Bill Text: NJ A1980 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes cybersecurity employment grant program for qualified businesses; appropriates $750,000.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-06-09 - Reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments, and Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee [A1980 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2022-A1980-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 1980

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

220th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  RAJ MUKHERJI

District 33 (Hudson)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Benson

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes cybersecurity employment grant program for qualified businesses; appropriates $750,000.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee on June 9, 2022, with amendments.

  

An Act establishing a cybersecurity employment grant program in the ¹[New Jersey Economic Development Authority and] Department of Labor and Workforce Development,¹ supplementing P.L.1974, c.80 (C.34:1B-1 et seq.) ¹, and making an appropriation¹.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    As used in P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

     ¹["Authority" means the New Jersey Economic Development Authority established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1974, c.80 (C.34:1B-4).]¹

     "Cybersecurity specialist" means an information technology specialist who monitors, detects, investigates, analyzes, and responds to security events that target a business's information technology system with the goal of protecting the system from cybersecurity risks, threats, and vulnerabilities.

     ¹"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.¹

     "Program" means the cybersecurity employment grant program, established pursuant to section 2 of P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

     "Qualified small to mid-size business" means a business entity employing fewer than 500 employees that, at the time of application for participation in the program, is independently owned and operated, operates primarily within this State, and which satisfies other criteria that may be established by the ¹[authority] department¹.

 

     2.    There is established within the ¹[New Jersey Economic Development Authority] Department of Labor and Workforce Development¹ a cybersecurity employment grant program.  The program shall award grants, in an amount as determined by the ¹[authority] department¹, to ¹[a] one or more¹ qualified small to mid-sized ¹[business] businesses¹ to assist with the establishment and hiring of a cybersecurity specialist position within the business at a location within this State.  The award of a grant to a qualified business shall be limited to the cost of establishing and hiring a cybersecurity specialist and shall be applied to cover the startup salary cost for a cybersecurity specialist for one year.

 

     3.    ¹a.¹  In addition to any monies appropriated to the

¹[authority] department¹ to effectuate the purposes of P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the program shall also be credited with:

     ¹[a.]  (1)¹   any additional monies made available by the ¹[authority] department¹ for the purposes of the program; and

     ¹[b.]  (2)¹  monies received by the ¹[authority] department¹ from any public or private source for the purposes of the program, the coordination and consolidation of which shall enhance efforts to establish and hire cybersecurity specialist positions within qualified small to mid-sized businesses.

     ¹b.¹  The ¹[authority] department¹ is authorized to seek and accept gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for funding the costs of the program, except that the ¹[authority] department¹ may not accept a gift, grant, or donation that is subject to conditions that are inconsistent with any other law of this State.

 

     4.    In order to be eligible for a grant awarded under the program, an applicant shall:

     a.     submit proof that it is a qualified small to mid-size business, as defined in this bill;

     b.    submit all of the documentation required by the ¹[authority] department¹ to receive a grant under the program; and

     c.     conform to all of the requirements of P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

 

     5.    A small to mid-size business seeking to participate in the program shall submit an application in a form and manner as the ¹[authority] department¹ shall require. The application shall include information the ¹[authority] department¹ determines is necessary to administer the program, and to ensure the eligibility of applicants.  The ¹[authority] department¹ shall review and may approve an application for the program.

 

     6.    The ¹[authority] department¹ shall:

     a.     in consultation with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the Department of Banking and Insurance, and the Office of the Attorney General, administer the program to assist a qualified small to mid-size business with the establishment and hiring of a cybersecurity specialist position within that business.  The grants awarded by the ¹[authority] department¹ shall be used solely for the purpose of hiring personnel approved by the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell;

     b.    adopt rules and regulations requiring that not less than the hourly or annual mean wage for the Bureau of Labor Statistics federal job code 15-1212 is paid to cybersecurity specialists in the metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area in which an employer is located, pursuant to the most recently published Occupational Employment Statistics wage survey; and

     c.     when setting the size of grants to be awarded under the program, seek to balance available funds against the amount of a grant necessary to incentivize an applicant to hire a cybersecurity specialist and the unmet Statewide need among small and mid-size businesses for cybersecurity staffing in order to maximize the impact of limited funding availability.

 

     7.    a.  Each qualified small to mid-size business grant recipient shall provide quarterly reports to the ¹[authority] department¹ verifying the establishment and hiring of a cybersecurity specialist, documentation of expenditures from a grant awarded by the ¹[authority] department¹, and any other information required by the ¹[authority] department¹ to ensure compliance with the provisions of the program as determined by the ¹[authority] department¹.

     b.    The ¹[authority] department¹ shall report annually to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature on the functioning of the program and whether the program meets the needs of qualified small to mid-sized businesses. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the number and locations of qualified small to mid-sized businesses participating in the program, the number of cybersecurity specialist positions created or hired by those qualified small to mid-sized businesses, and the amount of any grants awarded to those qualified small to mid-sized businesses.

 

     ¹8.   There is appropriated from the General Fund to the department $750,000 to administer the program established pursuant to section 2 of P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).¹

 

     ¹[8.] 9.¹     This act shall take effect immediately.