FISCAL NOTE TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 70

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: NOVEMBER 1, 1996

      Assembly Bill No. 70 of 1996 would establish a court-referred family mediation program. The bill provides that the court may refer the parties in a divorce action to mediation. The bill also provides that if the court determines that there is a history of domestic violence which compromises the mediation process, or if any party objects to attending the mediation session, the case would not be referred to mediation. The bill also provides that the mediator would be authorized to terminate the session if the mediation efforts are unsuccessful. Once the parties have completed the mediation process and an agreement is reached, the agreement would be reduced to writing and submitted to the court for approval. If the agreement is approved, the terms of agreement would be incorporated into the final order. If an agreement is rejected, the court would state its reasons on the record. If an agreement is not reached, the matter would be referred to the court for formal disposition.

      The bill also provides that no person serving as a mediator would be liable for damages resulting from any exercise of judgment or discretion in connection with the person's duties.

      According to supplementary information provided by the Office of Management and Budget, the AOC has indicated that it would require 107 new positions, two trainers Statewide and five staff persons for each of the 21 counties. These five county positions include one Administrator, one Secretarial Assistant, and three mediators, for a total salary and fringe benefits cost of about $6.5 million. An additional $631,000 in non-salary costs and $43,000 in one-time non- salary startup costs would also be required, for a total first-year cost of about $7.2 million. Assuming an inflation rate of about four percent, this cost would increase to about $7.5 million during the second year.

      The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states that while the bill notes that fees may be charged to applicants for this service, no fee has been set and no estimate of the amount of revenue has been provided.

      The Office of Legislative Services concurs.

This fiscal note has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.