Bill > A569

Introduced Session

This bill would supplement the "Local Government Ethics Law," P.L.1991, c.29 (C.40A:9-22.1 et seq.), to require all local government officers to complete training concerning the requirements of that law and any applicable municipal or county code of ethics adopted pursuant thereto. The law currently defines a "local government officer" as: any person whether compensated or not, whether part-time or full-time: (1) elected to any office of a local government agency; (2) serving on a local government agency which has the authority to enact ordinances, approve development applications or grant zoning variances; (3) who is a member of an independent municipal, county or regional authority; or (4) who is a managerial executive or confidential employee of a local government agency, as defined in section 3 of the "New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act," P.L.1941, c.100 (C.34:13A-3), but shall not mean any employee of a school district or member of a school board. The training would be developed by the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, and would be administered on a semi-annual or more frequent basis by employees of that department or by an individual, agency, organization or entity contracted by the department to do so. In developing the training, the bill would require the division to examine similar programs in this and other states and to survey the available training resources and methods. The Commissioner of Community Affairs would develop the program's rules and regulations, which would include a time frame, not to exceed 18 months from the promulgation of the rules, for the training and an escalating fine schedule, from $1,000 to $5,000, for the failure of a local government officer to receive the training within the specified time frame. Recently, the widely publicized violations of law at the local level underscore the need for legislative measures such as this bill. The education and training of all local government officers, as this bill would require, is an important first step towards greater integrity at all levels of government.

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Amy Handlin (R)*,  Sheila Oliver (D)*,  L. Grace Spencer (D)*,  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D)*,  Pam Lampitt (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee (on 01/27/2016)