ASSEMBLY LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1851

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 5, 1997

      The Assembly Local Government Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1851.

      Assembly Bill No. 1851 is intended to reverse one provision of Patel v. Planning Bd., 258 N.J.Super. 437 (1992) which held that a member of a municipal agency who was not a member of that agency at the time a hearing was conducted may not vote on an issue which was originally discussed prior to that person's membership on the agency.

      In interpreting the law, the judge stated that

      ".....One cannot interpret N.J.S.A.40:55D-10.2 to equate an individual, who was not a member of the board when a hearing occurred, with an existing member who was merely "absent" from a particular hearing..."

      Under existing law, a member who was absent from a hearing on a particular issue may vote on the matter at a subsequent meeting so long as that person certifies in writing to the board that that person has listened to the recording or read the transcript of any hearing from which that person was absent. The law is silent on whether "absent" includes those persons who were absent by virtue of not having been a member at the time the earlier discussions transpired.

      This bill clarifies that any member of a municipal agency may vote on an issue provided that person listens to the hearing or reads the transcript, regardless of whether or not that person was a member of the agency at the time the issue was originally discussed.