Bill Text: NJ A4195 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Criminalizes tampering with school bus recordings; requires schools to have school bus video reviewed and to adopt plan for monthly inspection of cameras and video footage.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-25 - Received in the Senate, Referred to Senate Transportation Committee [A4195 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A4195-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Criminalizes tampering with school bus recordings; requires schools to have school bus video reviewed and to adopt plan for monthly inspection of cameras and video footage.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning school bus safety, amending N.J.S.2C:28-7, and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2C:28-7 is amended to read as follows:
2C:28-7. Tampering with public records or information.
a. Offense defined. A person commits an offense if he:
(1) Knowingly makes a false entry in, or false alteration of, any record, document or thing belonging to, or received or kept by, the government for information or record, or required by law to be kept by others for information of the government;
(2) Makes, presents, offers for filing, or uses any record, document, or thing knowing it to be false, and with purpose that it be taken as a genuine part of information or records referred to in paragraph (1); or
(3) Purposely and unlawfully destroys, conceals, removes, mutilates, or otherwise impairs the verity or availability of any such record, document, or thing.
b. Grading. An offense under subsection a. is a disorderly persons offense unless the actor's purpose is to defraud or injure anyone, in which case the offense is a crime of the third degree.
c. A person commits a crime of the fourth degree if he purposely and unlawfully alters, destroys, conceals, removes, or disables any camera or other monitoring device including any videotape, film, or other medium used to record sound or images that is installed in a patrol vehicle or a school bus.
(cf: P.L.2001, c.219, s.1)
2. (New section) a. Each school district that uses cameras to record images on school buses shall appoint an employee to randomly review such recorded images during each month. Each school district that contracts for the provision of school bus service shall require that any such contract include a provision that designates an individual to randomly review, once per month, the recorded images pertaining to any school bus that uses cameras to record images on the school bus.
b. Each school district that uses cameras to record images on school buses shall submit a plan to the Commissioner of Education for the monthly inspection of cameras and video footage from school buses, which shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner. The commissioner shall approve any plan deemed sufficient to ensure that the cameras are operational and used properly. If the commissioner deems a plan insufficient, the commissioner shall reject the plan, provide recommendations to correct the insufficiencies, and, where appropriate, take such other action as is necessary to bring the school into compliance with the provisions of this subsection.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month after enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that altering, destroying, concealing, removing, or disabling any camera or other monitoring device including any videotape, film, or other medium used to record sound or images that is installed in a school bus is a crime of the fourth degree.
The bill requires each school that uses cameras to record images to have the images randomly reviewed once per month. The bill also requires each school district to submit a plan to the Commissioner of Education (commissioner) for the monthly inspection of cameras and video footage from school buses, which will be subject to the approval of the commissioner.
