ASSEMBLY, No. 1873

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 2, 1996

By Assemblymen AUGUSTINE and BAGGER

An Act concerning certain law enforcement officers and amending N.J.S.40A:14-135.

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

    1. N.J.S.40A:14-135 is amended to read as follows:

    40A:14-135 The governing body of any municipality may, by ordinance, provide that whenever any member of the police department or force shall be required to appear before any grand jury or at any municipal, County, Superior or Supreme Court proceeding, [except in] be it a criminal action or a civil action related to the performance of his official duties, the time during which he is so engaged shall be considered a time of assignment to, and performance of duty. When such appearance occurs during the member's assigned duty hours, he shall suffer no loss in compensation. When such appearance occurs outside his assigned duty hours, he shall receive either compensatory time off from his regular duty hours or additional compensation.

(cf: P.L.1973, c.157, s.2)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill amends N.J.S.40A:14-135 to permit the governing body of a municipality to adopt an ordinance providing that its law enforcement officers be paid for the time they are required to spend in court on a civil matter. The amendatory language specifies, however, that an officer is only eligible for such pay if the civil action relates to the performance of his official duties. An officer required to appear in a civil court proceeding on a personal matter would not be eligible for such pay.

    Under current law, a governing body is authorized to adopt an ordinance which provides that the municipality's law enforcement officers be paid for the time they are required to spend in court on criminal matters.

    This statutory section provides that a law enforcement officer is only eligible for this pay if the court appearance occurs during the officer's regular duty hours. If the officer's appearance takes place during off duty hours, the officer is eligible for either compensatory time off or compensatory pay.

Permits municipalities to pay police officers for time spent in civil court in certain cases.