Bill Text: NJ S3211 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits institution of higher education from using cultural competency as criteria for consideration in making certain personnel determinations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-13 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S3211 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3211-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator O'Scanlon
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits institution of higher education from using cultural competency as criteria for consideration in making certain personnel determinations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning hiring practices at institutions of higher education and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, an institution of higher education shall not include among the criteria used to review a candidate for employment or promotion the following criteria:
(1) the candidate's cultural competency skills; or
(2) the candidate's knowledge of any particular ethnic or religious group.
b. An institution of higher education determined by the Secretary of Higher Education to not be in compliance with the provisions of subsection a. of this section shall become ineligible for any State support for the operational and capital costs of the institution.
c. The provisions of this section shall not apply to positions in which cultural competency skills or knowledge of a particular ethnic or religious group is essential to the position, as determined by the Secretary of Higher Education.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill prohibits an institution of higher education from including among the criteria used to review a candidate for employment or promotion the following criteria:
(1) the candidate's cultural competency skills; or
(2) the candidate's knowledge of any particular ethnic or religious group.
The bill further provides that, in the event an institution of higher education is determined by the Secretary of Higher Education to not be in compliance with the bill's provisions, the institution becomes ineligible for any State support for its operational and capital costs.
The bill includes an exemption to the bill's provisions for positions in which cultural competency skills or knowledge of a particular ethnic or religious group is essential to the position, as determined by the Secretary of Higher Education.
