NEW JERSEY STATE CONSTITUTION 1947 (UPDATED THROUGH
AMENDMENTS ADOPTED IN NOVEMBER, 2008)
A Constitution agreed upon by
the delegates of the people of New
Jersey, in Convention, begun at Rutgers University, the State University
of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, on the twelfth day of June, and continued to
the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred
and forty-seven.
We, the people of the State of New
Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He
hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our
endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations,
do ordain and establish this Constitution.
ARTICLE
I
RIGHTS
AND PRIVILEGES
1. All persons are by nature free and
independent, and have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which are
those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and
protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.
2.
a. All political power is
inherent in the people. Government is
instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they
have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public
good may require it.
b.
The people reserve unto themselves the power to recall, after at least
one year of service, any elected official in this State or representing this
State in the United States Congress. The
Legislature shall enact laws to provide for such recall elections. Any such laws shall include a provision that
a recall election shall be held upon petition of at least 25% of the registered
voters in the electoral district of the official sought to be recalled. If legislation to implement this
constitutional amendment is not enacted within one year of the adoption of the
amendment, the Secretary of State shall, by regulation, implement the
constitutional amendment, except that regulations adopted by the Secretary of
State shall be superseded by any subsequent legislation consistent with this
constitutional amendment governing recall elections. The sufficiency of any statement of reasons
or grounds procedurally required shall be a political rather than a judicial
question.
3.
No person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping
Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor
under any pretense whatever be compelled to attend any place of worship
contrary to his faith and judgment; nor shall any person be obliged to pay
tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches,
place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry,
contrary to what he believes to be right or has deliberately and voluntarily
engaged to perform.
4.
There shall be no establishment of one religious sect in preference to
another; no religious or racial test shall be required as a qualification for
any office or public trust.
5.
No person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil or military right,
nor be discriminated against in the exercise of any civil or military right,
nor be segregated in the militia or in the public schools, because of religious
principles, race, color, ancestry or national origin.
6.
Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all
subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed
to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all
prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to
the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as
libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends,
the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine
the law and the fact.
7.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated;
and no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the
papers and things to be seized.
8.
No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, unless on the
presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or
in cases now prosecuted without indictment, or arising in the army or navy or
in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger.
9.
The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate; but the Legislature
may authorize the trial of civil causes by a jury of six persons. The Legislature
may provide that in any civil cause a verdict may be rendered by not less than
five-sixths of the jury. The Legislature may authorize the trial of the issue
of mental incompetency without a jury.
10.
In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to a
speedy and public trial by an impartial jury; to be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the
assistance of counsel in his defense.
11.
No person shall, after acquittal, be tried for the same offense. All
persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except
for capital offenses when the proof is evident or presumption great.
12.
Excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines shall not be
imposed, and cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted. It shall not be cruel and unusual punishment
to impose the death penalty on a person convicted of purposely or knowingly
causing death or purposely or knowingly causing serious bodily injury resulting
in death who committed the homicidal act by his own conduct or who as an
accomplice procured the commission of the offense by payment or promise of payment
of anything of pecuniary value.
13.
No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any action, or on any judgment
founded upon contract, unless in cases of fraud; nor shall any person be
imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace.
14.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
15.
The military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.
16.
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without
the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by
law.
17.
Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it,
or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be
convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same
overt act, or on confession in open court.
18.
The people have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for
the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives, and to
petition for redress of grievances.
19.
Persons in private employment shall have the right to organize and
bargain collectively. Persons in public employment shall have the right to
organize, present to and make known to the State, or any of its political
subdivisions or agencies, their grievances and proposals through
representatives of their own choosing.
20.
Private property shall not be taken for public use without just
compensation. Individuals or private corporations shall not be authorized to
take private property for public use without just compensation first made to
the owners.
21.
This enumeration of rights and privileges shall not be construed to
impair or deny others retained by the people.
22.
A victim of a crime shall be treated with fairness, compassion and
respect by the criminal justice system.
A victim of a crime shall not be denied the right to be present at
public judicial proceedings except when, prior to completing testimony as a
witness, the victim is properly sequestered in accordance with law or the Rules
Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey. A victim of a crime shall be entitled to
those rights and remedies as may be provided by the Legislature. For the purposes of this paragraph,
"victim of a crime" means: a) a person who has suffered physical or
psychological injury or has incurred loss of or damage to personal or real
property as a result of a crime or an incident involving another person
operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and b)
the spouse, parent, legal guardian, grandparent, child or sibling of the
decedent in the case of a criminal homicide.
Article I, paragraph 2 amended
effective January 1, 1994; paragraph 9 amended effective December 4, 1973;
paragraph 12 amended effective December 3, 1992; paragraph 22 added effective
December 5, 1991.
ARTICLE
II
ELECTIONS AND SUFFRAGE
SECTION
I
1. General elections shall be held annually
on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; but the time of
holding such elections may be altered by law.
The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and members of the Legislature shall
be chosen at general elections. Local
elective officers shall be chosen at general elections or at such other times
as shall be provided by law.
Article II, Section I,
paragraph 1 amended effective January 17, 2006.
2. All questions submitted to the people of the entire State
shall be voted upon at the general election next occurring at least 70 days
following the final action of the Governor or the Legislature, as appropriate,
necessary to submit the questions. The
text of any such question shall be published at least once in one or more
newspapers of each county, if any newspapers be published therein, at least 60
days before the election at which it is to be submitted to the people, and the
results of the vote upon a question shall be void unless the text thereof shall
have been so published.
Article II, paragraph 2
amended effective December 8, 1988.
3. (a)
Every citizen of the United States, of the age of 18 years, who shall
have been a resident of this State and of the county in which he claims his
vote 30 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all
officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all
questions which may be submitted to a vote of the people; and
(b)
(Deleted by amendment, effective
December 5, 1974.)
