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A 4841

Establishes the removing barriers to higher education success act

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Keith Brown and 6 co-sponsors

Expands the LAD to ban housing discrimination based on the source of lawful income used for rent or mortgage, protecting renters and homebuyers.

REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION
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Bill Summary · A 4841

Summary — A4841: “Removing Barriers to Higher Education Success Act” (amends P.L.1945, c.169 — Law Against Discrimination)

Note on title: Although titled to reference higher education success, the bill’s substantive amendments modify the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) and principally address discrimination based on the source of lawful income (particularly in housing and related LAD provisions).

Purpose / Intent

  • Clarify and make consistent the LAD’s prohibition against discrimination based on the “source of lawful income,” explicitly including income used for rental or mortgage payments.
  • Update statutory language for clarity and neutrality (gender-neutral phrasing and technical edits).
  • Modify (and, by later amendment, then restore) certain employment-related provisions originally proposed.

Key provisions

  • Adds explicit reference in LAD policy and findings (C.10:5-3) to “source of lawful income used for rental or mortgage payments” as a protected basis of discrimination.
  • Amends LAD definitions and related statutory text (Section 5 / C.10:5-5) to incorporate the source-of-lawful-income concept and related technical updates (full definition language is included in the bill text but truncated in the provided excerpt).
  • Makes gender-neutral and other technical corrections throughout the statute.
  • Initially proposed to change the dollar threshold governing when mandatory retirement is not an unlawful employment practice (raising an immediate retirement benefit threshold from $27,000 to $44,000), but later amendments:
    • Removed that dollar adjustment.
    • Restored an existing statutory provision that permits employers to restrict employment to U.S. citizens where federal law or national security requires it.

Who would be affected

  • Individuals seeking housing (renters, buyers) whose rental or mortgage payments derive from various lawful income sources—examples include wages, pensions, Social Security, public benefits or vouchers, third-party payments—would be explicitly protected from discrimination based on that income source.
  • Landlords, property managers, mortgage lenders, real estate professionals, and other housing actors subject to LAD.
  • Employers only to the extent of the now-restored existing citizenship exceptions; the proposed retirement-dollar change was removed and does not take effect.
  • Enforcement and remedies remain under LAD (Division on Civil Rights, with available remedies such as compensatory and punitive damages as provided by law).

Procedural status / timeline (selected)

  • Introduced in Assembly: 9/23/2024 (Referred to Assembly Labor Committee).
  • Reported out of committee: 10/24/2024.
  • Assembly floor amendment (Wimberly) adopted: 12/19/2024.
  • Passed Assembly: 1/30/2025 (42–25–0).
  • Received in Senate and referred: 2/3/2025 (Senate Community & Urban Affairs), then referred to Higher Education: 2/6/2025.
  • Bill takes effect immediately upon enactment (per bill text).

Sponsors and related legislation

  • Primary sponsor: Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Cosponsors include MaryJane Shimsky, Brian Maher, Phil Steck, David McDonough, Keith Brown, and Albert A. Stirpe.
  • Companion Senate bill: S3759.
  • Prior-session analogue: A10468.

Potential impact / considerations

  • Clarifies legal protections for tenants and prospective homeowners who rely on non-wage lawful income (e.g., housing vouchers, benefits, third-party payments), reducing ambiguity in LAD enforcement and likely limiting housing practices that screen out applicants based solely on income source.
  • No substantive change to employer citizenship exceptions (restored) and no change to mandatory retirement thresholds (adjustment removed), per later amendments.
  • Administrative enforcement and litigation under LAD could increase as the “source of lawful income” protection is clarified and applied to rental and mortgage decisions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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