participants, the Attorney General, in consultation with the committee, shall submit a final report to the Governor, and the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), that shall include, but not be limited to, a summary of the grant expenditures and research and development progress made by each program participant, a description of any non-lethal weapon or weapon technology developed under the program, and a recommendation as to whether the pilot program should be extended, amended, or made a permanent program.
f. For the purposes of this section, a non-lethal weapon is a weapon, device, or munition that is explicitly designed and primarily employed to incapacitate targeted personnel or material immediately, while minimizing fatalities, permanent injury to personnel, and undesired damage to property in the target area or environment, and maximizing the safety of responding law enforcement officers.
3. a. The Attorney General shall establish and oversee a committee entitled the "Non-Lethal Weapons Innovation Technical Review Committee" for the duration of the pilot program.
b. The membership and size of the committee shall be determined by the Attorney General, but shall be comprised of law enforcement, medicine, and social justice experts, including at least one member from each of the following organizations: New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association, Fraternal Order of Police, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the New Jersey Council for Social Studies, the Medical Society of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Medical Association. The committee shall organize as soon as practicable after the appointment of its members, shall select a chairperson from among its membership, and shall appoint a secretary who need not be a member of the committee. All members of the committee shall serve for a term concurrent with the effective period of the pilot program.
c. Any vacancy in the membership of the committee shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made.
d. It shall be the duty of the committee to:
(1) review and evaluate the applications to the pilot program and advise the Attorney General in the applicant selection process;
(2) review and evaluate the first two annual reports submitted by the program participants, in accordance with subsection d. of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and advise the Attorney General concerning ongoing grant fund allocation; and
(3) review and evaluate the final annual reports submitted by the program participants, in accordance with subsection d. of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and make recommendations to the Attorney General as to whether the pilot program should be extended, amended, or made a permanent program.
e. Members of the committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the committee, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the committee for its purpose
f. The Department of Law and Public Safety shall provide support staff to the committee, as necessary.
g. The committee shall expire on the 30th day after the date it issues its final recommendations to the Attorney General or upon the expiration of the pilot program, whichever occurs later.
4. There is appropriated from the General Fund to:
a. the Non-Lethal Weapons Innovation Fund the sum of $3,000,000 for grant awards pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); and
b. the Department of Law and Public Safety the sum of $200,000 to implement section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment, except that the Attorney General may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as may be necessary for the implementation of this act.
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