SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 2762

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  NOVEMBER 9, 2020

 

      The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 2762.

     This bill would establish a fund to provide reimbursements to municipalities for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by a municipal police force or department for the management and control of crowds and traffic at a New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission (“MVC”) location during the COVID-19 pandemic.  When MVC locations were reopened to the public during this pandemic, there were massive crowds necessitating the presence of police, at significant expense to the affected municipalities.

     The bill appropriates $500,000 to the fund, which would be established within the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs.  To obtain a reimbursement, a municipality would have to submit an application to the division in accordance with procedures specified by the division.  The bill would be retroactive to March 9, 2020, when Executive Order No. 103 was issued, declaring a public health emergency and state of emergency in response to COVID-19, and would expire upon the conclusion of both declared emergencies.