Bill Text: NJ S3687 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides that fines for municipal housing or zoning code violations may be imposed by municipality each day violation continues.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-09-30 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S3687 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3687-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Provides that fines for municipal housing or zoning code violations may be imposed by municipality each day violation continues.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning fines for municipal housing or zoning code violations and amending R.S.40:49-5.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.40:49-5 is amended to read as follows:
40:49-5. The governing body may prescribe penalties for the violation of ordinances it may have authority to pass, by one or more of the following: imprisonment in the county jail or in any place provided by the municipality for the detention of prisoners, for any term not exceeding 90 days; or by a fine not exceeding $2,000; or by a period of community service not exceeding 90 days.
The governing body may prescribe that for the violation of any particular ordinance at least a minimum penalty shall be imposed which shall consist of a fine which may be fixed at an amount not exceeding $100.
The governing body may prescribe that for the violation of an ordinance pertaining to unlawful solid waste disposal at least a minimum penalty shall be imposed which shall consist of a fine which may be fixed at an amount not exceeding $2,500 or a maximum penalty by a fine not exceeding $10,000.
The court before which any person is convicted of violating any ordinance of a municipality shall have power to impose any fine, term of imprisonment, or period of community service not less than the minimum and not exceeding the maximum fixed in such ordinance.
Any person who is convicted of violating an ordinance within one year of the date of a previous violation of the same ordinance and who was fined for the previous violation, shall be sentenced by a court to an additional fine as a repeat offender. The additional fine imposed by the court upon a person for a repeated offense shall not be less than the minimum or exceed the maximum fine fixed for a violation of the ordinance, but shall be calculated separately from the fine imposed for the violation of the ordinance.
Any municipality which chooses not to impose an additional fine upon a person for a repeated violation of any municipal ordinance may waive the additional fine by ordinance or resolution.
Any person convicted of the violation of any ordinance may, in the discretion of the court by which [he] the person was convicted, and in default of the payment of any fine imposed therefore, be imprisoned in the county jail or place of detention provided by the municipality, for any term not exceeding 90 days, or be required to perform community service for a period not exceeding 90 days.
Any municipality that chooses to impose a fine in an amount greater than $1,250 upon an owner for violations of housing or zoning codes shall provide a 30-day period in which the owner shall be afforded the opportunity to cure or abate the condition and shall also be afforded an opportunity for a hearing before a court of competent jurisdiction for an independent determination concerning the violation. Subsequent to the expiration of the 30-day period, a fine greater than $1,250 may be imposed if a court has not determined otherwise or, upon reinspection of the property, it is determined that the abatement has not been substantially completed. A municipality may impose a fine upon an owner for a violation of the housing or zoning code for each day that the violation continues until the owner has cured or abated the condition, as determined upon the reinspection of the property.
(cf: P.L.2005, c.269, s.1)
2. Any actions taken in accordance with R.S.40:49-5 as amended by P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) are hereby validated.
3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be retroactive to the effective date of R.S.40:49-5.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that a municipality may impose a fine upon an owner for a violation of the housing or zoning code for each day that the violation continues until the owner has cured or abated the violation.
On June 20 2024, the Appellate Division issued a per curium opinion entitled Township of Depford v. Malachite Group, Ltd., Docket No. A-0943-22. This opinion reversed certain provisions in municipal ordinances across the State that allowed municipalities to issue certain code violations for each day a violation continues. This bill is intended to specifically provide that a municipality may impose a fine for each day a violation continues and validate the prior imposition of the fines.
