Bill Text: NJ A659 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Enables municipality to allow newly elected member of municipal governing body to participate in meeting where public is excluded.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A659 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A659-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Enables municipality to allow newly elected member of municipal governing body to participate in meeting where public is excluded.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act enabling a municipality to allow newly elected municipal governing body members to participate in meetings where the public is excluded and amending P.L.1975, c.231.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 7 of P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-12) is amended to read as follows:
7. a. Except as provided by subsection b. of this section all meetings of public bodies shall be open to the public at all times. Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit, prohibit, or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting, except that a municipal governing body and a board of education shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting of the municipal governing body or board of education, the length of the portion to be determined by the municipal governing body or board of education, for public comment on any governmental or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the municipality or school district.
b. A public body may exclude the public only from that portion of a meeting at which the public body discusses any:
(1) matter which, by express provision of federal law, State statute, or rule of court shall be rendered confidential or excluded from the provisions of subsection a. of this section;
(2) matter in which the release of information would impair a right to receive funds from the Government of the United States;
(3) material the disclosure of which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy such as any records, data, reports, recommendations, or other personal material of any educational, training, social service, medical, health, custodial, child protection, rehabilitation, legal defense, welfare, housing, relocation, insurance, and similar program or institution operated by a public body pertaining to any specific individual admitted to or served by an institution or program, including but not limited to, information relative to the individual's personal and family circumstances, and any material pertaining to admission, discharge, treatment, progress, or condition of any individual, unless the individual concerned (or, in the case of a minor or an incapacitated individual, the individual's guardian) shall request in writing that the material be disclosed publicly;
(4) collective bargaining agreement, or the terms and conditions which are proposed for inclusion in any collective bargaining agreement, including the negotiation of the terms and conditions thereof with employees or representatives of employees of the public body;
(5) matter involving the purchase, lease, or acquisition of real property with public funds, the setting of banking rates, or investment of public funds, if it could adversely affect the public interest if discussion of the matters were disclosed;
(6) tactics and techniques utilized in protecting the safety and property of the public, provided that their disclosure could impair that protection, or investigations of violations or possible violations of the law;
(7) pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiation other than in subsection b. (4) herein in which the public body is, or may become, a party, or matters falling within the attorney-client privilege, to the extent that confidentiality is required in order for the attorney to exercise his ethical duties as a lawyer;
(8) matter involving the employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion, or disciplining of any specific prospective public officer or employee or current public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body, unless all the individual employees or appointees whose rights could be adversely affected request in writing that the matter or matters be discussed at a public meeting; or
(9) deliberations of a public body occurring after a public hearing that may result in the imposition of a specific civil penalty upon the responding party or the suspension or loss of a license or permit belonging to the responding party as a result of an act or omission for which the responding party bears responsibility.
c. A municipality may, by resolution or ordinance, allow a newly elected member of the municipality's governing body to participate in a meeting where the public has been excluded, pursuant to subsection b. of this section, before the newly elected member has taken their required oaths of office. The Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs shall create an official statement for a newly elected member of a municipality's governing body to sign acknowledging that the newly elected member will abide by the municipality's rules concerning official conduct regarding meetings where the public has been excluded. An official statement signed by a newly elected member of a municipality's governing body, pursuant to this subsection, shall be filed with the municipal clerk.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.103, s.57)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill enables a municipality to allow a newly elected member of the municipality's governing body to participate in a meeting where the public is excluded.
Under the bill, a municipality may, by resolution or ordinance, allow a newly elected member of the municipality's governing body to participate in a meeting where the public has been excluded before the newly elected member has taken their required oaths of office. The bill, thereby, provides the opportunity for a newly elected member of a municipal governing body to engage in important municipal issues in advance of the reorganization municipal meeting.
Additionally, the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs would create an official statement for a newly elected member of a municipality's governing body to sign acknowledging that the newly elected member will abide by the municipality's rules concerning official conduct regarding meetings where the public has been excluded. This official statement signed by the newly elected member would be filed with the municipal clerk.
