NJLM's
Legislative Priorities 2010-2011

BECOMING A BETTER
NEW JERSEY

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, the 214th Legislature of the State of New Jersey began its first, of two, Annual Sessions. One week later, history was made in Trenton, as Chris Christie took the Oath of Office as our State’s 55th Governor and Kim Guadagno was sworn in as New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor. Along with this new start should come a renewed commitment on our part to promote issues important to municipal government.

As your eyes, your ears and your voice in the State Capital, our six legislative agents will be vigilant to potential problems and possibilities. We know that we can count on them to always do their best to protect our interests and the interests of the property taxpayers, who have put their faith in us.

But we also know that they will need our help. Only with our active involvement, will their communications with the Executive and Legislative Branches of the State government carry the credibility, on which they rely. The only way for us to give them the support that they need is by following the progress of legislation, which is important – in either a positive or a negative sense – to municipalities throughout our Garden State.

I urge you to read their regular “Legislative Update” column, which appears in each issue of our magazine, New Jersey Municipalities. I counsel you to scrutinize the “Legislative Bulletins,” which we publish after every meeting of our Legislative Committee. I encourage you to heed the “Legislative Alert” letters, which are sent to you, as needed, to mark the progress of important legislation through the law-making process.

All these they write not just to inform. Each letter is also a call to arms. When our lobbyists write, they hope to help you to understand what is afoot in Trenton. But they also hope that you will respond with action.

Usually, you don’t need to take up arms. For our purposes, a pen or a telephone will, most often, suffice. Just remember that your reaction will affect the chances of our success in the legislative arena.    

COMMUNITY BUILDING LAND USE & AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• Strengthen participatory democracy by safeguarding the institutions, through which people can, cooperatively, shape the future of their own communities.
• Defend the local planning and zoning review process from attack by those who value private profit more than the public’s interest.
• Urge support for initiatives which would encourage those who reap the greatest benefits from new development to, more equitably, share the costs of the infrastructural improvements, which that development necessitates.
• Continue our review of potentially unnecessary and duplicative bureaucratic requirements which inhibit the construction and renovation of sufficient safe and affordable housing for the families of our less-affluent fellow citizens

PUBLIC SAFETY, PUBLIC HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

• Promote policies that will permit communities to achieve and sustain compliance with appropriately high public safety, public health and environmental standards.
• Advocate a spirit of cooperation among state and local governments, which emphasizes the solution of problems, rather than the assessment of blame.
• Foster Legislative and citizen awareness of, and respect for, our public safety, public health and environmental priorities; and, thereby, increase our communal quality of life, while decreasing the costs, which will accrue in the long run if remediation efforts become necessary.
• Support policies that will permit communities to utilize flexible solutions to site remediation problems.
• Champion efforts to maintain, for future generations, the natural diversity which draws millions of visitors to our State, and to bequeath to our children a healthier and cleaner environment.

TAXATION, FINANCE & TRANSPORTATION

• Continue to evaluate the funding cuts, levy cap, mandates relief, management reforms and the other initiatives and outcomes of the Legislative Session to determine their real impact on New Jersey’s regressive and anachronistic over-reliance on property taxes to fund essential public services and programs.
• Determine the need for further reforms, which might need to be effected by a special citizens’ property tax reform convention.
• Support, at minimum, statutory levels of property tax relief funding, which must be adjusted to account for inflation, so as not to further exacerbate the burden borne by New Jersey’s families and small businesses.
• Oppose proposals that would shift costs from the State to local governments, because such proposals will, inevitably, contribute to the property tax crisis.
• Champion policies that will permit local governments to jointly negotiate and enter into contracts so as to provide for our citizens the best possible supplies and services at the lowest possible rates.
• Support fair and reasonable public pension and benefit reforms that appropriately reward current and retired public servants for their service without inappropriately burdening their fellow citizens.
• Continue to advocate for statutory and regulatory changes to address soaring healthcare costs that cause a significant burden on local property taxes.
• Advocate for a sustainable and fair solution to our transportation
  infrastructure funding crisis

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

• Promote and participate in discussions among public servants representing their fellow citizens at the local, state and federal level, in order to best meet the challenges and respond to the opportunities emerging from developments in our nation’s and State’s capital.
• Tackle existing mandates by supporting legislative review and repeal or relaxation of unnecessary, unfunded requirements imposed on municipalities in the past, and remaining in effect, today.
• Review, with the intent to repeal, long-standing statutory impediments to greater intergovernmental cooperation.
• Promote the continuing dialogue between and among neighboring municipalities, counties and school districts in order to find creative and cooperative solutions to existing and emerging problems.
• Continue to dialogue with the Administration to promote reforming the statutory strictures governing civil service.