In accordance with our State Constitution, each Legislature’s two year term begins at noon on the second Tuesday in January of each even numbered year. And that term is divided into two annual sessions. So, on January 8, 2008, the first session of New Jersey’s 213th Legislature began. Bills have already been introduced that will, if enacted, effect the way your municipality functions. More will, over the next twenty-three months, follow. Knowing how the process works, how the League develops its response to key bills, how it interacts in the law-making process and how you can help, will make the outcomes better reflect the needs and the interests of your constituents.

About 10,000 bills or resolutions can be introduced in an average two year Legislative term. About one quarter of them will have an impact on many or all of our 566 municipalities. So the debates in the committee and caucus rooms, and on the floors of the State Senate and General Assembly are very important to all local officials, throughout our Garden State.

How does the legislative process work? What is the process by which a bill becomes law? How can you help in the ongoing campaign of The New Jersey State League of Municipalities to defeat bad legislation and encourage the passage of good legislation?

A brief of over-view of New Jersey’s legislative process might be helpful.

Let’s follow a typical bill. Every bill and resolution is introduction by one of the 80 members of the General Assembly or by one of the 40 members of the Senate. In addition to the primary sponsor, many bills have several co-sponsors.

At the time of introduction, bills are assigned a number and read by number and title only. They are then normally assigned by the presiding officer of the house to one of several standing committees for detailed study. The presiding officer of the Senate is its President. The presiding officer in the General Assembly is the Speaker.

There are a number of standing committees in the Senate and General Assembly. For municipal officials, the committees dealing with municipal and local government issues are usually the most important.

League Senior Legislative Analysts Jon Moran, Michael Cerra and Helen Yeldell pose on the steps of the State House with Executive Director Bill Dressel.

The League has six staff members who are lobbyists. They are Executive Director Bill Dressel, Assistant Executive Director Mike Darcy, Staff Attorney Deborah Kole and Senior Legislative Analysts Helen Yeldell, Mike Cerra and Jon Moran. They monitor the weekly meetings of these and other committees and provide the committee members with background on the League’s position on the bills under their consideration.

Sometimes these committees will schedule full-scale public hearings on bills which are especially important or controversial.

On important bills, the League alerts municipal officials around the state to these hearings, and arranges to have mayors and other local leaders on hand to testify on behalf of municipal interests. Additionally, over 300 mayors comprise the League’s “Quick Response Hot Line.” The Hot Line team provides immediate response to Special Legislative Alerts faxed to them by the League. They, in turn, phone their legislative representatives to relate the League’s position on the particular bill. This program has proven to be a very effective lobbying tool, but has been surpassed by the “Legislative E-Line“ service. This is a different technology that produces excellent results.

Many bills, whether or not they become the subject of public hearings, remain in the respective committees and never move further. Other measures, however, do receive favorable consideration and are voted out by the members of the committee.

Any bills that effect public spending or borrowing are then referred to the appropriate financial affairs committee—in the Senate, that’s the Budget and Appropriations Committee; in the Assembly, it’s the Appropriations Committee. The bill, once released by the committee, is reported back to the full house and given second reading where it is again read by number and title only. After a lapse of 24 hours, the bill is ready for third and final reading, again by title only, and is ready for debate and voting by the full membership of the house.

In actual practice, several days, weeks or months may elapse before the bill is scheduled for floor debate. When it is debated, it faces an uncertain fate. The bill may pass routinely, or it may pass with a close vote, after heated debate, or it may fail to pass and be defeated.

Frequently, a bill is amended on the floor. For this to happen, the bill is returned to the second reading stage and must later be rescheduled for another third reading and a vote.

After a bill has negotiated all of the hurdles in its house of origin, it is transmitted to the other house where it must proceed in the same manner.

