ASSEMBLY, No. 1128

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblywoman MURPHY and Assemblyman AUGUSTINE

An Act concerning fire district elections and amending N.J.S.40A:14-71.

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

    1. N.J.S.40A:14-71 is amended to read as follows:

    40A:14-71. Candidates for membership on the board shall be nominated by verified petitions. Any such petition shall be in writing, addressed to the municipal clerk or the clerk of the board, as the case may be, stating that the signers thereof are qualified voters and residents in the district and requesting that the name of the candidate be placed on the official ballot. The petition shall state the residence of the candidate and certify his qualification for membership. The candidate's consent to his nomination shall be annexed to the petition and shall constitute his agreement to serve in the event of his election. The petition shall contain the name of only one candidate, but several petitions may nominate the same person. Each petition shall be signed by not less than 10 qualified voters and shall be filed at least [28] 29 days before the date of the election.

    Any form of a petition of nomination which is provided to candidates by the Secretary of State, the county clerk, or the municipal clerk shall contain the following notice:

    "Notice: All candidates are required by law to comply with the provisions of "The New Jersey Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Reporting Act,' P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-1 et seq.). For further information please call (insert telephone number of the Election Law Enforcement Commission)."

    If a petition is found to be defective, either in form or substance, the municipal clerk or the clerk of the board, as the case may be, shall forthwith notify the candidate to cause it to be corrected before the

petition is given consideration.

(cf: P.L.1985, c.288, s.2)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill changes the date of filing of a nominating petition for candidates for a board of fire commissioners from the present 28 days before the date of the election to 29 days before the date of the election.

    As fire district elections always fall on Saturdays, the present requirement that nominating petitions be filed not later than 28 days prior to the date of the election has created confusion as to when the petitions are actually due, since the 28th day prior to the election would also be a Saturday. Since the clerk's office is not usually open for business on Saturdays, in many cases the deadline has been interpreted to be the Monday following the 28th day, or 26 days prior to the date of the election. The sponsor believes that by requiring the filing of nominating petitions no later than the 29th day prior to the date of the election, which would be a Friday, this confusion would be eliminated and there would be no need for any other interpretation of the actual legal requirements of the filing of these nominating petitions.

Changes date of filing of nominating petitions for fire district elections.