Bill Text: NJ S922 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Bars individual from serving as county prosecutor in acting capacity for longer than one year, including pending nominee for position.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee [S922 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S922-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator KRISTIN M. CORRADO
District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Bars individual from serving as county prosecutor in acting capacity for longer than one year, including pending nominee for position.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning time limitations for certain county prosecutors serving in an acting capacity and supplementing Title 2A of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. No person, including a pending nominee for the position, shall serve in an acting capacity as a county prosecutor for a period of more than one year. When the name of a person serving in an acting capacity is not submitted in nomination to the Senate prior to the end of that one year, the person serving in an acting capacity shall vacate that position at the end of the one-year period.
b. When any person is serving in an acting capacity as a county prosecutor on the effective date of this section, and the Governor has not submitted that person's name in nomination to the Senate, the Governor shall nominate that person within 30 days of that effective date, or at the next Senate session, whichever is sooner, or the person shall vacate that position.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under the New Jersey Constitution and statutory law, certain public offices must be filled by nomination and appointment of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. These positions include county prosecutors as the head of county prosecutor offices; See, N.J. Const. (1947) Art. VII, Sec. 2, par. 1.
This bill provides that no person, including a pending nominee for the position, shall serve in an acting capacity as a county prosecutor for a period of more than one year. When the name of a person serving in an acting capacity as a county prosecutor is not submitted in nomination to the Senate prior to the end of that one year, the person serving in an acting capacity shall vacate that position at the end of the one year period.
The bill further provides that, when any person is serving in an acting capacity as a county prosecutor on the effective date of the bill, and the Governor has not submitted that person's name in nomination to the Senate to serve in that capacity on a permanent basis, the Governor shall nominate that person within 30 days of that effective date, or at the next Senate session, whichever is sooner, or the person shall vacate that position.
