Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ELIANA PINTOR MARIN
District 29 (Essex)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Johnson
SYNOPSIS
Requires adoption of and training on anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy by certain campaign committees; creates Office on Discrimination and Harassment Prevention; appropriates $2,000,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the prevention and remediation of discrimination and harassment occurring in certain campaign committees, supplementing P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-1 et seq.), and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. Years of reporting, legislative hearings, public listening sessions and surveys have documented the toxic climate of harassment, sexual violence and misogyny that too often pervades New Jersey s political culture.
b. Political candidates, campaigns and party organizations have a vested interest in suppressing, hiding or ignoring allegations of sexual misconduct to avert political damage or preserve personal power and control.
c. The practice of politics is conducted in a fluid sphere of political campaigns, party organizations, and the after-hours intersection of politics, government, lobbying and advocacy where traditional human resource policies and protections often do not apply or do not exist.
d. Survivors of sexual violence, harassment and other misconduct risk retaliation, side-lining or the loss of their political careers if they complain publicly or even privately about misogynistic treatment, and those who do rarely receive justice.
e. Therefore, it is necessary to require campaigns and political organizations to adopt anti-harassment policies, implement training and designate individuals to receive confidential complaints of sexual misconduct, and also to establish an independent investigative unit not subject to control by campaign, party or elected officials to receive and probe allegations of sexual violence, harassment and misconduct in the world of New Jersey politics.
2. As used in this act, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
Campaign and political staff includes any person, whether paid or unpaid, rendering personal, clerical, administrative, or professional services, including, without limitation, public relations, research, legal, canvassing, telephone, speech writing, or other such services; except that campaign and political staff shall not include such persons who are unpaid if they render such services four or less days during one calendar year.
Candidate committee, joint candidates committee, political party committee, and continuing political committee shall have the meanings prescribed for those terms by section 3 of P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-3).
Governmental affairs agent shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.1971, c.183 (C.52:13C-20).
Member of the press means any individual who works in the gathering, processing, disseminating, and delivery of news and information that serves the public interest to the public through mass media, including on Internet platforms, television, radio, and in newspapers.
Political activities means any effort to support or oppose any candidate, partisan political office, or partisan political group. Political activities shall also include any efforts to influence the passage or defeat of any legislation, policy, or regulation.
Political contributions means any payment to an individual, other than a candidate, political party, or an affiliated organization, to render services and engage in political activities.
Protected category means race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, pregnancy or breast feeding, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, familial status, religion, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or disability.
Sexual harassment means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
Third-party harassment means unwelcome behavior involving any protected category that is not directed at an individual but exists in the workplace and interferes with an individual's ability to do the individual s job.
Trauma-informed care or trauma-informed interviewing means care or services provided pursuant to an approach that: (1) recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms in a person; (2) acknowledges the role trauma may play in an individual s life; (3) integrates knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; (4) is guided by principles of establishing safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment and choice, and an understanding of cultural, historical, and gender issues; and (5) actively avoids re-traumatization.
3. a. There is created within the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, established pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-5), an Office on Discrimination and Harassment Prevention. The office shall be comprised of at least three employees, which shall include, at a minimum, a director and two investigators. The investigators shall have professional expertise in the area of survivor support and trauma-informed interviewing.
b. The office shall receive, review, and investigate, in a prompt, thorough, and impartial manner, all reasonable and good faith complaints of discrimination or harassment received from or made against:
(1) any candidate or campaign and political staff member of a candidate committee, joint candidates committee, or political party committee;
(2) any member of a political party committee or continuing political committee;