Bill Text: NJ A5756 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes "Business Grievance Board" in but not of DEP.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-08-23 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [A5756 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A5756-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman MATTHEW W. MILAM
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
Assemblyman R. BRUCE LAND
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes "Business Grievance Board" in but not of DEP.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a business grievance board and supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is hereby established an independent grievance board, the "Business Grievance Board," in, but not of, the Department of Environmental Protection for the purpose of addressing disputes between businesses operating in the State and the Department of Environmental Protection. The board shall:
(1) consider business complaints and requests for assistance to resolve disputes with the department;
(2) review each complaint and request and mediate a resolution between the business and the department; and
(3) issue non-binding recommendations to the department on action to taken for resolution of the dispute that generated the complaint or request for assistance.
b. The board shall consist of five members with expertise in environmental issues and the operation of local, State, or federal government, to be appointed as follows:
(1) two members appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the President of the Senate;
(2) one member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly; and
(3) two public members appointed by the Governor.
c. The appointed members shall serve without compensation, and shall be replaced in the same manner as they were appointed. The members shall have three year terms, except that, of those first appointed:
(1) the two members appointed upon the recommendation of the President of the Senate shall be appointed to a term of one year each;
(2) the two public members appointed by the Governor shall be appointed to a term of two years each; and
(3) the member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly shall be appointed to a term of three years.
d. The board shall organize as soon as practicable after the appointment of its members, but no later than 180 days after the appointment of its members, and shall select a chairperson from among its members, and a secretary who need not be a member of the board.
e. A majority of the members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The board may call upon representatives of businesses in the State and of the department and its staff to provide information and testimony with regard to the disputes being reviewed by the board. Action may be taken and motions and resolutions adopted by the board at any meeting thereof by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members.
f. Upon deciding the resolution of the dispute, the board shall issue a non-binding recommendation to the department and the business. If upon receiving a recommendation from the board, the business continues to be aggrieved, the business may submit additional information and request reconsideration of the recommendation of the board.
g. The board shall be entitled to the assistance and service of the employees of the Department of Environmental Protection, and any State, county or municipal department, board, bureau, commission or agency, or a public institution of higher education in the State, as it may require and as may be available to it for its purposes.
2. This act shall take effective immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes an independent grievance board, the "Business Grievance Board," in, but not of, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the purpose of addressing disputes between businesses operating in the State and the Department of Environmental Protection. The board would receive complaints or requests for assistance to resolve disputes with the DEP from businesses, which the board would review and mediate a resolution between the business and the department.
The bill provides that the board would consist of five members with expertise in environmental issues and the operation of local, State, or federal government, to be appointed as follows:
1) two members appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the President of the Senate;
2) one member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly; and
3) two public members appointed by the Governor.
Finally, the bill specifies that a board would issue non-binding recommendations to the department and the business, but if after receiving the recommendation from the board, the business continues to be aggrieved, the business may submit additional information and request reconsideration of the recommendation of the board.
