A2982

An Act establishing a police services property tax relief assistance program, amending R.S.39:5-41 and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

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

1. R.S.39:5-41 is amended to read as follows:

39:5-41. a. All fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of R.S.39:4-63 and R.S.39:4-64 shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid to the proper financial officer of a county, if the violation occurred within the jurisdiction of that county's central municipal court, established pursuant to N.J.S.2B:12-1 et seq. or the municipality wherein the violation occurred, to be used by the county or municipality to help finance litter control activities in addition to or supplementing existing litter pickup and removal activities in the municipality.

b. Except as otherwise provided by subsection a. of this section, all fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of the provisions of this Title, other than those violations in which the complaining witness is the chief administrator, a member of his staff, a member of the State Police, a member of a county police department and force or a county park police system in a county that has established a central municipal court, an inspector of the Board of Public Utilities, or a law enforcement officer of any other State agency, shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid as follows: one-half of the total amount collected to the financial officer, as designated by the local governing body, of the respective municipalities wherein the violations occurred, to be used by the municipality for general municipal use and to defray the cost of operating the municipal court; and one-half of the total amount collected to the proper financial officer of the county wherein they were collected, to be used by the county as a fund for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads and bridges, snow removal, the acquisition and purchase of rights-of-way, and the purchase, replacement and repair of equipment for use on said roads and bridges therein. Up to 25% of the money received by a municipality pursuant to this subsection, but not more than the actual amount budgeted for the municipal court, whichever is less, may be used to upgrade case processing.

All fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of the provisions of this Title, in which the complaining witness is a member of a county police department and force or a county park police system in a county that has established a central municipal court, shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid to the financial officer, designated by the governing body of the county, for all violations occurring within the jurisdiction of that court, to be used for general county use and to defray the cost of operating the central municipal court.

Whenever any county has deposited moneys collected pursuant to this section in a special trust fund in lieu of expending the same for the purposes authorized by this section, it may withdraw from said special trust fund in any year an amount which is not in excess of the amount expended by the county over the immediately preceding three-year period from general county revenues for said purposes. Such moneys withdrawn from the trust fund shall be accounted for and used as are other general county revenues.

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1993, c.293.)

d. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, $1 shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected through a court under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer. In addition, upon the forfeiture of bail, $1 of that forfeiture shall be forwarded to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall annually deposit those moneys so forwarded in the "Body Armor Replacement" fund established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1997, c.177 (C.52:17B-4.4). Beginning in the fiscal year next following the effective date of this act, the State Treasurer annually shall allocate from those moneys so forwarded an amount not to exceed $400,000 to the Department of Personnel to be expended exclusively for the purposes of funding the operation of the "Law Enforcement Officer Crisis Intervention Services" telephone hotline established and maintained under the provisions of P.L.1998, c.149 (C.11A:2-25 et al.).

e. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, $1 shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected through a court under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall annually deposit those moneys so forwarded in the "New Jersey Spinal Cord Research Fund" established pursuant to section 9 of P.L.1999, c.201 (C.52:9E-9). In order to comply with the provisions of Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 5 of the State Constitution, a municipal or county agency which forwards moneys to the State Treasurer pursuant to this subsection may retain an amount equal to 2% of the moneys which it collects pursuant to this subsection as compensation for its administrative costs associated with implementing the provisions of this subsection.

f. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, $1 shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected through a court under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall annually deposit those moneys so forwarded in the "Autism Medical Research and Treatment Fund" established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2003, c.144 (C.30:6D-62.2).

g. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, $2 shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected by a court under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall annually deposit those moneys so forwarded in the "New Jersey Forensic DNA Laboratory Fund" established pursuant to P.L.2003, c.183. Prior to depositing the moneys into the fund, the State Treasurer shall forward to the Administrative Office of the Courts an amount not to exceed $475,000 from moneys initially collected pursuant to this subsection to be used exclusively to establish a collection mechanism and to provide funding to update the Automated Traffic System Fund created pursuant to N.J.S.2B:12-30 to implement the provisions of this subsection.

The authority to impose additional fines and penalties under this subsection shall take effect 90 days after the effective date of P.L.2003, c.183 and shall expire five years thereafter. Not later than the 180th day prior to such expiration, the Attorney General shall prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report on the collection and use of DNA samples under P.L.1994, c.136. The report shall cover the period beginning on that effective date and ending four years thereafter. The report shall indicate separately, for each one-year period during those four years that begins on that effective date or an anniversary thereof, the number of each type of biological sample taken and the total cost of taking that type of sample, and also the number of identifications and exonerations achieved through the use of the samples. In addition, the report shall evaluate the effectiveness, including cost effectiveness, of having the samples available to further police investigations and other forensic purposes.

h. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, $1 shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall annually deposit those moneys so forwarded in the "New Jersey Brain Injury Research Fund" established pursuant to section 9 of P.L.2003, c.200 (C.52:9EE-9). The Administrative Office of the Courts may retain an amount equal to $475,000 from the moneys which it initially collects pursuant to this subsection, prior to depositing any moneys in the "New Jersey Brain Injury Research Fund," in order to meet the expenses associated with utilizing the Automated Traffic System Fund created pursuant to N.J.S.2B:12-30 to implement the provisions of this subsection and serve other statutory purposes.

i. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, all fines and penalties imposed and collected under authority of law for any violation related to the unlawful operation or the sale of a vehicle under section 1 of P.L.1955, c.53 (C.39:3-17.1) shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid to the State Treasurer, if the complaining witness is the chief administrator, a member of his staff, a member of the State Police, an inspector of the Board of Public Utilities, or a law enforcement officer or other official of any other State agency; or, if the complaining witness is not one of the foregoing, one-half to the chief financial officer of the county and one-half to the chief financial officer of the municipality wherein the violation occurred.

j. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections a. and b. of this section, a $40 surcharge shall be added to the amount of each fine and penalty imposed and collected under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State. The surcharge shall be forwarded by the person to whom the same is paid to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall deposit $20 of the surcharge in the “Police Services Property Tax Relief Fund” established pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill) and $20 of the surcharge in the “Rural Police Services Property Tax Relief Fund” established pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill).