(c)
Any person registered as a voter in
any election district of this State who has removed or shall remove to another
state or to another county within this State and is not able there to qualify
to vote by reason of an insufficient period of residence in such state or
county, shall, as a citizen of the United States, have the right to vote for
electors for President and Vice President of the United States, only, by
Presidential Elector Absentee Ballot, in the county from which he has removed,
in such manner as the Legislature shall provide.
Article II, paragraph 3
amended effective December 5,1974.
4. In time of war no elector in the military service of the
State or in the armed forces of the United States shall be deprived of his vote
by reason of absence from his election district. The Legislature may provide
for absentee voting by members of the armed forces of the United States in time
of peace. The Legislature may provide the manner in which and the time and
place at which such absent electors may vote, and for the return and canvass of
their votes in the election district in which they respectively reside.
5. No person in the military, naval or marine service of the
United States shall be considered a resident of this State by being stationed
in any garrison, barrack, or military or naval place or station within this
State.
6. No person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent
jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting shall enjoy
the right of suffrage.
Article II, Section I,
paragraph 6 amended effective November 6, 2007.
7. The Legislature may pass laws to deprive persons of the right
of suffrage who shall be convicted of such crimes as it may designate. Any
person so deprived, when pardoned or otherwise restored by law to the right of
suffrage, shall again enjoy that right.
SECTION
II
1. (a)
After each federal census taken in a year ending in zero, the
Congressional districts shall be established by the New Jersey Redistricting
Commission.
The commission shall consist
of 13 members, none of whom shall be a member or employee of the Congress of
the United States. The members of the
commission shall be appointed with due consideration to geographic, ethnic and
racial diversity and in the manner provided herein.
(b) There shall first be appointed 12 members as follows:
(1)
two members to be appointed by the
President of the Senate;
(2)
two members to be appointed by the
Speaker of the General Assembly;
(3) two members to be appointed by the minority leader of the
Senate;
(4) two members to be appointed by the minority leader of the
General Assembly; and
(5)
four members, two to be appointed
by the chairman of the State committee of the political party whose candidate
for the office of Governor received the largest number of votes at the most
recent gubernatorial election and two to be appointed by the chairman of the
State committee of the political party whose candidate for the office of
Governor received the next largest number of votes in that election.
Appointments to the commission
under this subparagraph shall be made on or before June 15 of each year ending
in one and shall be certified by the respective appointing officials to the
Secretary of State on or before July 1 of that year.
Each partisan delegation so
appointed shall appoint one of its members as its chairman who shall have
authority to make such certifications and to perform such other tasks as the
members of that delegation shall reasonably require.
(c) There shall then be appointed one member, to serve as an
independent member, who shall have been for the preceding five years a resident
of this State, but who shall not during that period have held public or party
office in this State.
The independent member shall
be appointed upon the vote of at least seven of the previously appointed
members of the commission on or before July 15 of each year ending in one, and
those members shall certify that appointment to the Secretary of State on or
before July 20 of that year. If the
previously appointed members are unable to appoint an independent member within
the time allowed therefor, they shall so certify to the Supreme Court not later
than that July 20 and shall include in that certification the names of the two
persons who, in the members' final vote upon the appointment of the independent
member, received the greatest number of votes.
Not later than August 10 following receipt of that certification, the
Supreme Court shall by majority vote of its full authorized membership select,
of the two persons so named, the one more qualified by education and
occupational experience, by prior public service in government or otherwise,
and by demonstrated ability to represent the best interest of the people of
this State, to be the independent member.
The Court shall certify that selection to the Secretary of State not
later than the following August 15.
(d) Vacancies in the membership of the commission occurring prior
to the certification by the commission of Congressional districts or during any
period in which the districts established by the commission may be or are under
challenge in court shall be filled in the same manner as the original
appointments were made within five days of their occurrence. In the case of a vacancy in the membership of
the independent member, if the other members of the commission are unable to
fill that vacancy within that five-day period, they shall transmit
certification of such inability within three days of the expiration of the
period to the Supreme Court, which shall select the person to fill the vacancy
within five days of receipt of that certification.
2. The independent member shall serve as the chairman of the
commission. The commission shall meet to
organize as soon as may be practicable after certification of the appointment
of the independent member, but not later than the Wednesday after the first
Monday in September of each year ending in one.
At the organizational meeting the members of the commission shall
determine such organizational matters as they deem appropriate. Thereafter, a meeting of the commission may
be called by the chairman or upon the request of seven members, and seven
members of the commission shall constitute a quorum at any meeting thereof for
the purpose of taking any action.
3. On or before the third Tuesday of each year ending in two, or
within three months after receipt in each decade by the appropriate State
officer of the official statement by the Clerk of the United States House of
Representatives, issued pursuant to federal law, regarding the number of
members of the House of Representatives apportioned to this State for that
decade, whichever is later, the commission shall certify the establishment of
the Congressional districts to the Secretary of State. The commission shall certify the
establishment of districts pursuant to a majority vote of the full authorized
membership of the commission convened in open public meeting, of which meeting
there shall be at least 24 hours' public notice. Any vote by the commission upon a proposal to
certify the establishment of a Congressional district plan shall be taken by
roll call and shall be recorded, and the vote of any member in favor of any
Congressional district plan shall nullify any vote which that member shall
previously have cast during the life of the commission in favor of a different
Congressional district plan. If the
commission is unable to certify the establishment of districts by the time
required due to the inability of a plan to achieve seven votes, the two
district plans receiving the greatest number of votes, but not fewer than five
votes, shall be submitted to the Supreme Court, which shall select and certify
whichever of the two plans so submitted conforms most closely to the
requirements of the Constitution and laws of the United States.
4. The New Jersey Redistricting Commission shall hold at least
three public hearings in different parts of the State. The commission shall, subject to the
constraints of time and convenience, review written plans for the establishment
of Congressional districts submitted by members of the public.
