Sources and method

How a quote is checked

Every quoted sentence on these pages sits in a dated quote ledger. For each quote, we tried to download the document ourselves and searched for the sentence in that download. Before the search, both texts are normalised for Unicode form, quote marks, dashes and spacing. Every other character must match. A quote cut with "…" passes only if each part is found. Some hosts refused our fetch. The documents these pages use from them are marked "Not read by us" below, and no answer on these pages rests on them alone.

In nine cases the wording matched but the file's text layer differed. Examples are a dropped hyphen, a superscript, or a page header that falls inside a sentence. We read those cases by hand.

The check is tested to fail. When a quote from the tax bulletin ANJ-5 had "subject to" changed to "exempt from", the check reported it missing. When the definition of "Employer" in N.J.A.C. 12:120-2.1 had "directly performing" changed to "never performing", the check reported it missing too.

We record the SHA-256 hash of each download. At the next reading we download the same addresses again and compare the hashes. A document whose hash changed is read again by hand.

Which copy is the official text

No free online copy of these rules is the official text. Three agencies say so about their own copies:

Each page cites the agency copy, gives its currency stamp, and says which copy it is. The Department of Community Affairs prints a New Jersey Register stamp on each page of its N.J.A.C. files. For N.J.A.C. 5:23-2, 5:23-6 and 5:23-8, the pages cite those DCA files instead of the Cornell LII copies. For N.J.A.C. 5:17, the rentals page cites the DCA file stamped through July 15, 2024. Copies listed as "also checked" were read, but no page cites them.

What is inference

Some answers are not written in any document. A page then says which text it read and what that text leaves open. A sentence that goes beyond the quoted text is labelled as inference on the page where it appears.

Single readings

A finding read only once stays off the pages. It goes on a page after a second reading confirms it.

Waiting items

• Asbestos disposal option 13C. A disposal option under waste ID 13C for intact non-friable flooring appears only on the NJDEP asbestos page, seen through search-index text. That page refused our fetch, and we did not go around the block. Until we read it live, the asbestos page gives only waste ID 27A, which the rule text names.
• Bill A3533. The bill's effect is in the official bill text. Its referral date and status come only from LegiScan, which refused our fetch. The tax page labels them as third-party or leaves them out.
• N.J.A.C. 5:28A and 5:17. The DCA copies carry stamps of May 1, 2023 and July 15, 2024. Whether either chapter changed after its stamp is not known yet. The first re-reading checks the New Jersey Register for both.
• N.J.A.C. 8:60. It is the same rule as N.J.A.C. 12:120, adopted jointly. We read it in the Labor Department reprint. Whether the Health Department's 8:60, readopted in 2025, still matches that reprint was not checked.

Re-reading

Every document below is read again every three months. A person starts each reading by hand; nothing runs on a schedule. A page that changes because a document changed is approved again and logged on the corrections page.

The documents

Re-read cycle for every document in these tables: every three months, started by hand. "None printed" means the document carries no revision date. "Not recorded" means our ledger holds no revision for it.

Sales tax on a flooring job

Do I need a permit

Old floors: asbestos

Rentals: lead-safe certificate and floors

Where the rule text can be read

These documents were read to find where each rule's text is published and how current each copy is. No sentence on the rule pages is quoted from them. The OAL notice above is quoted on this page.

Disclosure

The publisher of this site is a flooring retailer. It sells flooring materials, including the categories these pages mention.