New Jersey League of Municipalities

file photo by Boyd Loving Councilmen Jeff Voigt has his OPRA troubles

By Donald Scarinci • 08/15/17 2:22pm

On the heels of several important decisions in the New Jersey courts, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee has advanced long awaited legislation to amend state’s Open Public Records Act. The bill (S1046) aims to improve and modernize the statute, while also boosting transparency.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) has been calling for reform for several years, but has seen prior attempts stall in committee. “There is no issue that overrides the public’s right to know what we in the Legislature and what our municipalities are doing on their behalf,” Weinberg said prior to the budget committee vote.

The OPRA statute has undergone few significant changes since it was enacted in 2002. Since then, the nature of government records has changed, largely due to the proliferation of the Internet, email and cell phones. One provision of S1046 would extend public record obligations to quasi-governmental organizations engaged in service to the public, such as the New Jersey League of Municipalities and the New Jersey School Boards Association. Another would allow residents to send records requests via email.

https://observer.com/2017/08/nj-transparency-law-poised-for-21st-century-makeover/

FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 6:37 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 6:38 PM

BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN AND LINDY WASHBURN

STAFF WRITERS |

THE RECORD

Talks are under way to avert a potentially protracted tax battle between non-profit hospitals and the communities that host them, said the prime sponsor of a bill that tried unsuccessfully last month to work out a solution.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli said Tuesday that talks are underway between the New Jersey Hospital Association and the New Jersey League of Municipalities with the aim of helping redraft legislation in the wake of a landmark Tax Court ruling that called into question the property tax exemption of non-profit hospitals.

He said there have been no talks thus far with the administration on the issue, nor does he expect any while Christie is pursuing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Christie vetoed the earlier bill in January at the end of the last legislative session.

Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, the chair of the Assembly’s appropriations committee, said he and three other co-sponsors recently resubmitted the bill, but added that the document likely will serve as a “place holder” until a revised bill can be worked out.

“Everybody’s regrouped coming out of the hectic last session,” Burzicelli said of the informal talks.

But he warned if no agreement can be reached, “it’ll be a field day for the tax attorneys.”

The bill stemmed from a state Tax Court decision last summer in which a judge invalidated the non-profit Morristown Medical Center’s property tax exemption. The hospital’s parent company agreed to pay $15.5 million to satisfy back taxes and interest plus make annual payment of about $1 million as tax on the for-profit component of its operations.

The Record Read more

NJ Transparency Law Poised for 21st Century Makeover

Talks under way in Trenton to avoid tax battle between hospitals, N.J. towns like Ridgewood