5. Meetings of the New Jersey Redistricting Commission shall be
held at convenient times and locations and, with the exception of the public
hearings required by paragraph 4 of this section and the meeting at which the
establishment of districts is certified as prescribed by paragraph 3 of this
section, may be closed to the public.
6. The Legislature shall appropriate the funds necessary for the
efficient operation of the New Jersey Redistricting Commission.
7. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary of this
Constitution and except as otherwise required by the Constitution or laws of
the United States, no court of this State other than the Supreme Court shall
have jurisdiction over any judicial proceeding challenging the appointment of
members to the New Jersey Redistricting Commission, or any action, including
the establishment of Congressional districts, by the commission or other public
officer or body under the provisions of this section.
8. The establishment of Congressional districts shall be used
thereafter for the election of members of the House of Representatives and
shall remain unaltered through the next year ending in zero in which a federal
census for this State is taken.
9. If a plan certified by the commission is declared unlawful,
the commission shall reorganize and adopt another Congressional district plan
in the same manner as herein required and within the period of time prescribed
by the court or within such shorter period as may be necessary to ensure that
the new plan is effective for the next succeeding primary and general election
for all members of the United States House of Representatives.
Article II, section II added
effective December 7, 1995.
ARTICLE
III
DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWERS OF
GOVERNMENT
1. The powers of the government shall be divided
among three distinct branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial. No
person or persons belonging to or constituting one branch shall exercise any of
the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as expressly
provided in this Constitution.
ARTICLE
IV
LEGISLATIVE
SECTION
I
1. The legislative power shall be vested in a
Senate and General Assembly.
2.
No person shall be a member of the Senate who shall not have attained
the age of thirty years, and have been a citizen and resident of the State for
four years, and of the district for which he shall be elected one year, next
before his election. No person shall be a member of the General Assembly who
shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years and have been a citizen and
resident of the State for two years, and of the district for which he shall be
elected one year, next before his election. No person shall be eligible for
membership in the Legislature unless he be entitled to the right of suffrage.
Article IV, Section I, paragraph 2
amended effective December 8, 1966.
3.
Each Legislature shall be constituted for a term of 2 years beginning at
noon on the second Tuesday in January in each even numbered year, at which time
the Senate and General Assembly shall meet and organize separately and the
first annual session of the Legislature shall commence. Said first annual
session shall terminate at noon on the second Tuesday in January next
following, at which time the second annual session shall commence and it shall
terminate at noon on the second Tuesday in January then next following but
either session may be sooner terminated by adjournment sine die. All business
before either House or any of the committees thereof at the end of the first
annual session may be resumed in the second annual session. The legislative
year shall commence at noon on the second Tuesday in January of each year.
Article IV, Section I, paragraph 3
amended effective December 3, 1968. (Applicable to the 1970 Legislature and
thereafter.)
4.
Special sessions of the Legislature shall be called by the Governor upon
petition of a majority of all the members of each house, and may be called by
the Governor whenever in his opinion the public interest shall require.
SECTION
II
1. The Senate shall be composed of forty
senators apportioned among Senate districts as nearly as may be according to
the number of their inhabitants as reported in the last preceding decennial
census of the United States and according to the method of equal proportions.
Each Senate district shall be composed, wherever practicable, of one single
county, and, if not so practicable, of two or more contiguous whole counties.
2.
Each senator shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of the
Senate district, except that if the Senate district is composed of two or more
counties and two senators are apportioned to the district, one senator shall be
elected by the legally qualified voters of each Assembly district. Each senator
shall be elected for a term beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January
next following his election and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January
four years thereafter, except that each senator, to be elected for a term
beginning in January of the second year following the year in which a decennial
census of the United States is taken, shall be elected for a term of two years.
3.
The General Assembly shall be composed of eighty members. Each Senate
district to which only one senator is apportioned shall constitute an Assembly
district. Each of the remaining Senate districts shall be divided into Assembly
districts equal in number to the number of senators apportioned to the Senate
district. The Assembly districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, as
nearly compact and equal in the number of their inhabitants as possible, and in
no event shall each such district contain less than eighty per cent nor more
than one hundred twenty per cent of one-fortieth of the total number of
inhabitants of the State as reported in the last preceding decennial census of
the United States. Unless necessary to meet the foregoing requirements, no county
or municipality shall be divided among Assembly districts unless it shall
contain more than one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State,
and no county or municipality shall be divided among a number of Assembly
districts larger than one plus the whole number obtained by dividing the number
of inhabitants in the county or municipality by one-fortieth of the total
number of inhabitants of the State.
4.
Two members of the General Assembly shall be elected by the legally
qualified voters of each Assembly district for terms beginning at noon of the
second Tuesday in January next following their election and ending at noon of
the second Tuesday in January two years thereafter.
Article IV, Section II, paragraphs
1, 2, 3, 4 amended effective December 8, 1966.
SECTION
III
1. After the next and every subsequent
decennial census of the United States, the Senate districts and Assembly
districts shall be established, and the senators and members of the General
Assembly shall be apportioned among them, by an Apportionment Commission
consisting of ten members, five to be appointed by the chairman of the State
committee of each of the two political parties whose candidates for Governor
receive the largest number of votes at the most recent gubernatorial election.
Each State chairman, in making such appointments, shall give due consideration
to the representation of the various geographical areas of the State.
Appointments to the Commission shall be made on or before November 15 of the
year in which such census is taken and shall be certified by the Secretary of
State on or before December 1 of that year. The Commission, by a majority of
the whole number of its members, shall certify the establishment of Senate and
Assembly districts and the apportionment of senators and members of the General
Assembly to the Secretary of State within one month of the receipt by the
Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey,
or on or before February 1 of the year following the year in which the census
is taken, whichever date is later.
2.
