New Jersey Passed a Biometric Surveillance Law. Retail Is on Notice.

A3929 passed the Assembly 56-16-1. Businesses must post signs before scanning your face. Selling your biometric data? That'll cost them.

Security surveillance camera mounted on ceiling above retail space

TL;DR: On March 23, 2026, the New Jersey Assembly passed A3929 by a vote of 56-16-1. The bill requires businesses to post clear signs before using facial recognition or other biometric surveillance on customers. It bans selling, leasing, or profiting from that biometric data. Violations trigger the Consumer Fraud Act: up to $10,000 for first offense, $20,000 for repeat violations, plus possible treble damages. The bill now heads to the Senate.

What A3929 Does

Walk into a store in New Jersey, and they might be scanning your face right now. You wouldn't know. The store doesn't have to tell you. That changes if A3929 becomes law.

The bill sets two conditions for businesses that want to use biometric surveillance on customers [1]:

  1. Clear notice: Post a sign at the perimeter of any area using biometric surveillance. Not buried in terms of service. An actual sign you can see.
  2. Lawful purpose: Use it for something legal. Not exactly a high bar, but it's there.

Then there's the money part. Businesses cannot sell, lease, trade, share, or "otherwise profit from" biometric data collected from customers [1]. That means no selling your faceprint to data brokers. No sharing it with retail loss-prevention networks. No making money off your face without your consent.

The Penalties Actually Have Teeth

Violations fall under New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act [2]. That's not just a slap on the wrist. Here's what businesses face:

  • First offense: Up to $10,000 per violation
  • Repeat offenses: Up to $20,000 per violation
  • Treble damages: Courts can triple the award to injured parties
  • Cease and desist orders: The AG can shut down operations
  • Costs and fees: Winners collect legal costs

There's a 30-day cure period for first-timers: fix the problem within a month and you dodge liability [1]. But that only works once. Get caught again, and there's no second chance.

Why This Matters for Retail

Wegmans scans faces at some stores. Walmart does. Kroger does. Home Depot does [3]. Most customers have no idea. A retail attorney told WRAL that "virtually every large and medium-sized retailer" uses some form of facial recognition [3].

In New York City, a 2021 law already requires stores to post signs about biometric surveillance. Wegmans complied, and that's how most people learned their groceries were watching them [3].

New Jersey's bill takes the same approach. No outright ban. Just disclosure. But disclosure changes behavior. When you know you're being watched, you shop differently. When retailers know you know, some might decide the PR hit isn't worth it.

Who Sponsored It

Five Democrats pushed this through [2]:

  • Lou Greenwald (D)
  • Robert Karabinchak (D)
  • Yvonne Lopez (D)
  • William Sampson (D)
  • Shanique Speight (D)

The vote wasn't even close: 56 yes, 16 no, 1 abstention. Bipartisan support for telling customers when their faces are being scanned. Wild that it took this long.

What's Next

The bill heads to the Senate. There's a companion version, S1464, already in committee [4]. If both chambers pass identical versions, it goes to Governor Phil Murphy.

Murphy signed New Jersey's comprehensive data privacy law in January 2024 [5]. That law took effect January 15, 2025. A biometric surveillance disclosure requirement would fit the pattern. New Jersey's been moving aggressively on privacy.

The state already banned law enforcement from using Clearview AI back in January 2020 [6]. One of the first states to do it. This builds on that foundation.

The Bigger Picture

Illinois has BIPA, the strongest biometric privacy law in the country, and the only one that lets you sue directly. Texas and Washington have biometric laws but no private right of action [7].

New Jersey's approach splits the difference. You can't sue yourself. But violations trigger the Consumer Fraud Act, which means private plaintiffs can potentially recover treble damages in some cases. It's not Illinois-level protection, but it's more than most states offer.

And unlike broad privacy laws that apply to data in the abstract, this targets physical premises. It's about the cameras watching you when you walk through the door. That's a different kind of surveillance than cookies tracking you online.

Sources

  1. BillTrack50: NJ A3929 Bill Details
  2. FastDemocracy: A3929 Bill Tracking (2026-2027 Session)
  3. WRAL: Wegmans Is Scanning Your Face at Some Stores. It's Not the Only Company.
  4. New Jersey Legislature: S1464 Bill Text
  5. Davis Wright Tremaine: New Jersey Governor Signs Comprehensive Privacy Law (January 2024)
  6. Biometric Update: New Jersey Law Enforcement Blocked from Using Clearview AI (January 2020)
  7. State of Surveillance: Biometric Privacy Laws by State

Published: March 28, 2026