Bill Text: NJ SCR17 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends Constitution to authorize Legislature to define prohibited land use actions by municipalities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [SCR17 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2010-SCR17-Introduced.html

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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 17

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

214th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  CHRISTOPHER "KIP" BATEMAN

District 16 (Morris and Somerset)

Senator  SEAN T. KEAN

District 11 (Monmouth)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Amends Constitution to authorize Legislature to define prohibited land use actions by municipalities.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

  

A Concurrent Resolution proposing to amend Section VI, paragraph 2 of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

 

     Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

 

     1.    The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is agreed to:

 

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

     Amend Article IV, Section VI , paragraph 2 to read as follows:

     2.    The Legislature may enact general laws under which municipalities, other than counties, may adopt zoning ordinances limiting and restricting to specified districts and regulating therein, buildings and structures, according to their construction, and the nature and extent of their use, and the nature and extent of the uses of land, and the exercise of such authority shall be deemed to be within the police power of the State. The Legislature may enact general laws delineating municipal land use actions that are prohibited because they are outside the legitimate police power of the State. Such laws shall be subject to repeal or alteration by the Legislature.

(cf:  Art.IV, Sec.VI., par.2)

 

     2.    When this proposed amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the next general election occurring more than three months after the final agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior to the general election.

 

     3.    This proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the following manner and form:

     There shall be printed on each official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:

     a.     In every municipality in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede the question as follows:

     If you favor the proposition printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (a) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (a) in the square opposite the word "No."

     b.    In every municipality the following question:

 

		CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO AUTHORIZE THE LEGISLATURE TO DEFINE PROHIBITED MUNICIPAL LAND USE ACTIONS
	YES	Shall the proposed amendment of Article IV of the Constitution, agreed to by the Legislature, authorizing the Legislature to enact laws that delineate municipal land use actions that are prohibited because they are outside the State's legitimate police power, be approved?
		INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
	NO	Approval of this amendment will authorize the Legislature to statutorily define certain municipal land use actions that are prohibited because they are outside the State's legal power to safeguard its citizens.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This concurrent resolution proposes to amend the New Jersey Constitution to authorize the Legislature to delineate municipal land use actions that are prohibited because they are outside the State's legitimate police power.  The amendment will authorize the Legislature to enact a companion bill, P.L.   ,c.   (C.   ) (pending before the Legislature as Senate Bill No.   of 2008) will permit the Legislature to guide municipalities in adopting ordinances that make realistically possible an appropriate variety of and choice of housing, including affordable housing.

     Article IV of the Constitution authorizes the Legislature to delegate the zoning power to municipalities. Article IV also deems municipalities' land use authority to be a police power of the State.  In its decision in Mt. Laurel I, Southern Burlington County N.A.A.C.P. v. Township of Mt. Laurel, 67 N.J.151 (1975), the Supreme Court relied on the general requirement that police powers be used to promote the general welfare, and concluded that ordinances that foreclosed opportunities for adequate housing for all categories of people in New Jersey were invalid.  The court found that a municipality's zoning practices had a substantial impact on citizens outside the municipality, and municipal zoning ordinances that precluded construction of housing for low- and moderate-income people denied these citizens adequate housing and were adopted contrary to the entire State's general welfare.

     In 1985, the Legislature and Governor enacted the Fair Housing Act ("FHA") to create a State entity, the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH"), to provide projections of affordable housing need and to administer and supervise the execution of the affordable housing plans of municipalities that voluntarily petition to be under COAH's jurisdiction.  COAH's rules have strayed from steering municipalities' exercise of their zoning powers to creating a system that obliges municipalities to finance affordable housing construction, often while not requiring any particular zoning action on the part of the municipality.

     This amendment will permit the Legislature to enact companion legislation more specifically defining prohibited exclusionary zoning practices and describing zoning practices that meet what is required of municipal zoning laws to meet the constitutional zoning obligation.