STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANTHONY S. VERRELLI
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblywoman CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Holley, Mejia and Assemblywoman McKnight
SYNOPSIS
Requires certain retailers to train employees on gift card fraud.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning gift cards and supplementing P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Every retail mercantile establishment in this State that displays gift cards for sale shall train employees on how to identify and respond to gift card fraud.
b. A retail mercantile establishment that violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000, which may be collected and enforced by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety in a summary proceeding pursuant to 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.
A violation of this section shall not be considered an unlawful practice in violation of P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).
c. As used in this section:
"Gift card" means a tangible device, whereon is embedded or encoded in an electronic or other format a value issued in exchange for payment, which promises to provide to the bearer merchandise of equal value to the remaining balance of the device.
“Merchandise” means any objects, wares, goods, commodities, services, or anything offered, directly or indirectly, to the public for sale.
"Retail mercantile establishment" means any place of business where merchandise is exposed or offered for sale at retail to members of the consuming public.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month after enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires every mercantile establishment in this State that displays gift cards for sale to train employees on how to identify and respond to gift card fraud. The bill defines “retail mercantile establishment” as any place of business where merchandise is exposed or offered for sale at retail to members of the consuming public.
A retail mercantile establishment that does not train employees as required by the bill will be subject to a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000. However, failure to train employees is not to be considered an unlawful practice in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.