SENATE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 328

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 24, 1996

      The Senate Community Affairs Committee reports favorably Senate, No. 328.

      This bill would provide tenure in office for a person who has held continuously, for at least eight years from the date of original appointment, the office of county emergency management coordinator. This would include individuals who have held or will hold this office both before and after the effective date of this bill. The bill would provide that a tenured county emergency management coordinator could only be removed from office upon a showing of good cause at a fair and impartial hearing.

      The bill would also provide that every county governing body must appoint a county emergency management coordinator for an initial term of three years and, for those persons ineligible for tenure, for subsequent terms of five years each.

      Finally, the bill would require a person who is appointed to an initial term after the effective date of this bill to complete successfully within two years of the appointment a training program to be specified by the State Director of Emergency Management.

      This bill was prefiled for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review which has been performed.