If the Apportionment Commission fails so to certify such establishment
and apportionment to the Secretary of State on or before the date fixed or if
prior thereto it determines that it will be unable so to do, it shall so
certify to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and he shall
appoint an eleventh member of the Commission. The Commission so constituted, by
a majority of the whole number of its members, shall, within one month after
the appointment of such eleventh member, certify to the Secretary of State the
establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of
senators and members of the General Assembly.
3.
Such establishment and apportionment shall be used thereafter for the
election of members of the Legislature and shall remain unaltered until the
following decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have been
received by the Governor.
Article IV, Section III, paragraphs
1, 2, 3 amended effective December 8, 1966.
SECTION
IV
1. Any vacancy in the Legislature occasioned
otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled by election for the
unexpired term only at the next general election occurring not less than 51
days after the occurrence of the vacancy, except that no vacancy shall be
filled at the general election which immediately precedes the expiration of the
term in which the vacancy occurs. For
the interim period pending the election and qualification of a successor to
fill the vacancy, or for the remainder of the term in the case of a vacancy
occurring which cannot be filled pursuant to the terms of this paragraph at a
general election, the vacancy shall be filled within 35 days by the members of
the county committee of the political party of which the incumbent was the
nominee from the municipalities or districts or units thereof which comprise
the legislative district.
Article IV, Section IV, paragraph 1
amended effective December 8, 1988.
2.
Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of all its members shall
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day
to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in
such manner, and under such penalties, as each house may provide.
3.
Each house shall choose its own officers, determine the rules of its
proceedings, and punish its members for disorderly behavior. It may expel a
member with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its members.
4.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to
time publish the same. The yeas and nays of the members of either house on any
question shall, on demand of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the
journal.
5.
Neither house, during the session of the Legislature, shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, or to any other place
than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
6.
All bills and joint resolutions shall be read three times in each house
before final passage. No bill or joint resolution shall be read a third time in
either house until after the intervention of one full calendar day following
the day of the second reading; but if either house shall resolve by vote of
three-fourths of all its members, signified by yeas and nays entered on the
journal, that a bill or joint resolution is an emergency measure, it may
proceed forthwith from second to third reading. No bill or joint resolution
shall pass, unless there shall be a majority of all the members of each body
personally present and agreeing thereto, and the yeas and nays of the members
voting on such final passage shall be entered on the journal.
7.
Members of the Senate and General Assembly shall receive annually,
during the term for which they shall have been elected and while they shall
hold their office, such compensation as shall, from time to time, be fixed by
law and no other allowance or emolument, directly or indirectly, for any
purpose whatever. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General
Assembly, each by virtue of his office, shall receive an additional allowance,
equal to one-third of his compensation as a member.
8.
The compensation of members of the Senate and General Assembly shall be
fixed at the first session of the Legislature held after this Constitution
takes effect, and may be increased or decreased by law from time to time
thereafter, but no increase or decrease shall be effective until the
legislative year following the next general election for members of the General
Assembly.
9.
Members of the Senate and General Assembly shall, in all cases except
treason and high misdemeanor, be privileged from arrest during their attendance
at the sitting of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from
the same; and for any statement, speech or debate in either house or at any
meeting of a legislative committee, they shall not be questioned in any other
place.
SECTION
V
1. No member of
the Senate or General Assembly, during the term for which the member shall have
been elected, shall be nominated, elected or appointed to any State civil
office or position, of profit, which shall have been created by law, or the
emoluments whereof shall have been increased by law, during such term. The provisions of this paragraph shall not
prohibit the election of any person as Governor, as Lieutenant Governor, or as a
member of the Senate or General Assembly.
Article IV, Section V,
paragraph 1 amended effective January 17, 2006.
2.
The Legislature may appoint any commission, committee or other body
whose main purpose is to aid or assist it in performing its functions. Members
of the Legislature may be appointed to serve on any such body.
3.
If any member of the Legislature shall become a member of Congress or
shall accept any Federal or State office or position, of profit, his seat shall
thereupon become vacant.
4.
No member of Congress, no person holding any Federal or State office or
position, of profit, and no judge of any court shall be entitled to a seat in
the Legislature.
5.
Neither the Legislature nor either house thereof shall elect or appoint
any executive, administrative or judicial officer except the State Auditor.
SECTION
VI
1. All bills for raising revenue shall
originate in the General Assembly; but the Senate may propose or concur with
amendments, as on other bills.
2.
The Legislature may enact general laws under which municipalities, other
than counties, may adopt zoning ordinances limiting and restricting to
specified districts and regulating therein, buildings and structures, according
to their construction, and the nature and extent of their use, and the nature
and extent of the uses of land, and the exercise of such authority shall be
deemed to be within the police power of the State. Such laws shall be subject
to repeal or alteration by the Legislature.
3.
Any agency or political subdivision of the State or any agency of a
political subdivision thereof, which may be empowered to take or otherwise
acquire private property for any public highway, parkway, airport, place,
improvement, or use, may be authorized by law to take or otherwise acquire a
fee simple absolute or any lesser interest, and may be authorized by law to
take or otherwise acquire a fee simple absolute in, easements upon, or the
benefit of restrictions upon, abutting property to preserve and protect the
public highway, parkway, airport, place, improvement, or use; but such taking
shall be with just compensation.
4.
The Legislature, in order to insure continuity of State, county and
local governmental operations in periods of emergency resulting from disasters
caused by enemy attack, shall have the power and the immediate and continuing
duty by legislation (1) to provide, prior to the occurrence of the emergency,
for prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices,
of whatever nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the
incumbents of which may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and
duties of such offices, and (2) to adopt such other measures as may be
necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations. In
the exercise of the powers hereby conferred the Legislature shall in all
respects conform to the requirements of this Constitution except to the extent
that in the judgment of the Legislature to do so would be impracticable or
would admit of undue delay.
Article IV, Section VI, paragraph 4
added effective December 7, 1961.
SECTION
VII
1. No divorce shall be granted by the
Legislature.
