Bill > S1542

Introduced Session

This bill would provide for the reimbursement of small municipalities that are involved in the adjudication of State and federal fish and game laws. The Division of Fish and Wildlife is generally responsible for overseeing and enforcing fish and game laws in the State, and State law currently provides that all penalty amounts recovered for violations of the State's fish and game laws, rules, and regulations must be paid, in full, to the division. This provision of law, however, fails to recognize that local governments are often left with the burden of paying, at their own expense, the costs associated with the adjudication of fish and game violations. Small municipalities - defined under the bill as those that have "a permanent population of less than 2,000 persons" - are particularly ill equipped to finance these judicial efforts. This bill would, therefore, amend the law to provide that whenever a court action is undertaken in the municipal court of a small municipality, which court action results in the assessment of penalty moneys for a violation of the State's fish and game laws, 50 percent of the recovered moneys must be paid to the governing body of the municipality in which the court action took place, while the remaining 50 percent of recovered moneys must be paid to the Division of Fish and Wildlife. The bill would also entitle a small municipality to receive 50 percent of the moneys recovered for a violation of a federal fish and game law or regulation when the moneys are recovered as a result of a municipal court action undertaken in the small municipality, so long as such action is not prohibited by federal law. In all other cases of federal fish and game law enforcement, however, and unless prohibited by federal law, any recovered moneys would be paid, in full, to the Division of Fish and Wildlife. A person who fails to forward recovered moneys to the division or the adjudicating small municipality, as required by the bill, would be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree. Although this offense currently exists in the law, it is referenced as a "misdemeanor" - an outdated term that is no longer used in the State. Because a crime that was previously characterized as a misdemeanor is now classified as a crime of the fourth degree, the bill updates the language in the existing law without changing the penalty for the offense.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Carmen Amato (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document