Removes exclusion of certain institutions of higher education under "Responsible Collective Negotiations Act."

2026-2027 Regular Session Introduced by Joe Danielsen and 2 co-sponsors

Higher education employers in NJ become subject to the same collective negotiations rules as other public employers, affecting topics, confidentiality, and employee data sharing.

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee

Summary of Bill A 5017 (Session 222, New Jersey)

Purpose and intent

This bill revises the “Responsible Collective Negotiations Act” (RCN Act) to remove the existing exclusion of certain higher education institutions from its provisions. Specifically, it aligns county colleges, public state colleges and universities (including Kean University, Montclair State University, and Rowan University), Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology with other public employers for purposes of collective negotiations, confidentiality of negotiations, and employee information-sharing requirements.

Key provisions and changes

The bill amends Section 13 of P.L.2021, c.411 (C.34:13A-60.1) to exclude several entities from the list of organizations not covered by certain sections of the RCN Act. The deletions indicate that higher education institutions will be subject to the same provisions as other public employers.

Specifically, the following deletions are enacted:

State colleges and universities (previously including Kean University, Montclair State University, and Rowan University)
County colleges
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
The New Jersey Institute of Technology

The areas affected by this change include: 1) Permissive subjects of negotiation, grievance procedures, and disciplinary matters without an alternate statutory appeal procedure (formerly addressed in section 4 of P.L.2021, c.411, C.34:13A-59). 2) Confidential communications between a majority representative and unit members relating to collective negotiations, administration of agreements, grievance investigations, workplace complaints, and other fair representation matters (section 5, C.34:13A-60). 3) The requirement that, every 120 calendar days, public employers provide to the exclusive representative employee organization certain employee information of all non-represented employees in an agreed-upon format (subsection c. of section 5 of P.L.2018, c.15, C.34:13A-5.15).

Who is affected

Institutions of higher education in New Jersey that were previously exempt under the RCN Act:

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Kean University
Montclair State University
Rowan University
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
County colleges

Public employer units associated with higher education staff and administration

Exclusive representative employee organizations and the non-represented employee pool within these institutions

Procedural and timeline aspects

The act takes effect immediately upon enactment.

The bill’s impact is prospective, applying to higher education employers for purposes of negotiation topics, confidential communications, and information-sharing requirements moving forward.

Potential impact

Higher education employers would be subject to the same collective negotiations framework as other public employers.

This could expand negotiation topics, increase visibility into confidential negotiation communications, and require broader sharing of employee contact and employment information with exclusive bargaining representatives.

The change may affect labor relations dynamics, grievance handling, and transparency of employee data within state-funded higher education institutions.