2. No gambling of any kind shall be authorized by the
Legislature unless the specific kind, restrictions and control thereof have
been heretofore submitted to, and authorized by a majority of the votes cast
by, the people at a special election or shall hereafter be submitted to, and
authorized by a majority of the votes cast thereon by, the legally qualified
voters of the State voting at a general election, except that, without any such
submission or authorization:
A. It shall be lawful for bona fide veterans, charitable,
educational, religious or fraternal organizations, civic and service clubs,
senior citizen associations or clubs, volunteer fire companies and first-aid or
rescue squads to conduct, under such restrictions and control as shall from
time to time be prescribed by the Legislature by law, games of chance of, and
restricted to, the selling of rights to participate, the awarding of prizes, in
the specific kind of game of chance sometimes known as bingo or lotto, played
with cards bearing numbers or other designations, 5 or more in one line, the
holder covering numbers as objects, similarly numbered, are drawn from a
receptacle and the game being won by the person who first covers a previously
designated arrangement of numbers on such a card, when the entire net proceeds
of such games of chance are to be devoted to educational, charitable,
patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses, and in the case of senior citizen
associations or clubs to the support of such organizations, in any
municipality, in which a majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at a
general or special election as the submission thereof shall be prescribed by
the Legislature by law, shall authorize the conduct of such games of chance
therein;
B. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize, by law,
bona fide veterans, charitable, educational, religious or fraternal
organizations, civic and service clubs, senior citizen associations or clubs,
volunteer fire companies and first-aid or rescue squads to conduct games of
chance of, and restricted to, the selling of rights to participate, and the
awarding of prizes, in the specific kinds of games of chance sometimes known as
raffles, conducted by the drawing for prizes or by the allotment of prizes by
chance, when the entire net proceeds of such games of chance are to be devoted
to educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses, and
in the case of senior citizen associations or clubs to the support of such
organizations, in any municipality, in which such law shall be adopted by a
majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at a general or special
election as the submission thereof shall be prescribed by law and for the
Legislature, from time to time, to restrict and control, by law, the conduct of
such games of chance;
C. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize the
conduct of State lotteries restricted to the selling of rights to participate
therein and the awarding of prizes by drawings when the entire net proceeds of
any such lottery shall be for State institutions and State aid for education;
provided, however, that it shall not be competent for the Legislature to
borrow, appropriate or use, under any pretense whatsoever, lottery net proceeds
for the confinement, housing, supervision or treatment of, or education programs
for, adult criminal offenders or juveniles adjudged delinquent or for the
construction, staffing, support, maintenance or operation of an adult or
juvenile correctional facility or institution;
D. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize by law
the establishment and operation, under regulation and control by the State, of
gambling houses or casinos within the boundaries, as heretofore established, of
the city of Atlantic City, county of Atlantic, and to license and tax such
operations and equipment used in connection therewith. Any law authorizing the
establishment and operation of such gambling establishments shall provide for
the State revenues derived therefrom to be applied solely for the purpose of
providing funding for reductions in property taxes, rental, telephone, gas,
electric, and municipal utilities charges of eligible senior citizens and
disabled residents of the State, and for additional or expanded health services
or benefits or transportation services or benefits to eligible senior citizens
and disabled residents, in accordance with such formulae as the Legislature
shall by law provide. The type and number of such casinos or gambling houses
and of the gambling games which may be conducted in any such establishment
shall be determined by or pursuant to the terms of the law authorizing the
establishment and operation thereof;
E. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize, by law,
(1) the simultaneous transmission by picture of running and harness horse races
conducted at racetracks located within or outside of this State, or both, to
gambling houses or casinos in the city of Atlantic City and (2) the specific
kind, restrictions and control of wagering at those gambling establishments on
the results of those races. The State's share of revenues derived therefrom
shall be applied for services to benefit eligible senior citizens as shall be
provided by law; and
F. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize, by law,
the specific kind, restrictions and control of wagering on the results of live
or simulcast running and harness horse races conducted within or outside of
this State. The State's share of
revenues derived therefrom shall be used for such purposes as shall be provided
by law.
Article IV, Section VII, paragraph
2 amended effective December 2, 1999.
3.
The Legislature shall not pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law,
or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or depriving a party of any
remedy for enforcing a contract which existed when the contract was made.
4.
To avoid improper influences which may result from intermixing in one
and the same act such things as have no proper relation to each other, every
law shall embrace but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title.
This paragraph shall not invalidate any law adopting or enacting a compilation,
consolidation, revision, or rearrangement of all or parts of the statutory law.
5.
No law shall be revived or amended by reference to its title only, but
the act revived, or the section or sections amended, shall be inserted at
length. No act shall be passed which shall provide that any existing law, or
any part thereof, shall be made or deemed a part of the act or which shall
enact that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be applicable, except
by inserting it in such act.
6.
The laws of this State shall begin in the following style: "Be it
enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey."
7.
No general law shall embrace any provision of a private, special or
local character.
8.
No private, special or local law shall be passed unless public notice of
the intention to apply therefor, and of the general object thereof, shall have
been previously given. Such notice shall be given at such time and in such
manner and shall be so evidenced and the evidence thereof shall be so preserved
as may be provided by law.
9.
The Legislature shall not pass any private, special or local laws:
(1)
Authorizing the sale of any lands belonging in whole or in part to a
minor or minors or other persons who may at the time be under any legal
disability to act for themselves.
(2)
Changing the law of descent.
(3)
Providing for change of venue in civil or criminal causes.
(4)
Selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling grand or petit jurors.
(5)
Creating, increasing or decreasing the emoluments, term or tenure rights
of any public officers or employees.
(6)
Relating to taxation or exemption therefrom.
(7)
Providing for the management and control of free public schools.
(8)
Granting to any corporation, association or individual any exclusive
privilege, immunity or franchise whatever.
(9)
Granting to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay
down railroad tracks.
(10) Laying out, opening, altering,
constructing, maintaining and repairing roads or highways.
