A4810

An Act establishing a Government Efficiency and Regulatory Review Commission and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

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

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. It is imperative that proposed or adopted State rules and regulations, as well as operative Executive Orders, be thoroughly reviewed in a careful, balanced, and expeditious way to: assess their potential or actual effects on the State’s economy; determine whether their costs and other burdens on businesses, workers, and local governments outweigh their intended benefits; and establish a basis for providing recommendations to the Governor to amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments.

b. A bipartisan commission consisting of representatives from the Executive and Legislative branches of State government, who are devoted to the common goal of promptly addressing the State’s economic viability and prosperity, should conduct this review.

c. The bipartisan commission should conduct its review with transparency, providing an opportunity for businesses, workers, local governments, and members of the public to obtain information about the commission’s work and to communicate pertinent information and opinions to the commission in an appropriate and effective manner.

2. a. There is created, in the Office of the Governor, a Government Efficiency and Regulatory Review Commission.

b. The commission shall consist of nine members as follows:

(1) The Chief Innovation Officer, or a designee, who shall serve as chair of the commission;

(2) The Executive Director of the New Jersey Business Action Center, or a designee;

(3) The Chief Counsel to the Governor, or a designee;

(4) The Commissioner of Environmental Protection, or a designee;

(5) The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, or a designee;

(6) The President of the Senate, or a designee;

(7) The Speaker of the General Assembly, or a designee;

(8) The Senate Minority Leader, or a designee; and

(9) The General Assembly Minority Leader, or a designee.

c. The Chief Innovation Officer, at his or her discretion, may appoint additional members to provide the commission with necessary and appropriate expertise and representation on behalf of businesses, workers, and local governments. Members appointed by the Chief Innovation Officer shall serve at the pleasure of the Chief Innovation Officer.

d. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation.

e. The commission shall meet once every six months and at such other times as the chair of the commission may determine.

f. The commission shall hold at least two public hearings in different regions of the State annually, at such times and places as the chair shall determine. The commission shall invite to testify business leaders, workers’ groups, local government officials, taxpayers, and other interested parties to discuss issues surrounding applicable rules, regulations, and executive orders.

3. a. The commission shall:

(1) review all proposed and adopted rules and regulations and operative Executive Orders issued by the Governor to: assess their potential or actual effects on the State’s economy; determine whether their costs and other burdens on businesses, workers, and local governments outweigh their intended benefits; and establish a basis for providing recommendations to the Governor to amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments;

(2) call upon any department, office, division, or agency of this State to supply the commission with data and other information, personnel, or assistance it deems necessary to discharge its duties;

(3) solicit both written and oral comments from the public, including professional, labor, community, and environmental organizations, businesses, workers, and other affected persons or entities as the commission deems appropriate, and to consider the views expressed by those parties in any report; and

(4) provide annually a written report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), in which the commission shall provide recommendations to repeal, rescind, or amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments.

b. Each department, office, division, or agency of the State shall cooperate with the commission and furnish it with such information, personnel, and assistance necessary for the commission to accomplish its duties.

c. Reports provided by the commission pursuant to this section, including any recommendations to repeal, rescind, or amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders contained therein, shall not confer any legal rights upon any persons or entities affected by those rules and regulations or Executive Orders. The commission’s reports shall be advisory and shall not be used as a basis for any legal challenges based upon the action or inaction of any department, office, division, or agency of the State.

4. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill creates the Government Efficiency and Regulatory Review Commission to assess the effect that rules and regulations and Executive Orders have on the State’s economy and to provide recommendations to the Governor to amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments.

Under the bill, the commission would be comprised of nine members, consisting of representatives from the Executive and Legislative branches of State government, who are devoted to the common goal of promptly addressing the State’s economic viability and prosperity. The bill requires each department, office, division, or agency of the State to cooperate with the commission and furnish it with any information, personnel, and assistance it needs to accomplish its duties. The commission’s findings would be advisory and cannot be used as a basis for any legal challenges based upon the action or inaction of any department, office, division, or agency of the State.

The bill requires the commission to:

(2) call upon any department, office, division, or agency of this State to supply the commission with data and other information, personnel, or assistance it deems necessary to discharge its duties;

(4) provide annually a written report to the Governor and the Legislature in which the commission must provide recommendations to repeal, rescind, or amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments.