Bill > A1517

Introduced Session

This bill requires all school and nonpartisan municipal elections, and permits fire district elections, to be conducted on the day of general election, which is always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The provisions would apply to annual and special elections conducted by these governing bodies. Under current law, school districts conducting their annual elections in April, and nonpartisan municipalities conducting their annual elections in May, are permitted to move their elections to November. A school district's voters may file a petition to place the question of moving the election on the ballot for voter approval. Alternatively, the board of education or the governing body or bodies of the municipality or municipalities constituting the district may approve a resolution to do so. A nonpartisan municipality may move to a November election if the governing body of the municipality adopts an ordinance to do so. For both school districts and nonpartisan municipalities, the November election date may be moved back to April or May, respectively, by the same procedure, but municipalities must wait 10 years to do so. This bill would eliminate the ability of school districts and nonpartisan municipalities that have moved their elections to November to move their elections back to April or May. The bill would also require school districts and nonpartisan municipalities that have not moved their elections to November under current law to do so within 12 months of the bill's effective date. Under the bill, these school districts and nonpartisan municipalities would accomplish the move through a resolution or ordinance, as the case may be, without the option of voter approval. As is the case for school districts that currently conduct their elections in November, once the school district moves its election to November the school district's budget would be submitted to the voters only if it includes a proposal for additional funds exceeding the adjusted tax levy for the district. The bill also allows fire districts that conduct their elections in February to move their election to the date of the general election in November. The move may be accomplished through a question placed on the ballot by petition of the voters. The election may also be moved to November without voter approval upon the adoption of a resolution by the board of fire commissioners of a fire district. If the election is moved to November, the term of the members serving would be extended until the new members have been elected. The annual fire district elections in November would be held for the purposes of electing members of the board, for voting on any appropriation only if it exceeds the permissible property tax levy increase, and other matters pursuant to law. Once moved to November, the fire district election would not be moved back to February. Under the bill, because the geographic boundaries of fire districts are not always the same as those of local election districts, moving the fire district election to November is permissive and contingent upon the redrawing or consolidation of a fire district or districts. Specifically, the bill provides that the date of a fire district's annual election may not be moved to the day of the general election unless the boundaries of the fire district are coterminous with the boundaries of local election districts. The bill directs the governing body of a municipality, or the governing bodies of two or more municipalities, as the case may be, to redraw or otherwise consolidate the fire districts pursuant to a consolidation plan prepared in accordance with current law, to create a fire district that is coterminous with the boundaries of local election districts prior to any vote to move the fire district's annual election to the day of the general election. Finally, the bill amends various provisions of law concerning certain election notices and the contents, layout, and mailing requirements of ballots to include references to all elections that would be conducted in November as provided in the bill.

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John Burzichelli (D)*,  Ronald Dancer (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee (on 01/09/2018)