(11) Vacating any road, town plot,
street, alley or public grounds.
(12) Appointing local officers or
commissions to regulate municipal affairs.
(13) Regulating the internal
affairs of municipalities formed for local government and counties, except as
otherwise in this Constitution provided.
The Legislature shall pass general
laws providing for the cases enumerated in this paragraph, and for all other
cases which, in its judgment, may be provided for by general laws. The
Legislature shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers, but shall
pass general laws under which corporations may be organized and corporate
powers of every nature obtained, subject, nevertheless, to repeal or alteration
at the will of the Legislature.
10.
Upon petition by the governing body of any municipal corporation formed
for local government, or of any county, and by vote of two-thirds of all the
members of each house, the Legislature may pass private, special or local laws
regulating the internal affairs of the municipality or county. The petition
shall be authorized in a manner to be prescribed by general law and shall
specify the general nature of the law sought to be passed. Such law shall
become operative only if it is adopted by ordinance of the governing body of
the municipality or county or by vote of the legally qualified voters thereof.
The Legislature shall prescribe in such law or by general law the method of
adopting such law, and the manner in which the ordinance of adoption may be
enacted or the vote taken, as the case may be.
11.
The provisions of this Constitution and of any law concerning municipal
corporations formed for local government, or concerning counties, shall be
liberally construed in their favor. The powers of counties and such municipal
corporations shall include not only those granted in express terms but also
those of necessary or fair implication, or incident to the powers expressly
conferred, or essential thereto, and not inconsistent with or prohibited by
this Constitution or by law.
12. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
Constitution and irrespective of any right or interest in maintaining
confidentiality, it shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize by law the
disclosure to the general public of information pertaining to the identity,
specific and general whereabouts, physical characteristics and criminal history
of persons found to have committed a sex offense. The scope, manner and format of the
disclosure of such information shall be determined by or pursuant to the terms
of the law authorizing the disclosure.
Article IV, Section VII,
paragraph 12 added effective December 7, 2000.
SECTION
VIII
1. Members of the Legislature shall, before
they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the
following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I
will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of New Jersey, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of Senator
(or member of the General Assembly) according to the best of my ability."
Members-elect of the Senate or General Assembly are empowered to administer
said oath or affirmation to each other.
2.
Every officer of the Legislature shall, before he enters upon his
duties, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do
solemnly promise and swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully, impartially and
justly perform all the duties of the office of ................, to the best of
my ability and understanding; that I will carefully preserve all records, papers,
writings, or property entrusted to me for safekeeping by virtue of my office,
and make such disposition of the same as may be required by law."
ARTICLE
V
EXECUTIVE
SECTION
I
1. The executive power shall be vested in a
Governor.
2. The
Governor shall be not less than thirty years of age, and shall have been for at
least twenty years a citizen of the United States, and a resident of this State
seven years next before election, unless the Governor shall have been absent
during that time on the public business of the United States or of this
State. A person shall be eligible for
the office of Lieutenant Governor only if eligible under this Constitution for
the office of Governor.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 2 amended effective January 17, 2006.
3.
No member of Congress or person holding any office or position, of
profit, under this State or the United States shall be Governor or Lieutenant
Governor. If the Governor or Lieutenant
Governor or person administering the office of Governor shall accept any other
office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States, the
office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor, as the case may be, shall thereby be
vacated. No Governor or Lieutenant
Governor shall be elected by the Legislature to any office during the term for
which the person shall have been elected Governor or Lieutenant Governor.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 3 amended effective January 17, 2006.
4.
The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected conjointly and for
concurrent terms by the legally qualified voters of this State, and the manner
of election shall require each voter to cast a single vote for both
offices. The candidate of each political
party for election to the office of Lieutenant Governor shall be selected by
the candidate of that party nominated for election to the office of
Governor. The selection of the candidate
for election to the office of Lieutenant Governor shall be made within 30 days
following the nomination of the candidate for election to the office of
Governor. A person shall not seek
election to both offices simultaneously.
The joint candidates receiving the greatest number of votes shall be
elected; but if two or more joint candidacies shall be equal and greatest in
votes, one set of joint candidates shall be elected by the vote of a majority
of all the members of both houses in joint meeting at the regular legislative
session next following the election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the
people. Contested elections for the
offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be determined in such manner
as may be provided by law.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 4 amended effective January 17, 2006.
5.
The term of office of the Governor and of the Lieutenant Governor shall
be four years, beginning at noon of the third Tuesday in January next following
their election, and ending at noon of the third Tuesday in January four years
thereafter. No person who has been
elected Governor for two successive terms, including an unexpired term, shall
again be eligible for that office until the third Tuesday in January of the
fourth year following the expiration of the second successive term.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 5 amended effective January 17, 2006.
6.
In the event of a vacancy in the office of Governor resulting from the
death, resignation or removal of a Governor in office, or the death of a
Governor-elect, or from any other cause, the Lieutenant Governor shall become
Governor, until a new Governor is elected and qualifies.
In the event of simultaneous
vacancies in both the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor resulting
from any cause, the President of the Senate shall become Governor until a new
Governor or Lieutenant Governor is elected and qualifies. In the event that there is a vacancy in the
office of Senate President, or the Senate President declines to become
Governor, then the Speaker of the General Assembly shall become Governor until
a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor is elected and qualifies. In the event that there is a vacancy in the
office of Speaker of the General Assembly, or if the Speaker declines to become
Governor, then the functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall
devolve for the time being upon such officers and in the order of succession as
may be provided by law, until a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor is elected
and qualifies.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 6 amended effective January 17, 2006.
7.
In the event of the failure of the Governor-elect to qualify, or of the
absence from the State of a Governor in office, or the Governor's inability to
discharge the duties of the office, or the Governor's impeachment, the
functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the
Lieutenant Governor, until the Governor-elect qualifies, or the Governor in
office returns to the State, or is no longer unable to discharge the duties of
the office, or is acquitted, as the case may be, or until a new Governor is
elected and qualifies. In the event that
the Lieutenant Governor in office is absent from the State, or is unable to
discharge the duties of the office, or is impeached, or if the Lieutenant
Governor-elect fails to qualify, or if there is a vacancy in the office of
Lieutenant Governor, the functions, powers, duties, and emoluments of the
office of Governor shall devolve upon the President of the Senate. In the event there is a vacancy in the office
of the President of the Senate, or of the Senate President's absence from the
State, inability to discharge the duties of the office, or impeachment, then
such functions, powers, duties, and emoluments shall devolve upon the Speaker
of the General Assembly. In the event there is a vacancy in the office of
Speaker of the General Assembly, or of the Speaker's absence from the State,
inability to discharge the duties of the office, or impeachment, then such
functions, powers, duties, and emoluments shall devolve upon such officers and
in the order of succession as may be provided by law. The functions, powers, duties, and emoluments
of the office of Governor shall devolve upon the President of the Senate, the
Speaker of the General Assembly or another officer, as the case may be, until the
Governor-elect or Lieutenant Governor-elect qualifies, or the Governor or
Lieutenant Governor in office returns to the State, or is no longer unable to
discharge the duties of the office, or is acquitted, or until a new Lieutenant
Governor is appointed, as the case may be, or a new Governor or Lieutenant
Governor is elected and qualifies.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 7 amended effective January 17, 2006.
8.
Whenever a Governor-elect or Lieutenant Governor-elect shall have failed
to qualify within six months after the beginning of the term of office, or
whenever for a period of six months a Governor or Lieutenant Governor in
office, or person administering the office, shall have remained continuously
absent from the State, or shall have been continuously unable to discharge the
duties of the office by reason of mental or physical disability, the office
shall be deemed vacant. Such vacancy
shall be determined by the Supreme Court upon presentment to it of a concurrent
resolution declaring the ground of the vacancy, adopted by a vote of two-thirds
of all the members of each house of the Legislature, and upon notice, hearing
before the Court and proof of the existence of the vacancy.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 8 amended effective January 17, 2006.
9.
In the event of a vacancy in the
office of Lieutenant Governor resulting from the death, resignation or removal
of a Lieutenant Governor in office or the death of a Lieutenant Governor-elect
or from any other cause, the Governor shall appoint a Lieutenant Governor
within forty-five days of the occurrence of the vacancy to fill the unexpired
term.
If a Lieutenant Governor
becomes Governor, or in the event of simultaneous vacancies in the offices of
Governor and Lieutenant Governor, a Governor and a Lieutenant Governor shall be
elected to fill the unexpired terms of both offices at the next general
election, unless the assumption of the office of Governor by the Lieutenant
Governor, or the vacancies, as the case may be, occur within sixty days
immediately preceding a general election, in which case they shall be elected
at the second succeeding general election.
No election to fill the unexpired terms shall be held in any year in
which a Governor and Lieutenant Governor are to be elected for full terms. A Governor and Lieutenant Governor elected
for unexpired terms shall assume their offices immediately upon their election.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 9 amended effective January 17, 2006.
10.
a. The Governor and the
Lieutenant Governor shall each receive for services a salary, which shall be
neither increased nor diminished during the period for which the Governor or
Lieutenant Governor shall have been elected or appointed.
b. The
Governor shall appoint the Lieutenant Governor to serve as the head of a
principal department or other executive or administrative agency of State
government, or delegate to the Lieutenant Governor duties of the office of
Governor, or both. The Governor shall
not appoint the Lieutenant Governor to serve as Attorney General. The Lieutenant Governor shall in addition
perform such other duties as may be provided by law.
Article V, Section I,
paragraph 10 amended effective January 17, 2006.
11.
The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. To
this end he shall have power, by appropriate action or proceeding in the courts
brought in the name of the State, to enforce compliance with any constitutional
or legislative mandate, or to restrain violation of any constitutional or
legislative power or duty, by any officer, department or agency of the State;
but this power shall not be construed to authorize any action or proceeding
against the Legislature.
12.
The Governor shall communicate to the Legislature, by message at the
opening of each regular session and at such other times as he may deem
necessary, the condition of the State, and shall in like manner recommend such
measures as he may deem desirable. He may convene the Legislature, or the
Senate alone, whenever in his opinion the public interest shall require. He shall
be the Commander-in-Chief of all the military and naval forces of the State. He
shall grant commissions to all officers elected or appointed pursuant to this
Constitution. He shall nominate and appoint, with the advice and consent of the
Senate, all officers for whose election or appointment provision is not
otherwise made by this Constitution or by law.
13.
The Governor may fill any vacancy occurring in any office during a
recess of the Legislature, appointment to which may be made by the Governor
with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the Legislature in joint
meeting. An ad interim appointment so made shall expire at the end of the next
regular session of the Senate, unless a successor shall be sooner appointed and
qualify; and after the end of the session no ad interim appointment to the same
office shall be made unless the Governor shall have submitted to the Senate a
nomination to the office during the session and the Senate shall have adjourned
without confirming or rejecting it. No person nominated for any office shall be
eligible for an ad interim appointment to such office if the nomination shall
have failed of confirmation by the Senate.
14.
(a) When a bill has finally passed both houses, the house in which final
action was taken to complete its passage shall cause it to be presented to the
Governor before the close of the calendar day next following the date of the
session at which such final action was taken.
(b)
A passed bill presented to the Governor shall become law:
(1)
if the Governor approves and signs it within the period allowed for his
consideration; or,
(2)
if the Governor does not return it to the house of origin, with a
statement of his objections, before the expiration of the period allowed for
his consideration; or,
(3)
if, upon reconsideration of a bill objected to by the Governor,
two-thirds of all the members of each house agree to pass the bill.
