SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 624

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 15, 1996

      The Senate Senate Judiciary Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 624.

      In Madden v. Delran Tp., 126 N.J. 591 (1992), the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that, in order to ensure that indigent defendants receive adequate representation by counsel in municipal court, attorneys will be assigned to represent those defendants. Presently, attorneys assigned to represent defendants in municipal court are not compensated. In Madden, the Supreme Court also noted that while not required to do so, municipalities have the authority to hire a public defender to represent indigents in its own municipal court or to compensate the counsel assigned in that court. This bill would permit a municipality which hires a municipal public defender or which compensates counsel assigned to its municipal court to limit the services of the public defender to State residents or to only compensate assigned attorneys who represent State residents.