Court Facilities and Criminal Justice Reform As county governments continue to struggle with a restrictive property tax cap levy, a declining ratable base, and mounting unfunded State mandates, county leaders from across the State met on May 6th to identify realistic and achievable solutions for streamlining services and saving valuable taxpayer dollars dedicated to operating and maintaining county court facilities. More specifically, the recommendations and text below offer important and timely solutions that address the growing costs associated with implementing Criminal Justice Reform, pr...

Code Blue Emergencies On April 4th, the Assembly Appropriations Committee amended and favorably reported Assembly, No. 815 (Land D-1/Andrzejczak D-1), which would require county office of emergency management coordinators to develop Code Blue Emergency notifications. More specifically, the measure would require a county governing body, through its office of emergency management, to establish a procedure for issuing a Code Blue alert to provide notice to municipalities, social service agencies, and non-profit organizations that provide services to at-risk individuals and are located within t...

Criminal Justice Reform NJAC is pleased to report that Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-34) has proposed for introduction Assembly, No. 3491 on behalf of the Association.  In summary, this legislation would establish the “County Government Criminal Justice Reform Administration Fund.”  The intent of this important and timely initiative for all 21 counties is to help offset the costs associated with implementing and administering Criminal Justice Reform by modestly increasing certain criminal and civil court fees for individuals and businesses, and dedicating the increases to county governing b...

Criminal Justice Reform NJAC and its twenty-one county members are committed to implementing Criminal Justice Reform as good public policy and as a means for reducing long-term operating expenses at county jails. However, as summarized in the tables and text below, county governments across the State face significant costs with implementing and administering the new law that will impact the delivery of critical services and the use of valuable property taxpayer dollars.  With this in mind, NJAC is respectfully requesting State leaders for the following fair and equitable relief that will ass...

Criminal Justice Reform NJAC and its twenty-one county members are committed to implementing Criminal Justice Reform as good public policy and as a means for reducing long-term operating expenses at county jails. However, as summarized in the tables and text below, county governments across the State face significant costs with implementing and administering the new law that will impact the delivery of critical services and the use of valuable property taxpayer dollars.  With this in mind, NJAC is respectfully requesting State leaders for the following fair and equitable relief that will ass...

Prescription Medications for Inmates NJAC and the New Jersey County Jail Wardens Association (NJCJWA) would like to than Senator Peter Barnes (D- 18) for addressing our main concerns with Senate, No. 384, which would have required correctional facilities to provide inmates with prescription medication that was prescribed for chronic conditions existing prior to incarceration. On January 28th, the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee amended the legislation to authorize county correctional facilities to administer generic prescription drugs “to the extent possible” as is the current practi...

On December 10th, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee considered a package of county governance bills that would provide governing bodies across the State with vital tools and resources to more effectively and efficiently manage valuable property taxpayer dollars.  Special thanks to Passaic County Administrator Anthony DeNova, Gloucester County Deputy County Administrator Gerald White, and Gloucester County Finance Officer Tracey Giordano for taking the time out of their busy schedules to support NJAC and the package of bills at the committee hearing. Cap on County Entity Budgets ...

Bail Reform and Speedy Trial The tables and footnotes below summarize the projected costs to implement bail reform and the new speedy trial law beginning in March of 2016 in Camden, Morris, Passaic, and Sussex counties as pilots with implementation for the remaining counties scheduled for 2017.     Table 1: Assignment Judges   County Assignment Judge1 New Staff2 New Staff Costs3 Capital Projects4 Capital Costs5   Camden6   Yes No New County Staff Not Applicable See Footnote 6   $150,000   M...

Food Composting On November 9th, NJAC is meeting with Assemblywoman Grace Spencer to discuss our concerns with Assembly, No. 4397 (Spencer D-29), which would require large volume generators of food waste to send their waste for disposal to a composting facility or food waste recycling facility under certain circumstances. Although county governments across the State are committed to engaging in state of the art recycling and solid waste management activities, NJAC is concerned that mandating the source separation of food waste from other streams of waste under A-4397 would substantially inc...

At a State House press conference on September 24th, Senate President Steve Sweeney unveiled a package of legislative proposals that will empower county government to operate more effectively and efficiently. The Senate President spent the summer months meeting with county officials from across the State and on both sides of the aisle to hear first-hand about our many challenges, and proactively addressed several key issues with this critical package of bills that NJAC endorses and of which are summarized below.  As county governments continue to struggle with managing a 2.0% property tax cap ...