A 5013 New Jersey General Assembly · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Allows sale of ice cream and other frozen desserts infused with certain alcoholic beverages.

This bill allows licensed businesses in New Jersey to manufacture and sell ice cream and other frozen desserts containing up to 5% alcohol by volume without needing a separate liquor license. The products must be sold in sealed packages that display specific warnings about age restrictions, pregnancy risks, and impaired driving. Selling these desserts to anyone under the legal drinking age is classified as a disorderly persons offense.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

May 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced May 7, 2026 Last action Jun 15, 2026

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What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended after committee report to add two new sections: one restricting how alcoholic frozen desserts can be marketed (banning depictions of minors, cartoon characters, or toys that appeal to underage consumers) and another requiring establishments to segregate, monitor, and verify age at point of sale when displaying these products accessible to customers. These changes strengthen protections against underage access beyond the original bill, which only required sealed packaging and a disorderly persons penalty for selling to minors.

ENFORCEMENT

New Section 12 prohibits packaging, branding, or marketing of alcoholic frozen desserts (0.5% to 5% ABV) that includes false or misleading statements, promotes over-consumption, depicts minors consuming alcohol, or uses toys, cartoon characters, or other imagery designed to appeal to persons under the legal drinking age. Violation is a disorderly persons offense.

REQUIREMENT

New Section 13 allows alcoholic frozen desserts to be stored or displayed where customers can access them without employee assistance only if: (1) they are segregated from non-alcoholic products with conspicuous age-restriction signage, (2) the establishment actively monitors the display area, and (3) an employee confirms at point of sale that the customer is 21 or older AND understands the product contains alcohol. Violation is a disorderly persons offense.

TECHNICAL

The effective date provision was renumbered from Section 2 to Section 4 to accommodate the new sections inserted before it.

SCOPE

Assemblywoman Kane added as co-sponsor, indicating broader legislative support for the bill after committee amendments.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jun 15, 2026

Committee

Reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments, and Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee

lower

May 7, 2026

Introduced

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee

lower

2 primary · 1 co-sponsor