Bill Text: NJ A5689 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Requires members of Legislature to forfeit pay for each day of unexcused absence.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-06-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A5689 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2018-A5689-Introduced.html

ASSEMBLY, No. 5689

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED JUNE 24, 2019

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  JOE HOWARTH

District 8 (Atlantic, Burlington and Camden)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires members of Legislature to forfeit pay for each day of unexcused absence.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Act concerning absences of members of the Legislature and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    A member of the Legislature who during any two-year term of the Legislature is absent without excuse from any session or quorum of the House in which the member is serving or any meeting of any legislative committee on which the member is serving shall pay to the House for each day that the member has been absent an amount equal to a pro rata share of the member's annual compensation based upon the number of days of unexcused absence as a percentage of the number of session, quorum, and committee days the member should have attended.  Any amount due pursuant to this section shall be paid during the first ten days of the legislative year following the next general election for members of the General Assembly regardless of whether a member continues to serve as a member of the Legislature at that time. 

     An absence for which a member submits documentation of the member's illness, or of the illness or death of an immediate family member of that member, to the presiding officer of the member's House, if approved by the presiding officer in writing, shall be an excused absence and shall not be subject to the payment required by this section.  The absence of a member who is a member of the New Jersey National Guard or of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States for any parade, encampment, drill, meeting or active duty for training which the member may be required to attend or undertake under the laws and regulations for the guard or the reserve component for which the member submits documentation to the presiding officer of the member's house, if approved by the presiding officer in writing, shall be an excused absence and shall not be subject to the payment required by this section.  No other excused absences shall be permitted.

     As used in this section, "immediate family member" means a member's spouse, partner in a civil union couple as defined in section 2 of P.L.2006, c.103 (C.37:1-29), parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, stepsibling, child, stepchild, and grandchild, as related by blood or by law.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill imposes a penalty on members of the Legislature who are absent without excuse from any session or quorum of the House in which the member serves or any meeting of any legislative committee on which the member serves.  The penalty shall be equal to a pro rata share of the member's annual compensation for each day of absence based upon the number of days of unexcused absence as a percentage of the number of session, quorum, and committee days the member should have attended.  It must be paid during the first ten days of the legislative year following the next general election for members of the General Assembly regardless of whether a member continues to serve as a member of the Legislature at that time.  An absence for which a member submits documentation of the member's illness, or of the illness or death of an immediate family member, to the presiding officer of the member's house, if approved by the presiding officer in writing, will be an excused absence and will not be subject to the penalty.  For the purposes of this bill, "immediate family member" means a member's spouse, partner in a civil union couple, parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, stepsibling, child, stepchild, or grandchild, as related by blood or by law.  Similarly, the absence of a member who is a member of the New Jersey National Guard or of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States for any parade, encampment, drill, meeting or active duty for training which the member may be required to attend or undertake for which the member submits documentation to the presiding officer of the member's house, if approved by the presiding officer in writing, will be an excused absence and will not be subject to the penalty.  No other excused absences will be permitted.

     The delay in the imposition of the penalty until the session that begins after the next general election for members of the General Assembly is necessary to comply with paragraph 8, Section IV of Article IV of the New Jersey Constitution which provides that any increase or decrease in compensation of members of the Legislature cannot be effective "until the legislative year following the next general election for members of the General Assembly."

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