New Jersey Senate Committee Agenda: Key Bills in Trenton

The New Jersey Senate convened Monday in Trenton with a packed committee schedule, taking up legislation ranging from consumer protection to energy policy as lawmakers pressed forward on a broad range of issues touching everyday life across the state.

The Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Joseph Lagana of Bergen County, met at 10 a.m. in Committee Room 6 of the State House Annex with one of the fuller agendas on the docket. Thirteen separate bills were on the table, several of them directly aimed at protecting consumers from fees and pricing practices that critics say have gotten out of hand.

Among the most straightforward measures is S300, sponsored by Sens. Shirley Turner and Nicholas Scutari, which would prohibit businesses from charging convenience fees on cash transactions. The bill takes direct aim at a practice that has quietly spread through retail and service industries, effectively penalizing customers who pay with physical currency.

Two companion bills, S1193 and S1197, both sponsored by Sens. Kristin Corrado and Lagana, target third-party restaurant reservation services. The legislation would regulate how those platforms operate and ban unauthorized arrangements between reservation services and eateries. Anyone who has tried to book a table at a popular North Jersey spot lately and found themselves routed through a third-party app knows exactly what problem these bills are trying to solve.

The committee also took up S3612 and S3717, bills that would prohibit companies from using consumer personal data to set prices and establish a Fair Price Protection Act, respectively. Both bills reflect growing legislative anxiety about algorithmic pricing, a practice where companies use data harvested from users to charge different customers different rates for the same goods and services.

S1788, sponsored by Sen. Troy Singleton, would establish a fee refund program for businesses that apply for permits, licenses, or certifications. The bill addresses a long-standing frustration among small business owners who pay application fees and then wait months for outcomes. S1796, co-sponsored by Singleton and Sen. Brian Stack along with eleven other senators, would expand health insurance requirements to include prostate cancer screening coverage.

The Senate Environment and Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Bob Smith, also met at 10 a.m. in Committee Room 10 with a wide-ranging agenda reflecting the state’s ongoing push on climate and clean energy policy.

S680, sponsored by Senators Smith and John McKeon, would require proposed artificial intelligence data centers to submit energy usage plans before construction. The bill reflects a sharp and legitimate concern: AI infrastructure is an enormous and rapidly growing consumer of electricity, and New Jersey’s grid cannot absorb that demand without planning and oversight. Getting ahead of that problem now is sound policy.

S1815, sponsored by Singleton, would establish a solar energy grant program providing up to $15 million in grants for school solar energy projects. Public schools carry significant energy costs, and solar installations can provide long-term savings while also giving students a tangible civics lesson about energy investment.

S666 and S680, both sponsored by Smith and McKeon, deal with paint stewardship and AI data center energy planning, respectively. The paint stewardship bill would require paint producers to implement or participate in a stewardship program, addressing a persistent waste problem that affects municipalities across the state.

S1281 would ban the sale, manufacture, and distribution of apparel containing added PFAS compounds, the so-called forever chemicals that have contaminated water supplies in communities from Gloucester County to Bergen County and beyond. S3183, sponsored by Senate President Scutari, would modify various renewable energy incentive programs, while S3819, sponsored by Smith, would make changes to transmission-scale energy storage procurement requirements.

The Senate Economic Growth Committee, scheduled to meet under Chair Sen. Nilsa Cruz-Perez, was canceled without rescheduling.

The full Senate was set for a quorum call at noon in the Senate Chambers. Monday’s committee work sets up what could be a productive legislative push through the spring session, though any of these bills still face a long road through both chambers before reaching Gov. Phil Murphy’s successor.