Bill > S3115

Introduced Session

This bill would require the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Office of Information Technology, to design, develop, and maintain a database that contains and displays information about the monetary penalties imposed and collected by municipalities for the violation of municipal ordinances. The "Municipal Penalty Database" would be publicly available and accessible from the Division of Local Government Services Internet website. The "Municipal Penalty Database," would display a quarterly report for each municipality setting forth: · each type of violation prescribed by ordinance, · the monetary penalty amount, amounts, or range prescribed by ordinance, · the number of occurrences of each type of violation during the prior three-month period, and · the total amount collected by the municipality for each type of violation during the prior three-month period. The database would also retain and display each prior quarterly report. The bill requires the Division of Local Government Services to adopt rules to effectuate the purposes of the bill. The bill requires each municipality to submit information to the Division of Local Government Services on a quarterly or more frequent basis, in the manner the division may require, information about the monetary penalties the municipality has imposed and collected for the violation of each type of ordinance. If a municipality does not comply with this requirement, the Division of Local Government Services would prohibit the municipality from imposing and collecting a fine in excess of $25 as a penalty for the violation of any of its ordinances until the division determines that the municipality has satisfactorily complied with the requirement. Additionally, a person cited for violating an ordinance during a period of time that the municipality is not in compliance with this requirement may affirmatively assert the provisions of the bill as a defense against the ability of the municipality to impose and collect a fine in excess of $25 as a penalty for violation of the ordinance.

Committee Categories

Declan O'Scanlon (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 10/18/2018)