SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1623

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: OCTOBER 2, 2008

      The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1623.

      This bill would prevent municipalities from adopting ordinances or regulations that set minimum fees for the contract employment of off-duty members of the police force, or require that salaries or fees to off-duty members be paid into an escrow account administered by the municipality.  In certain urban municipalities, off-duty police officers are frequently employed, on a contract basis, by non-public apartment complexes to help provide security services to the tenants.  The police officers agree to work for an hourly rate that is negotiated between themselves and the owners of the apartment complexes.  If a municipality is permitted to require that its off-duty police officers be paid a certain minimum amount by the apartment owners that is higher than the current negotiated hourly rates, then those higher security costs will be passed along to tenants in the form of rent increases that they may not be able to afford.

      This bill would be retroactive to May 1, 2007, to ensure its applicability to an ordinance adopted by the City of Newark that set a standard hourly rate for the contracted off-duty employment of its police officers.