Bill Text: NJ S2745 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires members, officers, and employees of Legislature to undergo implicit bias and cultural competency training.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-28 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee [S2745 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S2745-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
Senator STEPHEN M. SWEENEY
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
Requires members, officers, and employees of Legislature to undergo implicit bias and cultural competency training.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning implicit bias and cultural competency training for members, officers, and employees of the Legislature and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature shall provide an online tutorial on implicit bias and cultural competency for its members and State officers or employees and special State officers or employees in the Legislative Branch of government. Each member of the Legislature and officer or employee in the Legislative Branch shall take the tutorial no later than April 1 of every even-numbered year. Each Executive Director shall submit a certification to the Legislative Counsel for himself or herself and for his or her respective staff members that they have completed the online tutorial. Each member of the Legislature shall submit to the Legislative Counsel a certification that he or she and his or her district office staff members have completed the online tutorial. The certification shall be public information.
In addition to the tutorial, all officers and employees in the Legislative Branch shall participate in annual implicit bias and cultural competency training as directed by their Executive Directors and all members of the Legislature shall participate in annual implicit bias and cultural competency training as directed by the President of the Senate for members of the Senate and by the Speaker of the General Assembly for members of the General Assembly. The Executive Directors, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the General Assembly shall also direct the process by which completion of the training is verified. Such verification shall be filed with the Legislative Counsel. The verification shall be public information.
"Implicit bias" means a bias in judgment or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes, including implicit prejudice and implicit stereotypes that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control.
"Implicit stereotypes" means the unconscious attributions of particular qualities to a member of a certain social group, influenced by experience, and based on learned associations between various qualities and social categories, including race and gender.
"Cultural competency" means the ability to understand, appreciate, and interact with people from different cultures or belief systems.
2. This act shall take
effect on January 1, 2021 but the Legislature may take any anticipatory action
in advance of that date as may be necessary for the timely implementation of
this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires implicit bias and cultural competency training for members, officers, and employees of the Legislature. Implicit bias is a bias in judgment or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes, including implicit prejudice and implicit stereotypes, that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control. Cultural competency is the ability to understand, appreciate, and interact with people from different cultures or belief systems.
An online tutorial must be completed by April 1 of every even-numbered year and training must be done annually. Successful completion of both the online tutorial and the annual training must be communicated to the Legislative Counsel and such communications will be considered public information.
Every day, the Legislature creates laws that impact people of all backgrounds and cultures. In doing this important work, it is critical for all members, officers, and employees of the Legislature to understand their own biases as well as cultures and belief systems different from their own.
