Bill Text: NJ A429 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns electronic notice of open public meetings for municipal governing bodies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A429 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A429-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT AUTH
District 39 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns electronic notice of open public meetings for municipal governing bodies.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning electronic notice of open public meetings for municipal governing bodies and amending P.L.2002, c.91.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.2002, c.91 (C.10:4-9.1) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. In addition to the notice requirements of the "Open Public Meetings Act," P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-6 et seq.), a public body may provide electronic notice of any meeting of the public body through the Internet. Except as provided by subsection b. of this section, or for any meeting limited only to consideration of items listed in subsection b. of section 7 of P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-12), a public body that is a municipal governing body shall provide electronic notice of a meeting of the municipal governing body through the Internet, which electronic notice shall include any documents relevant to the scheduled deliberations, including those documents that are considered deliberative, advisory, or consultative drafts that have been discussed by the municipal governing body at any prior meeting of the governing body, except those documents which are deemed to be confidential for the purposes of P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), those documents related to discussions of the municipal governing body from which the public is excluded pursuant to subsection b. of section 7 of P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-12), and those documents for which counsel to the municipality has advised the presiding officer of the municipal governing body that the release of such document through electronic notice prior to formal action would cause substantial harm to the municipality.
b. Upon the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the members present, a public body that is a municipal governing body may hold a meeting notwithstanding the failure to provide an electronic notice if:
(1) such meeting is required in order to deal with matters of such urgency and importance that the delay for the purpose of providing an electronic notice would likely result in substantial harm to the public interest;
(2) the meeting is limited to discussion of and acting with respect to such matters of urgency and importance;
(3) electronic notice is provided as soon as possible following the calling of such meeting; and
(4) the public body could not reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when electronic notice could have been provided.
c. A public body that is a municipal governing body that incurs additional costs in implementing the requirements of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) may annually certify those additional costs and apply to the Department of the Treasury for reimbursement of those costs. The Department of the Treasury shall disburse annually to each municipality that submits an application pursuant to this subsection the amount necessary to reimburse the municipality for the additional costs incurred by the municipality to implement the requirements of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The department, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations establishing procedures for the submission of applications and the disbursement of funds as necessary to implement this subsection.
d. As used in this section [, "electronic] :
"Electronic notice" means advance notice available to the public via electronic transmission of at least 48 hours, giving the time, date, location and, to the extent known, the agenda of any regular, special or rescheduled meeting, which notice shall accurately state whether formal action may or may not be taken at such meeting.
[As used in this section,] "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
(cf: P.L.2002, c.91, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would amend the "Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act," P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-6 et seq.) to require a municipal governing body to provide electronic notice of any meeting of the municipal governing body through the Internet. A municipal governing body would be permitted to meet without providing electronic notice in the event of an urgent matter. The bill requires an electronic notice made available by a municipal governing body to include any documents relevant to the scheduled deliberations. The bill creates an exception for certain documents that are deemed confidential under P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), known as the open public records act, for documents related to discussions of the municipal governing body from which the public is excluded, and for documents that counsel to the municipality has advised the presiding officer of the governing body of the municipality would cause substantial harm to the municipality if released via electronic notice prior to formal action. The bill also provides for State reimbursement through the Department of the Treasury for additional costs incurred by a municipality to comply with the requirements of the bill.
