An Act concerning the use of automated tools to assist with hiring decisions and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.

• Authority: New Jersey
• Parent authority: State governments
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. state and local documents
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2023-01-19

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation
• Unequal performance across groups

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Lack of transparency or interpretability

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document primarily addresses discrimination and bias risks (1.1, 1.3) in automated employment decision tools. It has good coverage of these fairness-related risks through mandatory bias audits and compliance with anti-discrimination law. There is minimal coverage of transparency issues (7.4) through notification requirements. The document does not substantially address other risk domains such as privacy, misinformation, malicious actors, or broader socioeconomic impacts beyond employment discrimination.

Sector coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities
• Information
• Finance & Insurance
• Real Estate, Rental & Leasing
• Professional & Technical Services
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Management, Administrative & Support Services
• Educational Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
• Accommodation, Food & Other Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs AI use across all economic sectors that engage in hiring and employment decisions within New Jersey. It is a cross-sectoral employment regulation that applies to any organization using automated employment decision tools, regardless of their primary industry. The regulation does not target specific sectors but rather a specific business function (hiring) that occurs across all sectors.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative act from the New Jersey state legislature with mandatory requirements, civil penalties for violations, and designated enforcement authority through the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: New Jersey State Legislature (Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey)
• Summary: The document is titled 'An Act' and states 'Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey,' clearly identifying the state legislature as the proposing body.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Entities: Sellers of automated employment decision tools; Users of automated employment decision tools for employment screening
• Summary: The act explicitly targets two groups: (1) those who sell or offer for sale automated employment decision tools in New Jersey, and (2) those who use such tools to screen candidates for employment decisions.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development; Department of Labor and Workforce Development; Division on Civil Rights; State Treasurer
• Summary: The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development is designated to commence summary proceedings to recover penalties. The Department, in consultation with the Division on Civil Rights, has rulemaking authority. Penalties are payable to the State Treasurer.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Department of Labor and Workforce Development; Division on Civil Rights
• Summary: The Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the Division on Civil Rights, is granted authority to promulgate rules and regulations, which implies ongoing monitoring and oversight responsibilities. The act also preserves the authority of the State and its agencies to investigate and enforce rights relating to bias and discrimination.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily covers the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle. It mandates bias audits before sale (pre-deployment validation) and annual audits post-sale (ongoing monitoring). There is minimal coverage of earlier stages like design, data collection, or model building.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• AI Systems
• Predictive AI
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly defines and regulates 'automated employment decision tools' which are AI systems used for employment decisions. It describes these as systems governed by statistical theory and various machine learning algorithms. The document is task-specific, focusing on employment screening tools, and does not mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, generative AI, or compute thresholds.