Bill Text: NJ A4590 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires municipalities to publish employee supplemental payment policies electronically and to provide enhanced notice and oversight of payments.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-09-22 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee [A4590 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A4590-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman KIM EULNER
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblywoman MARILYN PIPERNO
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires municipalities to publish employee supplemental payment policies electronically and to provide enhanced notice and oversight of payments.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act enhancing notice and oversight requirements related to supplemental payments to municipal employees and supplementing chapter 5 of Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. (1) The governing body of a municipality that has established an employee supplemental payment policy or policies prior to the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall publish the policy or policies as provided for pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(2) The governing body of a municipality that proposes to establish or modify an employee supplemental payment policy shall publish the policy or policies, or proposed modifications, as provided for pursuant paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(3) A municipality that maintains an Internet website shall publish for public inspection a supplemental payment policy, as described pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection, on the municipality's Internet website. A municipality that does not maintain an Internet website shall submit the supplemental payment policy or proposed supplemental payment policy to the Department of Community Affairs for publication on the department's Internet website. The department shall publish supplemental payment policies received pursuant to this paragraph on the department's Internet website.
b. A municipal governing body shall individually approve each supplemental payment for each municipal employee pursuant to a supplemental payment policy by resolution of the governing body at a public meeting where the proposed action and public comments on the proposed action shall be considered by the governing body.
c. (1) The governing body of a municipality that maintains an employee supplemental payment policy shall not approve a payment for an employee pursuant subsection b. of this section, unless the municipality publishes the proposed resolution and documentation supporting the supplemental payment, together with notice of the date, time, place, purpose of the meeting, in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality once each week for two consecutive weeks. The final publication shall be not less than twenty days prior to the date set for the meeting. Each publication shall also include information related to the times and places where additional supporting documentation shall be available for public inspection at no charge, including any advisory documents providing rationale for the supplemental payment policy and the individual proposed payment, along with any additional documentation relevant to the proposed payment.
(2) A municipality that publishes a notice pursuant to this subsection and maintains an Internet website, shall publish the additional supporting documentation, as described in paragraph (1) of this subsection, for public inspection on the municipality's Internet website. A municipality that does not maintain an Internet website shall submit the additional supporting documentation to the Department of Community Affairs for publication on the department's Internet website. The department shall publish additional supporting documentation received pursuant to this paragraph on the department's Internet website.
d. For the purposes of this section "supplemental payment" means a payment to an employee of a municipality in excess of the employee's regular compensation or reimbursement to the employee for actual costs incurred by the employee related to the person's employment with the municipality.
2. The Commissioner of Community Affairs shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the purposes of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would require municipalities to electronically publish supplemental payment policies for municipal employees and to provide advanced notice of payments to be made pursuant to supplemental payment policies.
The bill would require the governing body of a municipality that maintains a supplemental payment policy for municipal employees or proposes a resolution, or other action, to establish or modify a supplemental payment policy for any individual employee or group of its employees, to publish the policy or policies on the municipality's Internet website, if the municipality maintains an Internet website. If a municipality does not maintain an Internet website, the municipality would be required to submit the supplemental payment policy or proposed supplemental payment policy to the Department of Community Affairs for publication on the department's Internet website. The bill provides that a "supplemental payment" means a payment to an employee of a municipality in excess of the employee's regular compensation or reimbursement to the employee for actual costs incurred by the employee related to the person's employment with the municipality.
The bill would require a municipal governing body to approve any supplemental payment to any individual municipal employee by resolution of the governing body at a public meeting. The bill would further require that the municipality: 1) provide advanced notice of the date, time, place, and purpose of the public meeting, and 2) make supporting documentation for the supplemental payment accessible, both as provided for in the bill.
By requiring that all supplemental payments beyond standard pay be posted publicly and approved by a municipality's governing body, it is the intent of the sponsor to ensure that municipal taxpayers are made aware of the financial impacts of this additional compensation.
The bill would take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment.
