Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WAYNE P. DEANGELO
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Changes date when a recall election may be initiated from 50th to 90th day preceding completion of first year of term of office.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act changing the date when a recall election may be initiated and amending P.L.1995, c.105.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.1995, c.105 (C.19:27A-4) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. An elected official shall be recalled from office upon the affirmative vote of a majority of those voting on the question of recall at a recall election which shall have been held after the officeholder shall have served one year of the term of office from which the person is sought to be recalled. A person serving to fill a vacancy in the term of an elective office shall be subject to recall at such an election after one year of such service. No election to recall an elected official shall be held after the date occurring six months prior to the general election or regular election for that office, as appropriate, in the final year of the official's term.
No statement of reasons or grounds for the holding of a recall election or for the recall at such an election of an elected official shall be required in connection with the preparation or circulation of a recall petition, with the transmittal of any notice required under the provisions of this act, with the submission to the voters of the question of the recall of an elected official, or with any other action or procedure relating to such a recall, and to the extent that any such statement of reasons or grounds is offered by the sponsors of a recall petition or by any other person, the sufficiency of that statement shall be a political rather than a judicial question.
b. The procedures established in this act to initiate the calling of a recall election may be commenced not earlier than the [50th] 90th day preceding the completion of the first year of the term of office by the official sought to be recalled. In the case of an official serving to fill a vacancy in the term of an elective office, the procedures established in this act to initiate the calling of a recall election may be commenced not earlier than the [50th] 90th day preceding the completion of the first year of such service. However, the recall election itself shall not be held until after the official has completed one year of such term or service, as appropriate.
(cf: P.L.1995, c.105, s.4)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill amends the Uniform Recall Election Law. It allows the initiation procedures of a recall election to begin sooner, changing the date that recall election procedures may be initiated from the 50th day preceding the completion of the first year of the term of office to the 90th day preceding the completion of the first year of the term of office.