SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 133

 

with Senate committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JUNE 3, 1996

 

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 133 (1R) with amendments.

      Senate Bill No. 133 (1R), as amended, directs the Commissioner of Personnel to establish a 24-hour "Law Enforcement Officer Crisis Intervention Services" telephone hotline. The hotline would receive and respond to calls from law enforcement officers and sheriffs' officers who have been involved in any event or incident which has produced personal or job-related depression, anxiety, stress, or other psychological or emotional tension, trauma, pressure, or disorder for the officer. The hotline will maintain the confidentiality of the callers, but will provide for the tracking of an officer who exhibits a severe emotional or psychological disorder or condition that might result in harm to the officer or to others.

      In establishing the hotline, the commissioner would consult with representatives from the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police, the New Jersey State Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the New Jersey Corrections Officers Association, and other parties who can contribute to the development and operation of an effective program.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill at the request of the sponsor.

      The amendments change the source of funding for the hotline from the proceeds of the disposal of property forfeited by criminals (forfeiture funds) to a surcharge of $1 on all fines, penalties and forfeitures for motor vehicle violations. The surcharge will be distributed $0.75 to the county in which the fine, penalty or forfeiture was collected for the county's law enforcement crisis intervention services program, a program a county may establish pursuant to Senate Bill No. 134 SCA of 1996, and $0.25 to the State Treasurer for the costs of the telephone hotline established under this bill. The entire $1 will be forwarded to the State Treasurer if a county does not have such a program.

      In addition, the amendments add the New Jersey Corrections Officers Association to the parties that would be consulted by the Commissioner of Personnel in establishing the hotline, and add sheriffs' officers in various sections of the bill to clarify that they are included in the bill's provisions.

 

FISCAL IMPACT

      The Office of Legislative Services estimates that the $1 surcharge on fines, penalties and forfeitures for motor vehicle violations will generate approximately $3.5 million annually. If all 21 counties establish a law enforcement crisis intervention services program under Senate Bill No. 134 Sca of 1996, $875,000 of the total will be forwarded annually to the State Treasurer to defray the costs of the hotline established pursuant to this bill, and $2,625,000 annually will be available to the counties for the law enforcement officers crisis intervention programs. If a county does not have a program, the surcharge collected in the county will go to the State Treasurer.

      The Department of Personnel did not provide an estimate of the annual cost of establishing and maintaining the telephone hotline.