S 3158 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Requires State to provide recipients of State tax refunds, unemployment insurance benefits and State employee compensation certain payment options.

This bill requires New Jersey to give specific payment options for three types of state payments. State employees can choose to receive net pay as paper checks instead of direct deposit. Unemployment claimants must be provided written notice of payment choices (debit card, direct deposit, or paper check) and can change their method by signing a form. Tax refund recipients must also be offered the option to receive refunds as paper checks. The law applies immediately to all affected payments.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Jun 2026
Senate Passage
Jun 2026
General Assembly Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Jun 18, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Technical Review Of Prefiled Bill Introduced · 2 edits · Jan 13, 2026
MINOR
This diff reflects a procedural transition of S 3158 from technical review status to introduced status. The substantive change is the addition of a STATEMENT section that summarizes the bill's purpose: requiring state agencies to offer paper checks as a payment option for state employees, taxpayers receiving refunds, and unemployment insurance claimants. No operative provisions of the bill text were altered.
TECHNICAL

A STATEMENT section was added describing the bill's purpose: ensuring that state employees, taxpayers, and UI benefit claimants can opt to receive payments as paper checks rather than being forced into prepaid debit cards or direct deposit.

The status line changed from 'As reported by the Senate Labor Committee with technical review' to 'Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel,' reflecting the bill's procedural stage.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
1
Committee
2
Jun 18, 2026
Committee
Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee
lower
Jun 18, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by the Senate (39-1)
upper
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
upper
Jan 13, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors