ASSEMBLY, No. 1428

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 5, 1996

By Assemblymen ROBERTS and DALTON

An Act concerning certain motor vehicle fines, penalties and forfeitures and amending R.S.39:5-41.

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

    1. R.S.39:5-41 is amended to read as follows:

    39:5-41 a. All fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of R.S.39:4-63 and R.S.39:4-64 shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid to the proper financial officer of the municipality wherein the violation occurred, to be used by the municipality to help finance litter control activities in addition to or supplementing existing litter pickup and removal activities in the municipality.

    b. Except as otherwise provided by subsection a. of this section, all fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of the provisions of this Title, other than those violations in which the complainant is the director, a member of his staff, a member of the State Police, an inspector of the Board of Public Utilities, or a law enforcement officer of any other State agency, shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid as follows: one-half of the total amount collected to the financial officer, as designated by the local governing body, of the respective municipalities wherein the violations occurred, to be used by the municipality for general municipal use and to defray the cost of operating the municipal court; and one-half of the total amount collected to the proper financial officer of the county wherein they were collected, to be used by the county as a fund for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads and bridges, snow removal, the acquisition and purchase of rights-of-way, and the purchase, replacement and repair of equipment for use on said roads and bridges therein. Up to 25% of the money received by a municipality pursuant to this subsection, but not more than the actual amount budgeted for the municipal court, whichever is less, may be used to upgrade case processing. For the purposes of this subsection, the Delaware River Port Authority shall not be deemed a State agency.

    Whenever any county has deposited moneys collected pursuant to this section in a special trust fund in lieu of expending the same for the purposes authorized by this section, it may withdraw from said special trust fund in any year an amount which is not in excess of the amount expended by the county over the immediately preceding three-year period from general county revenues for said purposes. Such moneys withdrawn from the trust fund shall be accounted for and used as are other general county revenues.

(cf: P.L.1993, c.293, s.5)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    The purpose of this bill is to clarify the status of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) as not being a State agency for the purpose of the distribution of fines, penalties and forfeitures under R.S.39:5-41.b. to municipalities whose courts hear motor vehicle offenses occurring on DRPA property. If deemed a State agency for this purpose, the fines and penalties would be sent to the State rather than to the municipality and county, even though the municipality bears the cost of maintaining the court for the hearing of these offenses. This bill would rectify such an anomalous situation by definitively providing that the DRPA is not a State agency for the purposes of R.S.39:5-41.b.

Provides that DRPA is not a State agency for purposes of R.S.39:5-41.b.