If the bill manages to pass both houses, in identical form, it then goes to the Governor for action. The Governor may sign the bill exactly as it is presented or may suggest further changes as the condition for signing. This action is known as a conditional veto. If the Governor has strong objections to the bill, he may give it an absolute veto. In this event, the measure can become law only if both houses of the Legislature pass it by a 2/3 vote.

League President Robert L. Bowser stands with Governor Jon Corzine and Department of
Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria at the League Conference.

League Action
Throughout this legislative process, your League has been playing an active role. Letters outlining the League’s position on behalf of municipalities have been sent to the appropriate members of the Legislature at all stages—when the bill was in the original committee, soon after introduction, when it came up on the floor for debate, in the other house, if the bill moved, and ultimately to the Governor, if the bill progressed to his desk. In the course of a typical session, the League’s correspondence files grow to impressive proportions.

About 100 or so bills affecting municipalities do survive the process and become law in the average two-year session.

The League arrives at a position on the hundreds of bills that affect us through the efforts of the League Legislative Committee. This 100-member body reflects the broad spectrum of municipal viewpoints. Officials from all parts of the state reflect the concerns of rural communities, suburban municipalities and our larger cities. The committee also comprises a cross section of mayors, governing body members, attorneys, engineers, managers, clerks and other key local administrative officials.

Following each meeting of the committee, League staff members write an avalanche of letters outlining the position that the committee has taken at the meeting. Usually within 48 hours, these letters are in the mail to members of the Legislature.

Officials in every municipality are also notified of the legislative committee’s findings through the familiar Legislative Bulletin which is sent to the mayor, each member of the governing body, the municipal clerk, the attorney and the manager or administrator. In addition to reporting the committee’s feelings on various bills, the Bulletin also reports on all the bills having a local impact which become law; and it carries special alerts on developments that require special action by our members. Click here to access the bulletin.

Municipal officials around the state can be assured that through the League, the concerns of local government are being brought to the attention of the State Legislature on a daily basis. Through the League the concerned voices of municipalities are being expressed in Trenton.

League Executive Director Bill Dressel visits with Assemblyman John E. Rooney (seated) following a committee meeting.

How You Can Help
As former Speaker of the House Thomas Philip (Tip) O’Neill, Jr. so often said, “All politics is local.” We never lose our confidence in that sage proverb. It has been, is and will continue to be the foundation and the cornerstone of all League Legislative activities. Much of what we do in Trenton is directed at allowing you to put that maxim to work, right in your own municipality. The rest of what we do is the result of your local action.

Without your advocacy, municipal issues will never get the attention they deserve, in Trenton or in Washington. Without your participation, the municipal perspective will never prevail.

In short, the best strategy for legislative success is sustained local participation in the process. We don’t expect you to engage in grassroots lobbying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But we do know that our efforts in the Statehouse will bear little fruit, unless you spend some time on State and Federal issues 52 weeks a year.

Your position in municipal government gives you a unique power to influence legislative decisions. You are both a constituent and a colleague of the decision-makers. The following pointers can, we think, help you use your unique power to maximum affect.

— Read your Legislative Bulletin and file it for future reference.
— Establish a dialogue with your own senator and assembly members.
— Talk with them or write to them about the bills that will be good and bad for your town.
— Strongly oppose bills which

• Mandate new or increased services at the local level without providing state funding to support them.
• Decrease local revenues. For example, granting additional exemptions from the local property tax, decreasing state aid to municipalities, mandating local policies that should be determined at the local level.

— Don’t forget that you are part of the League. When you receive a special alert, follow through on it. If you do not, you may have to live with the consequences.
— Get involved in our Legislative Committee.
— And most importantly, try to enlist the help of your citizens. As taxpayers, they are the ones who will bear the burden of costly programs mandated by the state. Encourage them to support the League position.

Remember, what happens in Trenton can have a very direct bearing on your town and your programs and on your ability to serve your citizens. It is vitally important that the Legislature and the Governor be kept informed of the local viewpoint. There is a lot to be done. Work with your League and through your League, so we can get the job done together.