(cf: P.L.2007, c.178, s.2)

2. (New section) There is created in the Department of Law and Public Safety a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as the “Police Services Property Tax Relief Fund.” This fund shall be the repository for the moneys that are deposited therein pursuant to subsection j. of R.S.39:5-41 and shall be administered by the Attorney General.

Moneys deposited in the fund, and any interest earned thereon, shall be used exclusively for the purpose of reducing property taxes by providing moneys to defray a portion of the amount municipalities raise through property taxation to pay for local police services.

Upon application and approval by the Attorney General, the moneys in the fund shall be distributed among municipalities that have fulltime police departments or forces. An application for assistance shall be filed at a time, and in a manner and form, prescribed by the Attorney General.

The moneys shall be distributed proportionately based upon the size of a municipality’s police department or force; provided, however, that no municipality shall be allocated more than $1,000,000 in any year and that no more than 10 such allocations shall be made in any year and, further provided, that no municipality having an application approved by the Attorney General shall be allocated less than $5,000 in any one year.

The moneys allocated pursuant to this section shall be used exclusively for the purposes of reducing the amount a municipality is required to raise through local property taxation to cover the costs of providing police services. To that end, the governing body of each recipient municipality shall apply the total amount of its allocation to reducing the aggregate amount set forth in its annual budget for police services.

A recipient municipality which fails to apply its total allocation for the purposes of reducing the amount it is required to raise through local property taxation for police services shall be ineligible for an allocation in the two local budget years immediately next following.

A recipient municipality shall not increase its level of local police services or the size of its department or force without the prior approval of the Attorney General. A recipient municipality that increases its level of local police services or the size of its department or force without the prior approval of the Attorney General shall be ineligible for an allocation in the two local budget years immediately next following.

3. (New section) There is created in the Department of Law and Public Safety a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as the “Rural Police Services Property Tax Relief Fund.” This fund shall be the repository for the moneys that are to be deposited therein pursuant to subsection j. of R.S.39:5-41 and shall be administered by the Attorney General. Moneys deposited in the fund, and any interest earned thereon, shall be used exclusively for the purpose of defraying the cost of providing State Police rural patrol services.

4. (New section) If for any reason the State Treasurer fails to deposit the surcharges forwarded pursuant to subjection j. of R.S.39:5-41 into the “Police Services Property Tax Relief Fund” and the “Rural Police Service Property Tax Relief Fund” in a timely manner, or if in any State fiscal year moneys deposited in either of these funds are allocated or expended for a purpose other than those set forth in section 2 and 3 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill), the surcharges imposed, and the authority to collect those surcharges under the provisions of this act, shall be null, void and without effect.

5. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill imposes a $40 surcharge on all motor vehicle violations to defray some of the costs in providing local police services.

The surcharge is to be divided between two funds. One-half is to be deposited in the “Rural Police Services Property Tax Relief” Patrol Services” fund. The moneys in this fund, and any interest that might be earned, are to be used exclusively for the purpose of defraying the costs of providing full-time and part-time State Police in some of the State’s smaller and more rural communities.

The surcharge is to be divided between two funds. One-half is to be deposited in “Police Services Property Tax Relief” fund. The moneys in this fund are to be used exclusively for the purposes of reducing the amount a municipality is required to raise through local property taxation to cover the costs of providing police services. These moneys are to be allocated proportionally among those municipalities that have full-time police departments. The bill specifies that $1,000,000 is the largest allocation any municipality may receive in a year. To insure that fund moneys will be available to the largest number of municipalities, the bill provides that no more than ten $1,000,000 allocations may be awarded in any one year. The bill also provides that the smallest award a municipality is to receive is $5,000.

If a recipient municipality fails to apply its total allocation for the purposes of reducing the amount it is required to raise through property taxation for police services, it is disqualified for any allocations in the next two budget years.

Similarly, a recipient municipality is not eligible for allocations in the next two budget years if it utilizes its allocation to increase police services or the size of its police force without the approval of the Attorney General.

The other half of the surcharge is to be deposited in the “Rural Police Services Property Tax Relief Patrol Services Fund.” The moneys in this fund, and any interest that might be earned, are to be used exclusively for the purpose of defraying the costs of providing full-time and part-time State Police patrol services in some of the State’s smaller and more rural communities.

Finally, the bill includes a provision which terminates the program by declaring that the surcharges, and the State’s authority to collect those surcharges, are null, void and without effect if the State Treasurer fails to deposit the surcharges in their appropriate funds in a timely manner or if in any State fiscal year moneys in either fund are allocated or expended for a purpose other than property tax relief purposes set forth in the bill.

Based on the number of motor vehicle violations committed in recent years, the surcharge proposed in this bill should annually generate in excess of $80,000,000 for each fund.