Bill Text: NJ A3769 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires municipal court judge to disclose to governing body of municipality information concerning certain decisions by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A3769 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A3769-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires municipal court judge to disclose to governing body of municipality information concerning certain decisions by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain municipal court judges and supplementing Title 2B of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Any judge, temporary judge or acting judge of a municipal court, and any attorney who has applied for the position of judge of a municipal court, who has been issued a private reprimand, censure, admonition or caution by the New Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, shall disclose that fact to the appointing authority within 30 days of such issuance.
b. As used in this act, "appointing authority" has the following meaning:
(1) In municipalities governed by a mayor-council form of government, it means the mayor;
(2) In the case of a joint municipal court or central municipal court, it means the Governor; and
(3) In all other municipalities, it means the governing body of the municipality.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Pursuant to the Rules of Court, allegations of misconduct against municipal court judges are handled by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, which conducts hearings and determines whether public or private discipline should be imposed against the judge. If the Committee issues a private reprimand, admonition or caution, this information is not made available to the municipal governing body, which is responsible for hiring the municipal court judge and paying his salary.
This bill provides that any judge, temporary judge or acting judge of a municipal court, and any attorney who has applied for the position of judge of a municipal court, who has been issued a private reprimand, censure, admonition or caution by the New Jersey Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, shall disclose that fact to the appointing authority within 30 days of the issuance.
The bill defines "appointing authority" to mean the entity that appoints the judge. Under current law, set out in subsection b. of N.J.S.2B:12-4, municipal court judges are appointed by three types of entities: In municipalities with a mayor-council form of government, the judge is appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. In municipalities where there is a joint municipal court and in a county with a central municipal court, the judge is appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. (A joint municipal court is a municipal court that is shared by two or more municipalities. A central municipal court adjudicates cases filed by the county health department, county police department, county park police, and other county entities.) In all other municipalities, the judge is appointed by the governing body of the municipality.
