Bill Text: NJ S3585 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires fee revenue of State professional and occupational boards be used exclusively for paying costs related to the functions, duties, and responsibilities of boards.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-12-04 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee [S3585 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S3585-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT M. GORDON
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires fee revenue of State professional and occupational boards be used exclusively for paying costs related to the functions, duties, and responsibilities of boards.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the use of fee revenue of State professional and occupational boards, amending R.S.45:1-3 and P.L.1974, c.46 and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.45:1-3 is amended to read as follows:
45:1-3. Each member of the [boards mentioned in section 45:1-2 of this title] professional or occupational boards designated in section 2 of P.L.1978, c.73 (C.45:1-15) shall be entitled to [his] the member's actual traveling and other expenses incurred in the performance of [his] the member's duties, which sum shall be paid from the license fees and other sources of income of such boards. Such boards shall also be entitled to expend from their income such sums as shall be necessary to defray all proper expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties, including the compensation of any of their officers or agents whom they are authorized to compensate. Such boards, if authorized to collect an annual registration or license fee from persons licensed by them, [may] shall retain in their [treasuries] control, the fees so collected and shall deposit the fees in special non-lapsing, dedicated revenue accounts that shall be established in the State General Fund and maintained by each board. [and] Amounts in each dedicated account shall be for the exclusive use [the same for] by each respective board for the expenses of performing its functions, duties and responsibilities including but not limited to the purpose of defraying the expenses of securing evidence against and prosecuting persons violating the provisions of the laws with the enforcement of which they are charged, or, in case the revenue of the boards from other sources shall be insufficient to pay the salary of their secretaries and their other expenses, such fees may be expended for such purposes [. Such boards shall be entitled to retain, in addition to the above, at least one hundred dollars in their treasuries] and for the purpose of preparing and holding their examinations. [On or before October thirty-first in each year such boards shall pay to the state treasurer all moneys remaining in their treasuries, except as above stated, which sum, when so paid, shall form a part of the state fund.] All fees and other revenues deposited in each dedicated account, with any interest earned thereon, shall constitute a trust fund for the purposes established herein. No monies in a dedicated account shall be lapsed or transferred for any other purpose. The Legislature shall not borrow, appropriate, or use any portion of the amount in each dedicated account for any purpose or in any manner other than as provided in this section. Such boards shall [keep accurate accounts of their receipts and expenditures] keep and maintain a complete set of double-entry accounts, which shall reflect directly or through proper controlling accounts, on an accrual basis, all assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenditures, which accounts shall be subject to audit by the State Comptroller.
(cf: R.S.45:1-3)
2. Section 2 of P.L.1974, c.46 (C.45:1-3.2) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of Title 45 of the Revised Statutes or any other law to the contrary, any board or commission named in section 1 of this supplementary act may by rule establish, prescribe or change the fees and charges for examinations, licensures and other services it performs, which rule shall first be approved by the head of the department to which such board or commission is assigned and shall be adopted in accordance with the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c. 410 (c. 52:14B-1).
b. Any board's or commission's fees and charges established, prescribed or changed pursuant to this section shall be established, prescribed or changed to such extent as shall be necessary to defray all proper expenses incurred by the board or commission in the performance of its duties but such charges shall not be fixed at a level that will raise amounts substantially in excess of the amount estimated by the board or commission to be so required.
c. In preparing the Governor's proposed budget, for each State fiscal year, the State Treasurer shall include the total estimated amount of fees and other revenue anticipated by each board or commission for that fiscal year in Schedule I Anticipated Revenues, and shall include in recommended appropriations the detailed appropriation of all the anticipated revenue of each board and commission as line-item appropriations for each board and commission designating a specific amount of money expressed as a specific numerical figure for the particular purposes of each board and commission and not by means of general language committing funds in an unspecified, conditional, or contingent amount for any purpose.
d. In addition to such
other information as the State Treasurer deems necessary to include in the
objectives, program classifications, and evaluation data of all programs
administered by each board and commission, the Treasurer shall include, in the
Governor's proposed budget for each State fiscal year, the information which is
required of each board or commission pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c.
(C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). In the case of
two or more fees which fund the same program, the information required pursuant
to this
subsection may be aggregated to reflect such overlap.
(cf: P.L.1974, c.46, s.2)
3. (New section) a. In preparing its budget proposal for each State fiscal year, the Attorney General, no later than February 15 of the current State fiscal year, shall compile and submit to the State Treasurer, to the General Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, or their respective successors, a statement for each program funded entirely or in part by fees and charges of each board or commission designated in section 2 of P.L.1978, c.73 (C.45:1-15), identifying:
(1) The objectives of the program;
(2) The program classification, which shall include a summary description of all activities undertaken by each program;
(3) For the current State fiscal year, each of the two immediately preceding State fiscal years, and the State fiscal year for which the budget is proposed, program activity data, including, but not limited to, a listing of: activities performed; applications submitted and reviewed for certifications, registrations, licenses, or other approvals; certifications, registrations, licenses, or other approvals issued; documents reviewed; inspections performed; and enforcement actions taken; and
(4) For the current State fiscal year, each of the two immediately preceding fiscal years, and the State fiscal year for which the budget is proposed, personnel data, including but not limited to: the total number of board, commission, and staff positions; the total number of budgeted positions; the number of positions budgeted for in lump sum appropriations; the number of positions supported by the appropriate fees; all other authorized positions; and the number of vacant positions.
b. In the case of a program which is funded in part by fees and in part by other sources of revenue, the Attorney General shall supply a breakdown of the percentages and relative amounts of all respective sources of revenue used to fund the program, and, if not provided pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection a. of this section, the number and percentage of personnel involved in the program who are supported by each source of revenue.
c. The data required pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection a. of this section, and pursuant to subsection b. of this section, shall be actual data, revised estimated data, or estimated data, in accordance with directives of the State Treasurer concerning budget program data in general.
4. This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that the licensing and other fee revenue collected by the State's professional and occupational boards be used exclusively for paying costs of the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the respective boards. The bill requires that the Governor's annual budget recommendations list the anticipated revenue that will be under the control of each professional and occupational board and the recommended specific line-item appropriation amounts for each board. Detailed budget performance data on the use of fee revenue in the performance of each board's mission is required to be reported annually to the Legislature's budget committees.
Despite the growing burdens of the State's professional and occupational boards for the licensing, oversight, and enforcement of important professional standards in many licensed professions that are intended to protect the consumers of these professions' services, past budget practice has been to minimize the disclosure of the budgetary support and fiscal operation and performance of these boards that are within the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety. This bill seeks to ensure better future oversight and funding for these boards in the effective performance of their duties.
The Board of Nursing provides one example of the unfortunate impact that the diversion of fee revenues has produced. The Board of Nursing is the busiest professional licensing and disciplinary body compared to the 46 other professional boards overseen by the Division of Consumer Affairs. It licenses 200,000 nurses and certified homemaker and home health aides and receives about 250 complaints a month. Over the three State fiscal years 2015 through 2017, a total of $22.3 million has been diverted from the board to pay for the costs and expenses of other divisions in the department. The Board of Nursing is reported to be short on cash and paid staff, creating a crisis that has delayed the approval of licenses for 4,000 nurses and home health aides. Staff and board members have resigned in protest of this situation. A number of board member vacancies have occurred and public concern has been voiced by former board members that they have seen a gradual lessening of standards over time, as there are fewer staff available to perform investigations of approximately 250 annual disciplinary cases, and aspiring nurses are waiting months, with job offers in-hand to get their licenses.
This bill will address the fiscal detriment that the State's professional and occupational boards have faced and will address the inability of these vital State boards to carry out their missions.
