ASSEMBLY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

                                      STATEMENT TO               

ASSEMBLY, No. 5997

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 15, 2021

      The Assembly State and Local Government Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5997.

      This bill removes the requirement for the Legislature, DOE, free public libraries, and historical societies to purchase the official “Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey.”

      A law enacted in 1884 requires the Legislature to purchase 2,000 copies of the manual and the Department of Education to purchase 1,000 copies of the manual for distribution to the public schools.  A law enacted in 1907 also requires the manual to be distributed at the expense of the State to public libraries and the historical societies in the State.  The law (N.J.S.A.52:12-1) requires the manual to be “printed on good paper and bound in a substantial manner in cloth”.

      Publication of the manual as an annual series began in 1872.  The current law requires the manual to contain:

      the State Constitution;

      the Senate and General Assembly rules;

      the current members of the Legislature and their post-office addresses;

      the names of State officers, their post-office address, the terms for which they are elected or appointed, and expiration date of the terms;

      the names of the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court, and the judges of the Superior Court, their terms of office, and the expiration date of their terms;

      the names of the officers of each county, including the sheriff, coroners, county clerk, surrogate, county treasurer, register of deeds and mortgages, and county prosecutors, their post-office addresses, their terms of office, and the expiration date of their terms;

      the United States Courts in and for this State, the names of the judges, clerks, the place court is held, and their terms;

      the names of the President and Officers of the United States Government, and the names and post-office addresses of the United States judges and other officers of the United States Courts in this State;

      the latest census of this State taken by the United States, and any census of the State taken by the State;

      the election returns of the last general election; and

      synopsis of all the annual reports of the State departments and institutions required by law to be submitted to the Governor or Legislature.

      The law also provides that the manual should contain such other matters as the Governor or Legislature may from time to time direct to be published, or which the compilers of the manual may see fit to print, pertaining to the affairs of the State.

      With the information contained and readily accessible on the Internet through websites of the State of New Jersey, the United States government, and of counties and municipalities of the State, and the many other websites containing public information useful for the residents of the State, the need to expend State funds for the purchase of the manual is no longer a necessity to enable the residents of the State to understand the structure of their government and to access government officials.