Bill > S757

Introduced Session

This bill would implement the provisions of a constitutional amendment which authorizes the transfer of probation from the Judiciary to the newly created Bureau of Probation in the State Parole Board. Specifically, the bill transfers all of the functions, powers, and duties of the Judiciary concerning probation to the Bureau of Probation in the State Parole Board. The transfer includes all records, equipment, technology, and other personal property, appropriations, and any unexpended balances of funds appropriated or otherwise available to the Judiciary pertaining to probation officers. The transfer would be subject to the provisions of the State Agency Transfer Act. Under the bill, all probation officers and those employees who are subject to the professional case-related contract and the professional supervisors contract are transferred from the Judiciary to the Bureau of Probation in the State Parole Board. The bill provides that the two contracts concerning probation officers and other employees who are supervisory employees and those who are case-related professional employees, and any others continues in full force and effect until their until successor contracts are negotiated. Changes appropriate to these contracts as a result of the transfer would immediately be negotiated by the current probation officers' employee organizations and the State Parole Board. The bill further specifies that all transferred employees and those covered by the two contracts would be employees of the Bureau of Probation in the State Parole Board and would retain their career service employment status and collective bargaining status, including all rights of tenure, retirement, pension, disability, leave of absence or similar benefits, held on the bill's effective date. The bill specifically provides that all probation employees transferred to the Bureau of Probation are to retain their membership in the Public Employees' Retirement System and are not eligible for membership in the Police and Firemen's Retirement System. The bill also permits the employee organizations which have represented probation officers prior to the enactment of this bill to continue their representation. Finally, the bill moves the previously established "Probation Officer Community Safety Unit" from the Judiciary to the Bureau of Probation. The unit is to consist of at least 200 probation officers who are authorized to carry a firearm and who have the authority to arrest probationers, enforce the criminal laws of this State, and enforce warrants for the apprehension and arrest of probationers who violate conditions of probation. Initially established in 2001, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the Legislature violated the separation of powers doctrine when it established the unit as probation officers are an integral part of the court system and are under the regulatory control of the Judiciary.

Committee Categories

Gordon Johnson (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document