Increases penalties relating to the underage use of cannabis

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Keith Brown and 3 co-sponsors

Enacts per-day fines for ongoing housing/zoning violations over $1,250, requires a 30-day cure and a court hearing, and retroactively validates past actions.

REFERRED TO CODES

Summary of Bill A 5266 (Introduced Feb. 10, 2025)

Note on potential inconsistency: The bill’s title states “Increases penalties relating to the underage use of cannabis,” but the text provided concerns fines for municipal housing or zoning code violations and related procedures. The summary below focuses on the introduced provisions as written.

Purpose and high-level intent

To modify how municipalities may impose fines for housing and zoning code violations and to authorize daily fines for ongoing violations. It also creates procedural protections (a cure period and a hearing) for certain substantial fines and validates actions taken under the amended framework. The bill seeks to clarify and codify per-day penalties and to address a recent appellate decision impacting such fines.

Key provisions ( substantive changes)

R.S.40:49-5 amendments

Municipalities may prescribe penalties for ordinance violations by:
Imprisonment up to 90 days,
Fines up to $2,000,
Community service up to 90 days.
Minimum penalties may be set for particular ordinances (e.g., up to $100).
For unlawful solid waste disposal, minimum/maximum fines may be up to $2,500 and $10,000 respectively.
Courts may impose fines or imprisonment or community service within the specified ranges.
Repeat offenses: a separate, additional fine for a violation within one year of a prior violation, with the amount within the ordinance’s min/max, calculated separately from prior fines. A municipality may waive this additional fine if it chooses.
Default remedies: imprisonment up to 90 days or community service if the fine is not paid.

Housing/zoning code fines (new per-day regime)

If a municipality imposes a fine greater than $1,250 for housing or zoning code violations, it must provide:
A 30-day cure/abatement period, and
A hearing before a court for an independent determination.
After the 30 days, a fine greater than $1,250 may be imposed if the court has not determined otherwise or if reinspection shows abatement has not substantially occurred.
A municipality may impose a fine for each day the violation continues until cured/abated, as determined on reinspection.

Validation and effective date

Actions taken under the amended R.S.40:49-5 are to be validated.
Effective immediately and retroactive to the original effective date of R.S.40:49-5 (i.e., the changes apply to past actions where applicable).

Procedural/timeline aspects

Status: Introduced in the Assembly, referred to Assembly Housing Committee (Feb. 10, 2025) and then to Codes (Feb. 12, 2025).

Related legislation: Companion S 3687; prior-session A 10258 and A 7951.

The bill foregrounds a 30-day cure period for higher fines and establishes a per-day penalty regime for ongoing violations, subject to court review.

Notable context

The measure cites Deptford v. Malachite Group, Ltd. (Appellate Division, 2024) as the backdrop for per-day penalties, aiming to validate and codify such enforcement after a court decision restricted or reversed some per-day practices.

If you’d like, I can compare this bill directly to the current statute and the Deptford decision to highlight where this bill would change current practice.

Bill