Bill Text: NJ S2831 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires independent State authority member to disclose contractual relationship between authority and authority member's relatives.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-06-03 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Transportation Committee [S2831 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S2831-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator KEVIN J. O'TOOLE
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires independent State authority member to disclose contractual relationship between authority and authority member's relatives.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning disclosure by independent State authority members of certain information and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Independent State authority" means a public authority, board, commission, corporation, or other agency or instrumentality of the State allocated, in but not of, a principal department of State government pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, or which is not subject to supervision or control by the department in which it is allocated, and a regional authority, but shall not include a college or university.
"Member" means the member of an independent State authority or board thereof.
"Regional authority" means and includes the Passaic Valley sewerage commissioners or any successor entity and the North Jersey district water supply commission or any successor entity.
"Relative" means the spouse, domestic partner as defined in section 3 of P.L.2003, c.246 (C.26:8A-3), parent, grandparent, child, foster-child, grandchild, brother, sister, stepparent, cousin, stepchild, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, or half-sister, aunt, or uncle of any current authority member whether related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
2. a. A person serving as a member of an independent State authority shall report to the State Ethics Commission the existence of a contractual relationship between a relative of the member and the authority.
b. (1) A member shall report to the State Ethics Commission, pursuant to subsection a. of this section, within 30 days of: (a) the appointment of the member if, upon such appointment, a relative of the member has a contractual relationship with the authority, or (b) the creation of a contractual relationship between the authority and the member's relative, as appropriate.
(2) If, upon or prior to the date of the enactment of P.L. , c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a contractual relationship exists between the authority and the member's relative, as of the date of enactment of P.L., c. (C. ), the member shall report such contractual relationship within 30 days of the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ).
c. A member who violates the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) shall be subject to removal from office and shall be liable to a penalty of up to $5,000, unless the member knew or reasonably should have known the member was in violation of P.L. , c. (C.), in which case the penalty shall be no less than $5,000 and no more than $10,000 for each violation. Any penalty imposed pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) shall be collected or enforced, with costs, in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires members of independent State authorities to report to the State Ethics Commission the existence of a contractual relationship between a relative of the member and the authority. "Independent State authority" is defined as a public authority, board, commission, corporation, or other agency or instrumentality of the State allocated, in but not of, a principal department of State government pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, or which is not subject to supervision or control by the department in which it is allocated, and a regional authority, but is not to include a college or university.
Under this bill, a member is to report to the State Ethics Commission within 30 days of the creation of a contractual relationship between the authority and the member's relative, or within 30 days of the member's appointment if there exists a contractual relationship between the authority and the member's relative at the time of the appointment. If, upon or prior to the date of the bill's enactment, a relative of a member has a contractual relationship with the authority, then the member is to report that information to the State Ethics Commission within 30 days of the bill's enactment.
A member who violates the requirements of the bill is subject to removal from office and liable to a penalty of up to $5,000, unless the member knew or reasonably should have known the member was in violation, in which case the penalty shall be no less than $5,000 and no more than $10,000 for each violation.
