“No Queens in New Jersey”: The 48-Hour NJ Law That Threatened Businesses for 10 Days—But Was Paused in 10 Hours to Save Political Campaign Files

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ, New Jersey’s political landscape is facing a constitutional showdown. Just ten days after Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a sweeping, highly aggressive data broker registry bill (A-5328 / P.L. 2026, c.25) into law, her administration has quietly Hit the brakes.

The state’s Division of Consumer Affairs announced it will temporarily decline to enforce the newly minted statute. The sudden reversal came right after political consultants realized the law would inadvertently shut down the sophisticated voter-targeting databases used by campaigns heading into a competitive congressional cycle.

The unilateral pause has triggered fierce backlash. In a scathing formal letter, Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-Morris) blasted New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, accusing the Executive Branch of overstepping its bounds and practicing “selective law enforcement” to protect its own political supply chain.

“The Executive Branch just decided the law was inconvenient and turned it off,” Bergen wrote. “Attorney General, that is not prosecutorial discretion. That is the suspending power.”

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The $333 Billion “Liability Cannon” Passed in the Dead of Night

According to Assemblyman Bergen, bill A-5328 was jammed through the Legislature in less than 48 hours on June 30 to help plug a hole in New Jersey’s massive $60.7 billion state budget. Because it was rushed through without formal stakeholder input or proper committee review, lawmakers accidentally created the most punitive data privacy statute in the United States.

NJ Data Broker Law vs. Other States

Metric / Penalty	New Jersey (A-5328)	California	Texas
Annual Registration Fee	Up to $1.5 Million	~$6,000	$300
Per-Record Penalty	$50,000	Variable	Variable
Daily Non-Compliance Fine	$2,500	Variable	Variable

“We built a $333 billion liability cannon and pointed it at the New Jersey economy without checking whether the safety was on,” Bergen stated, noting that ordinary business owners spent ten days panicking under the weight of the new compliance fees while the state government remained silent.

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One Standard for Businesses, Another for Campaign Vendors

The turning point wasn’t a outcry from local employers; it was a realization by political insiders. When party consultants warned that the “apocalypse is coming” for voter databases built on demographic data like race, ethnicity, and religion, the administration acted within hours to greenlight non-enforcement.

Bergen pointed out the stark double standard: if a machine shop in Denville or a landscaper in Vineland violates state consumer regulations, they are told to immediately correct practices or face steep penalties. But when a political party’s operations are threatened, the law is simply suspended.

“That is not consumer protection,” Bergen argued. “That is a self-dealing government protecting its own supply chain.”

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“No Kings. No Queens.” Bergen Demands Action

Invoking a speech Governor Sherrill gave in Princeton this past March—where she declared “No kings. No crowns. We believe in the Constitution”—Bergen called out the irony of the administration’s modern-day use of royal suspending powers.

“So let me be precise about what I object to, since the crowd in Princeton apparently only objected to the gender of the monarch. No kings. No queens. No crowns. No thrones. And no dispensing power.”

The 4 Demands Handed to AG Davenport

1. Provide the Legal Authority: Issue a formal written opinion citing exactly what statute allows the Division of Consumer Affairs to categorically refuse to enforce a valid law.

2. Enforce the Law or Fix It: Keep enforcing A-5328 as written until the Legislature properly amends it.

3. Call a Special Summer Session: Publicly urge the Governor to call lawmakers back to Trenton immediately to rewrite the defective bill out in the open.

4. Preserve All Communications: Disclose all internal logs, emails, and notes between the Governor’s office, Consumer Affairs, and political party campaign managers regarding the non-enforcement decision.

Bergen concluded by challenging the Legislature to prove their worth after receiving a recent salary increase from $49,000 to $82,000: “You cannot bill the taxpayers for a full-time salary and then tell them the Constitution has to wait until Labor Day because the shore house is booked. I will drive down tomorrow. I’ll bring coffee.”

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