Bill Text: NJ S2220 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires Commissioner of Community Affairs to compile and annually update list of all unfunded State and federal mandates on municipalities and counties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S2220 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S2220-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires Commissioner of Community Affairs to compile and annually update list of all unfunded State and federal mandates on municipalities and counties.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring the Commissioner of Community Affairs to compile and maintain a list of unfunded mandates of the State and federal governments on municipalities and counties and supplementing chapter 27D of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Community Affairs, not later than the first day of the seventh month next following the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall compile and post on the web page of the Department of Community Affairs a list of all ongoing mandates required by the State and by the federal government on municipalities and counties for which funding to pay the entire cost thereof has not been provided by the State or by the federal government, as appropriate. The list shall also contain a good faith estimate of the cost to counties or municipalities, as appropriate, of compliance with the mandate.
b. The commissioner shall annually update and post on the department's web page not later than July 1 of each calendar year the list required pursuant to subsection a. of this section.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Community Affairs to prepare a list, and to annually update that list not later than July 1 of each calendar year, of all ongoing mandates required by the State and by the federal government on municipalities and counties for which funding to pay the entire cost thereof has not been provided by the State or by the federal government, as appropriate. The list must also contain a good faith estimate of the cost to counties or municipalities, as appropriate, of compliance with the mandate. The bill also requires that the list, and the annual update of the list, be posted on the department's web page.
The cost of unfunded mandates imposed by the State and by the federal government on counties and municipalities are ultimately borne by local property taxpayers through the payment of their property tax bills.
While the voters of the State approved an amendment to the New Jersey Constitution in November, 1995, that effectively rendered unenforceable any provision of a law enacted on and after January 17, 1996, and any rule or regulation issued pursuant to a law originally adopted after July 1, 1996, which does not authorize resources, other than the property tax, to offset the additional direct expenditures required for the implementation of the law or rule or regulation (subject to certain constitutional exceptions), that constitutional amendment does not affect mandates of the federal government, nor does it affect mandates imposed by the State prior to those constitutional dates.
In order for the Legislature to determine the true financial effect of existing mandates on the State's property taxpayers, and how to mitigate those costs, a compilation of those mandates, both State- and federally-imposed, must be undertaken and produced for public inspection and discussion.
