Bill > A5465

This bill amends New Jersey's open public meetings law—officially known as the "Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act," which generally requires government bodies to conduct their business in public—to explicitly expand mandatory public comment periods to county-level governments. While existing law already requires municipal governing bodies and school boards to set aside time at every public meeting for citizens to speak on issues of local concern, this legislation updates the statute to ensure that boards of county commissioners, as well as any boards, commissions, or entities created by them, must also provide a dedicated portion of their meetings for public comments. As context, this builds upon New Jersey's long-standing transparency framework, which guarantees public access to government meetings while allowing bodies to close meetings only for specific, sensitive matters such as pending litigation, personnel issues, collective bargaining, or matters protected by privacy laws.