Bill Text: NJ ACR107 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Proposes amendment to State Constitution to provide for elected State Comptroller and eliminate Office of State Auditor.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-01 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [ACR107 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2018-ACR107-Introduced.html

ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 107

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 1, 2018

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  BENJIE E. WIMBERLY

District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Proposes amendment to State Constitution to provide for elected State Comptroller and eliminate Office of State Auditor.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


A Concurrent Resolution amending Articles II, IV, V and VII of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

 

     Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

 

     1.    The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is hereby agreed to:

 

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

 

     a.     Amend Article II, Section I, paragraph 1 to read as follows:

     1.    General elections shall be held annually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; but the time of holding such elections may be altered by law. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Comptroller and members of the Legislature shall be chosen at general elections.  Local elective officers shall be chosen at general elections or at such other times as shall be provided by law.

(cf: Art. II, Sec. I,  para. 1, effective January 17, 2006)

 

     b.    Amend Article IV, Section V, paragraphs 1 and 5 to read as follows:

     1.    No member of the Senate or General Assembly, during the term for which the member shall have been elected, shall be nominated, elected or appointed to any State civil office or position, of profit, which shall have been created by law, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased by law, during such term.  The provisions of this paragraph shall not prohibit the election of any person as Governor, as Lieutenant Governor, as State Comptroller or as a member of the Senate or General Assembly.

(cf: Art. IV, Sec. V, para. 1, effective January 17, 2006)

 

     5.    Neither the Legislature nor either house thereof shall elect or appoint any executive, administrative or judicial officer [except the State Auditor].

(cf: Art. IV, Sec. V, para. 5, effective January 1, 1948)

 

     c.     Amend Article V, Section 1, paragraphs 2 and 3 to read as follows:

     2.    The Governor and the State Comptroller shall be not less than thirty years of age, and shall have been for at least twenty years [a citizen] citizens of the United States, and [a resident] residents of this State seven years next before election, unless [the Governor shall have been] absent during that time on the public business of the United States or of this State.  A person shall be eligible for the office of Lieutenant Governor only if eligible under this Constitution for the office of Governor.

(cf:  Art. V, Sec. I, para. 2 effective January 17, 2006)

 

     3.    No member of Congress or person holding any office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States shall be Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller.  If the Governor or Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the office of Governor, or the State Comptroller shall accept any other office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States, the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller, as the case may be, shall thereby be vacated.  No Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller shall be elected by the Legislature to any office during the term for which the person shall have been elected Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller.

(cf:  Art. V, Sec. I, para. 3 effective January 17, 2006)

 

     d.    Amend Article VII, Section I, paragraph 6 to read as follows:

     6.    [The State Auditor shall be appointed by the Senate and General Assembly in joint meeting for a term of five years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualify. It shall be his duty to conduct post-audits of all transactions and accounts kept by or for all departments, offices and agencies of the State government, to report to the Legislature or to any committee thereof as shall be required by law, and to perform such other similar or related duties as shall, from time to time, be required of him by law.]

(cf: Art. VII, Sec. I, para. 6 effective January 1, 1948)

 

     e.     Amend Article VII, Section 1, by the addition of the following new paragraph 7:

     7.    a.  The State Comptroller shall be the head of a principal department in the Executive Branch of State Government.  The State Comptroller shall exercise such powers and duties as may be conferred upon the State Comptroller by law.

     b.    The State Comptroller shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of this State for a term of four years, beginning at noon of the third Tuesday in January of an odd numbered year.  A person who is a candidate for State Comptroller shall not simultaneously seek election to another office.  The candidate for State Comptroller receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected to that office.  If two or more candidacies shall be equal and greatest in votes, one candidate shall be elected by the vote of a majority of all the members of both houses in joint meeting at the regular legislative session next following the election for State Comptroller by the people.  Contested elections for the office of State Comptroller shall be determined in such manner as may be provided by law.

     c.     No person who has been elected State Comptroller for two successive terms, including an unexpired term, shall again be eligible for that office until the third Tuesday in January of the fourth year following the expiration of the second successive term served by that person.

     d.    In the event of a vacancy in the office of State Comptroller resulting from the death, resignation, or removal of a State Comptroller in office, or the death of a State Comptroller-elect, a State Comptroller shall be elected to fill the unexpired term of office at the next general election, unless the vacancy occurs within 60 days immediately preceding a general election in which case the State Comptroller shall be elected at the second succeeding general election. A State Comptroller elected for an unexpired term shall assume office immediately upon election. No election to fill an unexpired term shall be held in any year in which a State Comptroller is to be elected for a full term.

     e.     In the event a State Comptroller-elect fails to qualify, is absent from the State, is unable to discharge the duties of the office, or is impeached, or in the event of a vacancy pursuant to d. or f. of this paragraph, the functions, powers, duties, and emoluments of office shall devolve in such manner as shall be provided by law until a vacancy for the unexpired term is filled pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph.

     f.     In the event a State Comptroller-elect fails to qualify, is continuously absent from the State, or is continuously unable to discharge the duties of the office for a period of six months, the office shall be deemed vacant by a determination of the Supreme Court upon presentment to it of a concurrent resolution declaring the ground of the vacancy, adopted by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of each house of the Legislature, and upon hearing  with prior notice before the Court and proof of the existence of the vacancy.

     g.    The State Comptroller shall receive for services a salary which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period for which the State Comptroller shall have been elected or appointed.

