ASSEMBLY, No. 4977
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED JANUARY 31, 2019
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman RAJ MUKHERJI
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires DLPS to establish training program to prepare law enforcement to interact with autonomous vehicles.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Actconcerning preparing law enforcement to interact with autonomous vehicles and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Transportation, shall develop or approve a training course and curriculum for law enforcement officers regarding how to safely interact with autonomous vehicles in emergency and traffic enforcement situations. This training course and curriculum shall be reviewed at least every five years by the Attorney General and modified as need may require. The Attorney General shall make the curriculum available to all law enforcement agencies in the State.
b. The Attorney General shall be responsible for ensuring that all law enforcement officers complete in-service training on how to safely interact with autonomous vehicles no later than December 31, 2020.
c. Prior to being appointed to permanent status as a law enforcement officer, an individual shall be required to complete the training course adopted under subsection a. of this section.
d. The Police Training Commission shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L. 1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the purposes of this act.
e. As used in this section, "autonomous vehicle" means any vehicle equipped with technology that has the capability to operate the vehicle without the active physical control or monitoring of a human operator.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Transportation, to establish a training course to prepare law enforcement to interact with autonomous vehicles. The bill requires every law enforcement officer appointed prior to the effective date of this act to complete the training course no later than December 31, 2020. Prior to being appointed to permanent status as a law enforcement officer, an individual is required to complete the training course.
While autonomous vehicles are currently prohibited from being tested or operated on public highways in New Jersey, this bill will ensure that law enforcement will be prepared in emergency and traffic enforcement situations when autonomous vehicles begin operating on public highways.