Establishes "John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey." **

The $2.5 million appropriation was removed entirely from the bill.

The definition of 'protected class' was narrowed: it no longer includes individuals who are members of a minimum reporting category recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau, and instead specifically adds speakers of the Arabic language as an included group.

The preclearance approval authority was changed from the Attorney General to the Division of Voting Rights.

Section 5's list of circumstances where a violation 'shall always exist' was reduced from five specific examples (closing polling places, changing election dates, special election timing, vacancy periods, intentional disparity) to just one: intentional action to result in material disparity in access to voting opportunities or political participation.

The strict scrutiny standard for defending a voting policy was changed from 'necessary to significantly further a compelling governmental interest' to 'narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest,' which is a slightly different legal formulation.

In Section 9, the standard for justifying disability-related voting restrictions was lowered from 'compelling policy justification' to 'important policy justification.'

A new Section 12(f) requires the Division of Voting Rights to conduct a biennial study to identify additional political subdivisions needing language access coverage, using thresholds of 2 percent (minimum 100 individuals) or 4,000+ voting-eligible population speaking a shared non-English language. A Language Access Working Group must be established with a timeline published by December 2027.

Section 2(c), which stated that voting policies burdening the right to vote must be 'narrowly tailored to promote a compelling policy justification supported by substantial evidence,' was removed from the general policy statement section.

The New Jersey Redistricting Commission and the Apportionment Commission are now explicitly excluded from being 'covered entities' subject to the preclearance program.

Section 10's redistricting process requirements are now explicitly limited to 'municipal or county' apportionment and redistricting plans.

The Division of Voting Rights is now explicitly made independent of any supervision or control by the State Treasurer or the Department of the Treasury, or any division, board, or officer thereof.

Section 7's provision prohibiting sovereign, governmental, executive, legislative, or deliberative immunities and privileges from limiting discovery scope in voting rights actions was removed entirely.

The court remedy provision in Section 8 was changed so that courts may override other law only 'if necessary to cure a violation,' rather than as a blanket authority. Courts must also consider mitigating disruption to the electoral system.

The NJVEA notification letter process now requires copies to be sent to the Division of Elections within the Department of State and county election officials, replacing the prior requirement to notify the Commissioner of Education for school district actions. Consultation with the Division of Elections is required at multiple stages.

An approved NJVEA proposal is now 'enacted immediately and implemented as soon as it is feasible to do so' rather than 'enacted and implemented immediately, notwithstanding any other law.'

The exception allowing a party to skip the notification letter process when another party has already submitted one now requires that the other party has also commenced a judicial action, and the new party must seek to join that existing action. The prior one-year time limit exception was removed.

Section 9's prohibition on voting qualifications burdening individuals based on age or disability was narrowed to cover only disability, removing age as a protected category.

A new provision in Section 10 allows a political subdivision that cannot adopt a redistricting plan due to Title 19 deadlines to seek court relief from those deadlines.

The deadline for a political subdivision to enact a remedy after an NJVEA notification letter was changed from 90 days after passage of a resolution to 140 days after receipt of the notification letter.