 

     f.     Amend Article V, Section IV, paragraphs 1 and 2 to read as follows:

     1.    All executive and administrative offices, departments, and instrumentalities of the State government, including the offices of State Comptroller, Secretary of State and Attorney General, and their respective functions, powers and duties, shall be allocated by law among and within not more than twenty principal departments, in such manner as to group the same according to major purposes so far as practicable. Temporary commissions for special purposes may, however, be established by law and such commissions need not be allocated within a principal department.  No diminution in the functions, powers, and duties of the State Comptroller, whether by law or by executive order or proclamation, enacted, adopted or issued after the election of any person to that office shall take effect until another person has been elected to succeed that person and has qualified into office.

(cf: Art. V, Sec. IV, para. 1 effective January 1, 1948)

 

     2.    Each principal department shall be under the supervision of the Governor. The head of each principal department shall be a single executive unless otherwise provided by law. Such single executives shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve at the pleasure of the Governor during the Governor's term of office and until the appointment and qualification of their successors, except as herein otherwise provided with respect to the State Comptroller, Secretary of State and the Attorney General.  The Governor may appoint the Lieutenant Governor to serve as the head of a principal department, without the advice and consent of the Senate, and to serve at the pleasure of the Governor during the Governor's term of office.

(cf: Art. V, Sec.IV, para. 2 effective January 17, 2006)

 

     2.    When this proposed amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the next general election occurring more than three months after the final agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly and the Attorney General, not less than three months prior to the general election.

 

     3.    This proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the following manner and form:

     There shall be printed on each official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:

     a. In every municipality in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede the question as follows:

     If you favor the proposition printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (a) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (a) in the square opposite the word "No."

     b. In every municipality the following question:

 

 

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROVIDING FOR ELECTION OF STATE COMPTROLLER AND ABOLISHING THE OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR

 

YES

Shall the amendments to Articles II, IV, V and VII, agreed to by the Legislature, providing for the election by the people of the State Comptroller, who shall be the head of a principal department in the Executive Branch of State Government, and abolishing the office of the State Auditor, be approved?

 

 

INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT

 

NO

This constitutional amendment provides for the popular election of the State Comptroller for a four-year term.  The State Comptroller will head a principal department in the Executive Branch of State Government.  Currently, the State Comptroller, a recently established statutory officer responsible for financial audit  and performance reviews of the State and local government units, is appointed by the Governor for a six-year term with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is subject to removal by the Governor for cause.  This amendment will make the State Comptroller an independent Statewide elected officer.  The amendment also abolishes the office of State Auditor.

 

SCHEDULE

 

     The first election of a State Comptroller shall take place at the general election in 2020 and, until the first State Comptroller so elected takes office, the State Auditor and the State Comptroller shall continue to be appointed, and to exercise their respective offices, as currently provided by the State Constitution or by law.  A person serving as State Comptroller, or acting State Comptroller, pursuant to statute, at the time that this paragraph shall first become part of the State Constitution shall not be eligible to seek election to a term of office as State Comptroller.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This concurrent resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to provide for the Statewide popular election of the State Comptroller for a four year term.  Currently, the State Comptroller is a recently established statutory officer within the Department of the Treasury, who is appointed for a six year term by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and is responsible directly to the Governor.  The elected State Comptroller will be the head of a separate Executive branch department.  This department is to be established in implementing legislation.

     It is intended that the State Comptroller's powers and duties will be those recently established for the Office of the State Comptroller by law, pursuant to P.L.2007, c.52 (C.52:15C-1 et al.), as may be amended and supplemented from time to time.  These duties include conducting routine, periodic and random audits; reviewing public sector contracts; coordinating the conduct of forensic accounting investigations of  agencies of State government; conducting performance reviews; developing and enforcing remediation plans if violations are found; providing technical assistance and training to strengthen internal procedures; and preventing the misuse of public funds.  Together, these powers, may be enhanced through companion legislation that will implement this constitutional amendment, and will allow the State Comptroller to systematically review and scrutinize the financial and programmatic functions and interactions of various State agencies, independent authorities, local units of government, and public colleges, universities and boards of education.

     The amendment also abolishes the office of State Auditor as the duties of that office within the legislative branch concerning post-financial audits and discretionary performance reviews of State government entities and certain school districts are duplicative of the State Comptroller's duties.

     This amendment will make the State Comptroller a truly independent officer who will be elected at Statewide general elections for up to two consecutive four-year terms.  The election of a State Comptroller will be held in each year before the year in which the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected.  The election of a State Comptroller will be held in even-numbered years in which elections for members of Congress or the President of the United States are held.

     The often-noted remarkable level of executive and political power held by New Jersey's Governor under our Constitution makes it unlikely that a truly independent and much needed, vigorous State fiscal watchdog is possible from the current statutory plan under which the State Comptroller is appointed by and controlled by the Governor.  The financial oversight system applied to all levels of government in this State is virtually on "auto-pilot" and is beyond full repair by a "go-slow", superficial, first aid approach.  Making the State Comptroller the second and separately elected State-level official is the only means of providing independent and responsive checks and balances needed to be applied to this system.  An elected State Comptroller will have personal motivations to seek the office, serve the entire State, and be accountable to no other appointing power other than the people of the State.

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