LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE TO


SENATE, No. 918


STATE OF NEW JERSEY


DATED: May 17, 1996

 

 

      Senate Bill No. 918 of 1996 would permit a county or municipality that has established and maintains a police force to appoint as a member or officer of that force a person who is a certified class two special police officer whose training as a class two special police officer qualifies as the training required for permanent appointment as a police officer. The bill would permit such an appointment notwithstanding that Title 11A, Civil Service, of the New Jersey Statutes is operative in the county or municipality; the county or municipality has available to it an eligible or regular reemployment list of persons eligible for such appointments; and the appointed person is not on any eligible list.

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) has received information from the Department of Law and Public Safety (DLPS) that the average amount of time that a police officer is in training is 20 weeks. The average cost to a local government for the tuition for such training is nominal; however, the local government must pay the police officer's salary (including benefits) during the time he or she is in training. Therefore, the OLS anticipates that the provisions of this bill will enable counties and municipalities to hire officers who are fully trained, in order to save them the costs of, and the time involved in, training a new police officer. The OLS notes that the savings will only occur in those counties or municipalities that hire these class two special law enforcement officers, and that the actual savings to counties and municipalities will depend on the actual cost to the hiring entity of the training process.

      This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.