Bill Text: NJ A2048 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires that public address, and phone number or email address, of local elected officials be available on local unit website.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A2048 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A2048-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANGEL FUENTES
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Requires that public address, and phone number or email address, of local elected officials be available on local unit website.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act requiring that contact information for local elected officials be made public and amending N.J.S.40A:4-10 and P.L.1966, c.293.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.40A:4-10 is amended to read as follows:
40A:4-10. No budget or amendment thereof shall be adopted unless the director shall have previously certified his approval thereof. Final adoption shall be by resolution adopted by a majority of the full membership of the governing body, and may be by title where the procedures required by N.J.S.40A:4-8 and N.J.S.40A:4-9 or section 12 of P.L.1995, c.259 (C.40A:4-6.1), as applicable, have been followed.
The budget shall be adopted in the case of a county not later than February 25, and in the case of a municipality not later than March 20 of the calendar fiscal year or September 20 of the State fiscal year, except that the governing body may adopt the budget at any time within 10 days after the director shall have certified his approval thereof and returned the same, if such certification shall be later than the date of the advertised hearing.
If, in the case of a municipality which operates on the State fiscal year, the governing body fails to adopt the budget within the permitted time, the chief financial officer of the local unit shall so notify the director the next working day after the expiration of the permitted time.
Copies of the budget, as adopted, in such form and in such quantity as determined by the Local Finance Board, shall be transmitted to the director, and made available in print for public inspection at the local library, within three days after adoption.
Upon adoption, the budget shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated therein and an authorization of the amount to be raised by taxation for the purposes of the local unit.
The adopted budget shall be provided for public inspection on the local unit's website, if one exists, or, if one does not exist, the budget shall be provided for public inspection on the website of the Department of Community Affairs, and made available online and in print as required by this section in a "user-friendly" summary format using plain language. In addition to the current year adopted budget, the local unit's adopted budgets of the immediately preceding three budget years also shall be provided for public inspection on the local unit's website, if one exists, or, if one does not exist, those budgets also shall be provided for public inspection on the website of the Department of Community Affairs. Any adopted budget posted online pursuant to this section shall remain posted online for the duration of the local budget year. The Local Finance Board shall promulgate a "user-friendly," plain language summary format for use by local units for this purpose pursuant to section 39 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:5-48).
In addition to the current year adopted budget and the immediately preceding three budget year budgets, the governing body of a local unit also shall provide the address of the public building in which the governing body holds its public meetings, and a public telephone number or email address that may be used by members of the public seeking to contact their local elected officials on the local unit's website, if one exists. If a local unit does not have a website, the public contact information required herein shall be provided for public inspection on the website of the Department of Community Affairs in the same manner as the current year adopted budget and the immediately preceding three budget year budgets are provided on the department's website pursuant to the requirements of this section.
(cf: P.L.2011, c.7, s.1)
2. Section 9 of P.L.1966, c.293 (C.52:27D-9) is amended to read as follows:
9. The department shall, in addition to other powers and duties invested in it by this act, or by any other law:
(a) Assist in the coordination of State and Federal activities relating to local government;
(b) Advise and inform the Governor on the affairs and problems of local government and make recommendations to the Governor for proposed legislation pertaining thereto;
(c) Encourage cooperative action by local governments, including joint service agreements, regional compacts and other forms of regional cooperation;
(d) Assist local government in the solution of its problems, to strengthen local self-government;
(e) Study the entire field of local government in New Jersey;
(f) Collect, collate, publish and disseminate information necessary for the effective operation of the department and useful to local government;
(g) Maintain an inventory of data and information and act as a clearing house and referral agency for information on State and Federal services and programs;
(h) Stimulate local programs through publicity, education, guidance and technical assistance concerning Federal and State programs;
(i) Convene meetings of municipal, county or other local officials to discuss ways of cooperating to provide service more efficiently and economically;
(j) Maintain and make available on request a list of persons qualified to mediate or arbitrate disputes between local units of government arising from joint service projects or other cooperative activities, and further to prescribe rates of compensation for all such mediation, factfinding or arbitration services; and
(k) Post on the department's website the annual budget and three immediately preceding adopted budgets of any municipality or county that does not maintain its own website, as well as the address of the public building in which the governing body of a county or municipality holds its public meetings, and a public telephone number or email address that may be used by members of the public seeking to contact their local elected officials, in the case of a municipality or county that does not maintain its own website, pursuant to the requirements of N.J.S.40A:4-10.
(cf: P.L.2011, c.7, s.2)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require counties and municipalities to provide on their websites the address of the public building in which the board of education or the governing body, as appropriate, holds its public meetings, and a public telephone number or email address that may be used by members of the public seeking to contact the members of the board of education or the governing body, as appropriate. If a county or municipal governing body does not have a website, the public contact information must be provided for public inspection on the website of the Department of Community Affairs.
