New Jersey smartphone kill switch legislation is likely...

New Jersey smartphone kill switch legislation is likely to move forward in October when the state General Assembly could take up the bill, said Deputy Speaker Patrick Diegnan in an interview Friday. A3157 had the unanimous support of the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee, said Diegnan, the Democratic committee vice chairman and a main sponsor of the bill. Democratic Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Giblin and Republican Assembly BettyLou DeCroce are the bill’s other primary sponsors, while Democratic Assemblymen Joseph Cryan and Benjie Wimberly are co-sponsors. A3157 mirrors California’s Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (SB-962), which passed in late August and takes effect July 1, Diegnan said. A3157 would prohibit retailers in New Jersey from selling smartphones that don’t include kill switch technology effective Jan. 1 and would require the technology to be opt-out, meaning a device’s owner would need to “affirmatively elect” to disable the technology rather than elect to enable it. Diegnan said he believes New Jersey needs to enact its own kill switch requirement even though supporters of SB-962 have said that bill’s enactment means its requirements are effectively a nationwide requirement because of the size of California’s market. “The No. 1 issue that’s going to be facing my kids and grandkids is privacy,” he said. “When we carry around our cellphones, we're really carrying access to data that could really be hurtful and potentially dangerous. To me, it’s technology that’s available and should be mandated.” Nevada and New York are also moving forward with legislation, though both states’ legislatures won’t take up those bills until reconvening early next year. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, had been leading development of her state’s kill switch legislation, but it’s now in the hands of the state legislature, a spokeswoman said.