STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PAUL D. MORIARTY
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Provides State agencies will not enter into contracts with business entities that require persons or public entities to submit disputes to binding arbitration.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the award of State contracts to certain business entities that require binding arbitration and supplementing P.L.2003, c.95 (C.2A:23B-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Business entity" means any natural or legal person, business corporation, professional services corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, business trust, association, or any other legal commercial entity organized under the laws of this State or of any other state or foreign jurisdiction.
"State agency" means any of the principal departments in the Executive Branch of the State government, and any division, board, bureau, office, commission, or other instrumentality within or created by such department, and any independent State authority, commission, instrumentality, or agency.
b. A State agency shall not enter into a contract or agreement with a business entity that requires any person or public entity, as a condition of doing business with that business entity, to submit a dispute arising after the signing of the contract to binding arbitration, thereby denying those persons or public entities their rights and remedies in a court of law.
c. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any contract or agreement:
(1) in effect on the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);
(2) necessary to address a public emergency; or
(3) that the State agency determines is unlikely to attract a number of qualified business entities sufficient to ensure a level of competition that will result in a contract price that is in the best interest of the State.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
The bill prohibits a State agency from entering into a contract or agreement with a business entity that requires any person or public entity, as a condition of doing business with that business entity, to submit a dispute arising after the signing of the contract to binding arbitration. These provisions deny those persons or public entities their rights and remedies in a court of law.
The provisions of this bill do not apply to any contract or agreement in effect on the bill’s effective date, that is necessary to address a public emergency, or that the State agency determines is unlikely to attract a number of qualified business entities sufficient to ensure a level of competition that will result in a contract price that is in the best interest of the State.