SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 125

 

with Senate committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JUNE 12, 1997

 

 

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 125 (1R) with amendments.

      Senate Bill No. 125 (1R), as amended, streamlines the hearing process under the current tenure hearing laws by establishing a special, education hearing unit within the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and by establishing time lines designed to expedite the process.

        Under the bill, the Commissioner of Education would refer a case to the OAL within 10 days of determining that there should be further proceedings, and the case would be assigned to the education unit, except for a case in which criminal charges were also filed. Discovery would begin on the date of that referral and must be completed within 30 days. The pre-hearing conference would be held within 20 days of the referral and the hearing itself no longer than 45 days thereafter. Transcripts ordered by the parties are to be provided within 15 days of the conclusion of the hearing, and all briefs would be submitted within 30 days of the conclusion of the hearing or receipt of the transcripts, whichever is later. The administrative law judge would have 45 days to render a decision after the hearing, as at present; however, the commissioner would have only 30 days, rather than 45 days, to review and act upon that decision. The bill also requires the State board to act within 60 days in the event that the commissioner's decision is appealed to that board.

      According to the sponsor, the current system for the filing and processing of tenure charges can take two years; the system proposed in the bill would take between 6 and 7 months from the filing of written charges to final decision.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

 

      The committee amended the bill to set a 15 day time limit within which the commissioner must make a determination to dismiss or refer for further proceedings any charges made against an individual.

FISCAL IMPACT:

 

      In a legislative fiscal estimate prepared by the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) on the previous version of this bill, the OLS states that Office of Administrative law (OAL) informally has advised the OLS that the creation of a separate education unit would be duplicative and costly and that the OAL could readjust its priorities to process the education cases within the time lines mandated by this bill. This, however, would lengthen the hearing process for other types of pending cases. Therefore, in order to avoid that consequence, the OAL suggests that a minimum of one and possibly two additional judges be hired at a salary of $80,000 each. Thus, the State could incur additional costs of between $80,000-$160,000, plus fringe benefits of approximately 27 percent or $21,600-$43,200, the first year following the bill's enactment.