A 3256 — Requires restaurant to disclose mandatory gratuity to patrons.

A3256 1R [First Reprint] ASSEMBLY, No.

Assemblyman Miller, Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblyman Stanley, Assemblywoman QuijanoQuijano, andAssemblymen AssemblymanKarabinchak, KarabinchakScharfenberger, Assemblywomen Brennan, Speight, Morales and Haider         SYNOPSIS      Requires restaurant to disclose mandatory gratuity to patrons.

  CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT      IntroducedAs Pendingreported Technicalby Reviewthe byAssembly LegislativeConsumer Counsel.Affairs Committee on February 12, 2026, with amendments.

            2.   2.   This act shall take effect on the first day of the third1[third] seventh1 month next following the date of enactment.

    STATEMENT        This bill requires a restaurant to disclose a mandatory gratuity charge to a patron on the menu, at the entrance of the restaurant, on the patron’s bill, and if the restaurant operates a website, on the restaurant’s website.

Each point of disclosure is required to be in a prominent manner.

The bill supplements the consumer fraud act, P.L.1960, c.39, but does not apply the act’s penalties.

Violators of the bill’s provisions are subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for first offense, $2,500 for a second offense, and $5,000 for a third or subsequent offense.

For violations of a continuing nature, each day during which it continues constitutes an additional, separate, and distinct offense.

However, the bill provides that a person will not be charged with more than one violation per day.

A penalty imposed pursuant to the bill’s provisions is to be collected in a civil action under the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).