STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 4243

with Assembly Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Assemblyman DeANGELO)

ADOPTED: SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

      These Assembly floor amendments reduce the number of members of the Mercer Regional Water Services Commission (commission) from 17 to 13 by removing four members appointed by the County Executive and Board of Chosen Freeholders of Mercer County.  The amendments also provide that:

      (1)  the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Commissioner of Community Affairs, and the President of the Board of Public Utilities, or their designees, are to serve as non-voting members of the commission;

      (2)  the chairperson of the commission is to be chosen annually among the commission’s voting members;

      (3)  by vote of six voting members, the commission is to choose a chairperson, a vice chairperson, and a secretary from among the commission’s members, whether the commission is to meet, and to adopt the commission’s status report; and

      (4)  by vote of nine voting members, the commission may meet in closed session, and waive or deem approved any provision of the commission’s oversight responsibility mandated under the bill.