Bill Text: NJ A379 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires members of NJ Legislature to file statement of financial affairs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State Government Committee [A379 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A379-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DAVID W. WOLFE
District 10 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires members of NJ Legislature to file statement of financial affairs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the filing of a statement of financial affairs by members of the New Jersey Legislature and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Every member of the Legislature shall, after January 1 and before April 15 of each year, file a sworn and duly notarized statement of financial affairs for the preceding calendar year with the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards continued pursuant to P.L.1971, c.182 (C.52:13D-12 et al.). Every person selected to fill a vacancy in the Legislature shall, within two weeks of being so selected, file a statement of financial affairs for the preceding twelve months. No person shall be required to file more than once in any calendar year.
The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards shall prescribe the form of a statement of financial affairs for filing purposes.
2. a. The statement of financial affairs required by section 1 of this act, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall disclose for the reporting individual and each member of the individual's immediate family, which shall include the individual's spouse, dependent children, and other dependent relatives if living in the same household:
(1) Occupation, name of employer, and business address;
(2) Each bank or savings account or insurance policy in which any such individual or persons owned a direct financial interest that exceeded $5,000 at any time during the reporting period; each other item of intangible personal property in which any such individual or persons owned a direct financial interest, the value of which exceeded $500 during the reporting period; the name, address, and nature of the entity; and the nature and highest value of each such direct financial interest during the reporting period;
(3) The name and address of each creditor to whom the value of $500 or more was owed; the original amount of each debt to each such creditor; the amount of each debt owed to each creditor as of the date of filing; the terms of repayment of each such debt; and the security given, if any, for each such debt; except that debts arising out of a "retail installment contract" or "retail charge account," as defined in section 1 of P.L.1960, c.40 (C.17:16C-1), need not be reported;
(4) Every public or private office, directorship, and position held as trustee;
(5) All persons for whom any legislation, rule, rate, or standard has been prepared, promoted or opposed for current or deferred compensation, except that for the purposes of this paragraph, "compensation" does not include payments made to the individual reporting by the governmental entity for which such individual serves as an elected official for service in office; the description of such actual or proposed legislation, rules, rates or standards; and the amount of current or deferred compensation paid or promised to be paid;
(6) The name and address of each governmental entity, corporation, partnership, joint venture, sole proprietorship, association, union, or other business or commercial entity from which compensation has been received in any form of a total value of $500 or more; the value of the compensation and the consideration given or performed in exchange for the compensation;
(7) The name of any corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, union or other entity in which is held any office, directorship, or any general partnership interest, or an ownership interest of 10% or more; the name or title of that office, directorship, or partnership; the nature of ownership interest; and with respect to each such entity: (a) with respect to a governmental unit in which the individual seeks or holds any office or position, if the entity has received compensation in any form during the preceding 12 months from the governmental unit, the value of the compensation and the consideration given or performed in exchange for the compensation; (b) the name of each governmental unit, corporation, partnership, joint venture, sole proprietorship, association, union, or other business or commercial entity from which the entity has received compensation in any form in the amount of $2,500 or more during the preceding 12 months and the consideration given or performed in exchange for the compensation; except, the term "compensation" for purposes of this paragraph (b) does not include payment for water and other utility services at rates approved by the Board of Public Utilities continued pursuant to R.S.48:2-1; and except that with respect to any bank or commercial lending institution in which is held any office, directorship, partnership interest, or ownership interest, it shall only be necessary to report either the name, address, and occupation of every director and officer of the bank or commercial lending institution and the average monthly balance of each account held during the preceding 12 months by the bank or commercial lending institution from the governmental entity for which the individual is an official or candidate, or all interest paid as a borrower on loans from, and all interest paid by, the bank or commercial lending institution if the interest exceeds $600;
(8) A list, including legal or other sufficient descriptions as prescribed for the statement of financial affairs, of all real property in the State of New Jersey, the assessed valuation of which exceeds $2,500, in which a direct financial interest was acquired during the preceding calendar year, and a statement of the amount and nature of the financial interest and of the consideration given in exchange for that interest;
(9) A list, including legal or other sufficient descriptions as prescribed for the statement of financial affairs, of all real property in the State of New Jersey, the assessed valuation of which exceeds $2,500, in which a direct financial interest was divested during the preceding calendar year, and a statement of the amount and nature of the consideration received in exchange for that interest, and the name and address of the person furnishing the consideration;
(10) A list, including legal or other sufficient descriptions as prescribed for the statement of financial affairs, of all real property in the State of New Jersey, the assessed valuation of which exceeds $2,500, in which a direct financial interest was held; except that if a description of the property has been included in a report previously filed, the property may be listed, for the purposes of this subsection, by reference to the previously filed report;
(11) A list, including legal or other sufficient descriptions as prescribed for the statement of financial affairs, of all real property in the State of New Jersey, the assessed valuation of which exceeds $5,000, in which a corporation, partnership, firm, enterprise or other entity had a direct financial interest, in which corporation, partnership, firm, enterprise or entity a 10% or greater ownership interest was held;
(12) A list of each occasion, specifying date, donor and amount, at which food and beverage in excess of $50 was accepted on occasions in the ordinary course of meals where attendance by the elected official is related to the performance of official duties; and
(13) A list of each occasion, specifying date, donor and amount, at which (a) payments by a governmental or nongovernmental entity of reasonable expenses incurred in connection with a speech, presentation, appearance or trade mission made in an official capacity and (b) payment of enrollment and courses fee and reasonable travel expenses attributable to attending seminars and educational programs sponsored by a bona fide governmental or nonprofit professional, educational, trade or charitable association or institution were accepted, where "reasonable expenses" are limited to travel, lodging and subsistence expenses incurred the day before through the day after the event;
(14) Such other information as the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards may deem necessary in order to properly carry out the purposes and policies of this act, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and shall prescribe by regulation.
b. When an amount is required to be reported under paragraphs (1) through (13) of subsection a. of this section, it shall be sufficient to comply with the requirement to report whether the amount is less than $1,000, at least $1,000 but less than $5,000, at least $5,000 but less than $10,000, at least $10,000 but less than $25,000, or $25,000 or more. An amount of stock may be reported by number of shares instead of by market value. No provision of this subsection shall be interpreted to prevent any individual from filing more information or more detailed information than required.
c. Items of value given to a reporting individual's immediate family member are attributable to the individual, except the item is not attributable if an independent business, family or social relationship exists between the donor and the spouse or family member.
3. No payment shall be made to any individual required to file a financial affairs statement under section 1 of this act, P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and no payment shall be accepted by any such individual, directly or indirectly, in a fictitious name, anonymously, or by one person through an agent, relative or other person in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the source of the payment or in any other manner so as to effect concealment except that the entity with which the statement of financial affairs is filed may issue categorical and specific exemptions to the reporting of the actual source when there is an undisclosed principal for recognized legitimate business purposes.
4. This act shall take effect on the 90th day after enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires every member of the New Jersey Legislature to file a detailed, sworn, and duly notarized statement of financial affairs for the preceding calendar year with the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards. Persons selected to fill a vacancy in the Legislature will file a statement of financial affairs for the preceding twelve months. The statement will disclose the financial affairs of the reporting individual and each member of the individual's immediate family, which includes the individual's spouse, dependent children, or other dependent relatives if living in the same household.
