February 10, 2017 Criminal Justice Reform At 10:30 a.m. on February 15th in Committee Room 16 of the State House Annex in Trenton, the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates will consider oral arguments on the State’s motion to dismiss NJAC’s complaint that Criminal Justice Reform imposes an unfunded State mandate on county governments. NJAC’s Labor Counsel Genova Burns will argue the case on our behalf. Separately, NJAC’s Board of Directors chose not to endorse recently introduced Senate, No. 2933 (Singer R-30), which would establish a one-year property tax cap levy exclusion for the cost...

January 20, 2017 Electronic Waste Recycling After more than two years of steadfast advocacy by NJAC’s Legislative Director Allen Weston, Governor Christie signed into law Senate, No. 981 (Smith D-17/Bateman R-16)(McKeon D-27/Gusciora D-15), which requires manufacturers of “covered electronic devices” to provide for the collection, transportation, and recycling of its market share in weight of all covered electronic devices collected in a program year. Special thanks to Gloucester County Recycling Coordinator Monica Gismondi, Burlington County District Recycling Coordinator Ann Moore, Oce...

December 23, 2016 CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM On December 6th, Genova Burns filed a complaint on behalf of NJAC with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates. The complaint makes a compelling argument that Criminal Justice Reform imposes an unfunded mandate on county governments in violation of the State’s constitution. In general, the complaint asserts that the risk assessment and speedy trial components of the new law set to take effect in January of 2017 are forcing county governments to spend valuable taxpayer dollars without authorizing any other resources to fund the costly reforms. The c...

November 23, 2016 Criminal Justice Reform For nearly two years, NJAC and county officials from across the State have been urging State leaders to address our concerns with the costs associated with implementing Criminal Justice Reform set to take effect in January of 2017. In the past two weeks alone, NJAC and a delegation of county officials have met with the Governor’s office and Attorney General’s office. We’ve also testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and have had ongoing conversations with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which has been very helpful througho...

October 28, 2016 Transportation Trust Fund On October 14th, Governor Christie signed into law legislation that reauthorizes the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) with an 8 year $2.0 billion per year capital program.  In summary, the measure generally increases the State’s motor fuels tax by .23 cents per gallon, reduces the State’s sales tax to 6.875% in 2017 and then 6.625% in 2018, increases the earned income tax credit from 30% to 35% of the federal benefit amount, increases the New Jersey gross income tax exclusion on pension and retirement income for seniors, provides a personal exemptio...

September 30, 2016 Criminal Justice Reform At its meeting on September 23rd, NJAC’s Board of Directors authorized the Association to file an action with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates that certain provisions of the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” N.J.S.A. 2A:162-15 et. seq. constitute an unfunded State mandate with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates. The New Jersey Council on Local Mandates is responsible for resolving disputes on whether a law, rule, or regulation adopted after 1996 constitutes an unfunded mandate. In general, an unfunded mandate upon boards of education, mu...

County Emergency Management On August 29th, Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and Senator Joseph Vitale (D-19) held a press conference at the State House with NJAC and county officials to unveil their plans to introduce legislation that would assist county offices of emergency management (OEM) prepare for natural disasters. In summary, the measure would create a program in the Department of Law and Public Safety to distribute aid annually to county OEMs based on a county’s risk exposure to natural disasters with each county receiving a minimum allotment. The program would allow counties ...

Transportation Trust Fund As previously reported, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Speaker of the General Assembly Vincent Prieto announced that they have reached agreement on a new plan to fund the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and to enact a series of tax cuts designed to make New Jersey more competitive. For counties and municipalities, the new plan restores Local Aid Allocations to its original percentage at $400.0 million per year, a long term goal and objective of both NJAC and the NSLOM.  The Senate Budget and Appropriations will consider the matter at its meeting later this morni...

  Criminal Justice Reform The fiscal year 2017 state budget does not include funding for counties to implement and administer Criminal Justice Reform.   With this in mind, NJAC’s board of directors took the following action at its meeting on June 24th. NJAC’s legal counsel, with input from NJAC and county counsels, will prepare a legal memorandum summarizing the course of action NJAC should take in filing a complaint with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates.  NJAC’s board of directors will review the legal memorandum and make a recommendation accordingly at its next m...

Criminal Justice Reform NJAC recently had the opportunity to meet with legislative leadership in the General Assembly and submit our position statements on Criminal Justice Reform to the Assembly Budget Committee in preparation for its budget hearing with the Judiciary on May 24th.  We were encouraged by the Judiciary’s testimony, which also reviewed our materials, and of which appears on board with some of our recommendations to streamline court facility operations as highlighted below.  In summary, the Judiciary agrees in concept with permitting a risk assessment within 48 hours after a de...