ASSEMBLY LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 1551

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: FEBRUARY 15, 1996

 

      The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee favorably reports Assembly Bill No. 1551.

      Assembly Bill No. 1551 declares a continuing state of emergency in the State prisons and the correctional institutions of the New Jersey Department of Corrections in order to address the dilemma of prison overcrowding. The bill also confers upon the Governor the authority to issue executive orders to deal with the state of emergency existing in those State prisons and correctional institutions.

      New Jersey's prisons and correctional institutions have populations in excess of the capacities for which they were designed and are overcrowded. These conditions endanger the safety, welfare and resources of the State. Despite the best efforts to increase the inmate capacities of these facilities through expansion and new construction, overcrowding continues to be a problem.

      The purpose of this bill is to address the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision in County of Gloucester v. State, 132 N.J.141 (1993), wherein the Supreme Court determined that in the absence of an independent statutory basis the Governor would, after April 22, 1994, no longer have the executive authority to address prison overcrowding as a state of emergency under the Disaster Control Act (P.L.1942, c.251; App. A:9-33 et seq.).

      The Legislature initially addressed the Supreme Court's decision by enacting P.L.1994, c.12. That statute provided the necessary independent statutory authority the court determined was necessary, but it was a temporary and executing act, and is scheduled to expire April 4, 1996.

      Assembly Bill No. 1551 also is temporary and executing. It will expire two years after its date of enactment.