Sponsored by:
Assemblyman P. CHRISTOPHER TULLY
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires NJ Office of Homeland Security and State Preparedness to conduct study of information collected and reported by rental companies; designated as “Darren Drake Act.”
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requires the NJ Office of Homeland Security and State Preparedness to study the collection and reporting of information by rental companies to prevent and mitigate acts of terrorism, designated as the “Darren Drake Act.”
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature makes the following findings:
a. From 2014 through 2017, terrorists carried out at least 17 known vehicle ramming attacks worldwide, resulting in 173 fatalities and 667 injuries.
b. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, was designated by the United States State Department as a foreign terrorist organization on December 17, 2004 and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on October 15, 2004.
c. Al-Qa’ida and ISIS have promoted vehicle attacks for years, including in Inspire, the online magazine of al-Qa’ida and in Rumiya, the magazine of the Islamic State.
d. ISIS calls upon its followers to conduct vehicle ramming attacks by buying, renting, stealing, or borrowing trucks and targeting large outdoor events, crowded pedestrian streets, outdoor markets, and rallies.
e. On November 21, 2017, a grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a 22-count indictment against the perpetrator of an alleged vehicular terrorist attack carried out in the name of the ISIS in lower Manhattan on October 31, 2017, which killed eight people, including Darren Drake of New Milford, New Jersey, and injured 12 more.
f. The rental industry has been a leader in strengthening security measures by working with government agencies and officials including the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and continuing to innovate and improve these measures to better protect its customers, employees, assets, and the general public.
2. a. The Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and State Preparedness shall conduct a study and make recommendations regarding:
(1) the type of information currently collected by rental companies in this State;
(2) the development of uniform standards for the type of information to be collected by rental companies and the type of information to be used in submitting suspicious activity reports to State and federal law enforcement agencies; and
(3) the best practices for rental companies to report suspicious behavior to State and federal law enforcement agencies.
b. A report of the study's findings and recommendations shall be submitted to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C:52:14-19.1), to the Legislature no later than six months after the effective date of this act.
c. As used in this section, “rental company” means a company engaged in the business of renting trucks, tractors, trailers, buses, semitrailers, or vans which are able to transport more than 15 passengers.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill, designated as the “Daren Drake Act,” requires the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and State Preparedness to study the collection and reporting of certain information by rental companies to prevent and mitigate acts of terrorism.
Specifically, under the provisions of this bill, the Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and State Preparedness is required to conduct a study and make recommendations regarding: 1) the type of information currently collected by rental companies in this State; 2) the development of uniform standards for the type of information to be collected by rental companies and the type of information to be used in submitting suspicious activity reports to State and federal law enforcement agencies; and 3) the best practices for rental companies to report suspicious behavior to State and federal law enforcement agencies.
The bill defines “rental company” as a company engaged in the business of renting trucks, tractors, trailers, buses, semitrailers, or vans which are able to transport more than 15 passengers.
The report of the study’s findings and recommendations is required to be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature no later than six months after the bill’s effective date.