S 4043 — Requires youth and sports organizations to obtain criminal history record background checks of certain volunteers, employees and organizers.*

S4043 S3016 SCS 6/11/26 SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE, No.Nos.

4043 and 3016 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 222nd LEGISLATURE   INTRODUCEDADOPTED MARCHJUNE 23,11, 2026     Sponsored by:

CORRADO District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)  Senator  Co-SponsoredJOSEPH by:F.

SenatorVITALE HenryDistrict  19  (Middlesex)    Co-Sponsored SYNOPSISby:      Requires youth and sports organizations to obtain criminal history record background checks of certain volunteers and employees.

Senators Beach and Henry   CURRENT  VERSION  OF  TEXTSYNOPSIS      AsRequires introduced.youth and sports organizations to obtain criminal history record background checks of certain volunteers, employees, and organizers.

    AnCURRENT ActVERSION concerningOF backgroundTEXT checks     Substitute as adopted by the Senate Law and amendingPublic P.L.1999,Safety c.432.Committee.

       An Act concerning background checks and amending P.L.1999, c.432.

     [“Nonprofit youth] “Youth serving organization” or “organization” means a sports team, league, athletic association, any person or organization that provides private athletic lessons, or any other corporation, private or non-profit association or other organization [established pursuant to Title 15 of the Revised Statutes, Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes, or other law of this State, but excluding] that provides recreational, cultural, charitable, socialsocial, or other activities or services for persons under years of age.age.  The term shall not include public and nonpublic schools [, and which provides recreational, cultural, charitable, social or other activities or services for persons younger than 18 years of age, and is exempt from federal income taxes] and youth camps licensed pursuant to P.L.1973, c.375 (C.26:12-1 et seq.).

The term shall not include public and nonpublic schools [, and which provides recreational, cultural, charitable, social or other activities or services] for persons [younger than] under years of age [, and is exempt from federal income taxes].

 [A nonprofit youth serving organization may] A youth serving organization shall request, through the department, that the State Bureau of Identification in the Division of State Police conduct a criminal history record background check on each prospective and current employee [or]  ,, volunteer, or organizer of [the] a youth serving organization.

     d.    The [organization or the] prospective or current employee [or] , volunteer , or organizer shall bear the costs associated with conducting criminal history background checks.  Notwithstanding any law or regulation to the contrary, the department shall not charge a fee for a criminal history record background check that exceeds the actual cost of conducting that check, as determined by the Attorney General.  The Attorney General shall annually certify to the State Treasurer the cost per criminal history background check in the immediately preceding year.       e.     Each employee, volunteer, or organizer of a youth serving organization shall have a criminal history record background check conducted at least once a year.

     f.     An employee, volunteervolunteer, or organizer of a youth serving organization who has received a criminal history record background check pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1986, c.116 (C.18A:6-7.1), or its equivalent, which shall include, but not be limited to, background checks utilized by national and international athletic associations dedicated to youth sports shall not be required to obtain an additional background check during the same calendar year in which the background check was required pursuant to this section.  The employeeemployee, volunteer, or volunteerorganizer shall submit proof of completion of the criminal history record background check to the youth serving organization.       g.    A youth serving organization that fails to request a criminal history record background check shall be subject to a civil penalty for each offense of up to $500 for a first offense, up to $750 for a second offense, and up to $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense.

The penalty shall be collected in a civil action by a summary proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).  The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction of proceedings for the enforcement of the penalty provided by this section.       h.    It shall be a crime of the fourth degree for an employeeemployee, volunteer, or volunteerorganizer to participate in a youth serving organization with the knowledge that the employeeemployee, volunteer, or volunteerorganizer is disqualified based on that person’s criminal history.       i.     It shall be a crime of the fourth degree for an organizer, coach, or any other person working in association with a youth serving organization to disregard the results of a criminal history background check or fail to obtain a criminal history background with knowledge that an employeeemployee, volunteer, or volunteerorganizer of the organization is disqualified from participating in the organization based on the criminal history of the employeeemployee, volunteer, or volunteer.organizer.

     j.     The provisions of this section shall not apply to a county or municipal government that has adopted an ordinance, rule, regulation, resolution, or personnel policy requiring annual criminal history record background checks of all employees, volunteers, and organizers who have contact with persons under 18 years of age through recreation, park, cultural, social, or athletic activities sponsored, operated, or administered by the county or municipality.

P.L.1999, c.432, s.2)        3.    Section 3 of P.L.1999, c.432 (C.15A:3A-3) is amended to read as follows:

     c.     Nothing herein shall be construed to authorize an excluded sex offender, as defined in section 1 of P.L.2009, c.139 (C.2C:7-22), to serve as an employee [or] , volunteer, or volunteerorganizer in a youth serving organization or any other entity from which the excluded sex offender is otherwise statutorily disqualified.  (cf:

     b.  The Attorney General shall perform an audit of information obtained from conducting criminal history record background checks with regard to youth serving organizations pursuant to P.L.1999, c.432 (C.15A:3A-1 et seq.) beginning no later than the first day of the 37th month following the enactment of P.L.   , , c.    (C.      ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).  bill).  The results of the audit shall be reported by the Attorney General to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature no later than six months following the commencement of the audit.  (cf:

    STATEMENT        This bill expands the criminal history record background check requirement for current or prospective employees, volunteers, and organizers of youth serving organizations.  The bill defines “youth serving organization” as a sports team, league, athletic association, any person or organization that provides private athletic lessons, or any other corporation, private or non-profit association or other organization that provides recreational, cultural, charitable, social or other activities or services for persons under 18 years of age.

     Under current law, a nonprofit youth serving organization may request, through the Department of Law and Public Safety, that the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) in the Division of State Police conduct a criminal history record background check on a prospective or current employee or volunteer of an organization.       This bill expands current law to require these nonprofit youth serving organizations to conduct criminal history record background checks and also require for-profit youth servicing entities to conduct these checks.

Under the bill, each employee, volunteer, or organizer of a youth serving organization would be required to have a criminal history record background check conducted at least once a year.  An employee, volunteer, or organizer who has received a criminal history record background or its equivalent, including, but not limited to, background checks utilized by national and international athletic associations dedicated to youth sports would not be required to obtain an additional background check during the same calendar year that the person is employed or volunteers with a youth serving organization.  The bill requires the Attorney General to report the results of the criminal history background check to the youth serving organization.

     The bill also establishes civil penalties for youth serving organizations that fail to request a criminal history background check.  Under the bill, a youth serving organization that fails to request a criminal history record background check would be subject to a civil penalty for each offense of up to $500 for a first offense, up to $750 for a second offense, and up to $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense.       Under the bill, an employee or volunteer who participates in youth serving organization with the knowledge that the employee or volunteer is disqualified from based on criminal history would be guilty of a fourth degree crime.   In addition, it would be a crime of the fourth degree for an organizer, coach, or any other person working in association with a youth serving organization to disregard results of a criminal history background check or fail to obtain a criminal history background check knowing that an employee or volunteer of the organization is disqualified from participating in the organization.  A crime of the fourth degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment for not more than months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

     The bill requires the Attorney General to perform an audit of information obtained from conducting criminal history record background checks with regard to youth serving organizations no later than three years following the bill’s enactment.   The results of the audit are to be reported to the Governor and Legislature no later than six months following the commencement of the audit.