(c)
The period allowed for the Governor's consideration of a passed bill
shall be from the date of presentation until noon of the forty-fifth day next
following or, if the house of origin be in temporary adjournment on that day,
the first day subsequent upon which the house reconvenes; except that:
(1)
if on the said forty-fifth day the Legislature is in adjournment sine
die, any bill then pending the Governor's approval shall be returned, if he
objects to it, at a special session held pursuant to subparagraph (d) of this
paragraph;
(2)
any bill passed between the forty-fifth day and the tenth day preceding
the expiration of the second legislative year shall be returned by the
Governor, if he objects to it, not later than noon of the day next preceding
the expiration of the second legislative year;
(3)
any bill passed within 10 days preceding the expiration of the second
legislative year shall become law only if the Governor signs it prior to noon
of the seventh day following such expiration, or the Governor returns it to the
House of origin, with a statement of his objections, and two-thirds of all
members of each House agree to pass the bill prior to such expiration.
(d)
For the purpose of permitting the return of bills pursuant to this
paragraph, a special session of the Legislature shall convene, without petition
or call, for the sole purpose of acting upon bills returned by the Governor, on
the forty-fifth day next following adjournment sine die of the regular session;
or, if the second legislative year of a 2-year Legislature will expire before
said forty-fifth day, then the day next preceding the expiration of the
legislative year.
(e)
Upon receiving from the Governor a bill returned by him with his
objections, the house in which it originated shall enter the objections at
large in its journal or minutes and proceed to reconsider it. If, upon
reconsideration, on or after the third day following its return, or the first
day of a special session convened for the sole purpose of acting on such bills,
two-thirds of all the members of the house of origin agree to pass the bill, it
shall be sent, together with the objections of the Governor, to the other
house; and if, upon reconsideration, it is approved by two-thirds of all the
members of the house, it shall become a law. In all such cases the votes of
each house shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons
voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal or minutes of
each house.
(f)
The Governor, in returning with his objections a bill for
reconsideration at any general or special session of the Legislature, may
recommend that an amendment or amendments specified by him be made in the bill,
and in such case the Legislature may amend and reenact the bill. If a bill be
so amended and reenacted, it shall be presented again to the Governor, but
shall become a law only if he shall sign it within 10 days after presentation,
except that any bill amended and reenacted within 10 days preceding the
expiration of the second legislative year shall become law only if the Governor
signs it prior to noon of the seventh day following such expiration. No bill
shall be returned by the Governor a second time. No bill need be read three
times and no emergency resolution need be adopted for the reenactment of any
bill at a special session of the Legislature.
Article V, Section I, paragraph 14
amended effective December 8, 1983.
15.
If any bill presented to the Governor shall contain one or more items of
appropriation of money, he may object in whole or in part to any such item or
items while approving the other portions of the bill. In such case he shall append to the bill, at
the time of signing it, a statement of each item or part thereof to which he
objects, and each item or part so objected to shall not take effect. A copy of such statement shall be transmitted
by him to the house in which the bill originated, and each item or part thereof
objected to shall be separately reconsidered.
If upon reconsideration, on or after the third day following said
transmittal, one or more of such items or parts thereof be approved by
two-thirds of all the members of each house, the same shall become a part of
the law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. All the provisions of the preceding paragraph
in relation to bills not approved by the Governor shall apply to cases in which
he shall withhold his approval from any item or items or parts thereof
contained in a bill appropriating money.
SECTION
II
1. The Governor may grant pardons and reprieves
in all cases other than impeachment and treason, and may suspend and remit
fines and forfeitures. A commission or other body may be established by law to
aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of executive clemency.
2.
A system for the granting of parole shall be provided by law.
SECTION
III
1. Provision for organizing, inducting,
training, arming, disciplining and regulating a militia shall be made by law,
which shall conform to applicable standards established for the armed forces of
the United States.
2.
The Governor shall nominate and appoint all general and flag officers of
the militia, with the advice and consent of the Senate. All other commissioned
officers of the militia shall be appointed and commissioned by the Governor
according to law.
SECTION
IV
1. All executive and administrative offices,
departments, and instrumentalities of the State government, including the
offices of Secretary of State and Attorney General, and their respective
functions, powers and duties, shall be allocated by law among and within not
more than twenty principal departments, in such manner as to group the same
according to major purposes so far as practicable. Temporary commissions for
special purposes may, however, be established by law and such commissions need
not be allocated within a principal department.
2.
Each principal department shall be under the supervision of the
Governor. The head of each principal department shall be a single executive
unless otherwise provided by law. Such single executives shall be nominated and
appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve
at the pleasure of the Governor during the Governor's term of office and until
the appointment and qualification of their successors, except as herein
otherwise provided with respect to the Secretary of State and the Attorney
General. The Governor may appoint the
Lieutenant Governor to serve as the head of a principal department, without the
advice and consent of the Senate, and to serve at the pleasure of the Governor
during the Governor's term of office.
Article V, Section IV,
paragraph 2 amended effective January 17, 2006.
3.
The Secretary of State and the Attorney General shall be nominated and
appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate to serve
during the term of office of the Governor, except the Governor may appoint the
Lieutenant Governor to serve as Secretary of State without the advice and
consent of the Senate.
Article V, Section IV,
paragraph 3 amended effective January 17, 2006.
4.
Whenever a board, commission or other body shall be the head of a
principal department, the members thereof shall be nominated and appointed by
the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, and may be removed in
the manner provided by law. The Governor may appoint the Lieutenant Governor
hereto without the advice and consent of the Senate. Such a board, commission
or other body may appoint a principal executive officer when authorized by law,
but the appointment shall be subject to the approval of the Governor. Any
principal executive officer so appointed shall be removable by the Governor,
upon notice and an opportunity to be heard.
Article V, Section IV,
paragraph 4 amended effective January 17, 2006.
5.
The Governor may cause an investigation to be made of the conduct in
office of any officer or employee who receives his compensation from the State
of New Jersey, except a member, officer or employee of the Legislature or an
officer elected by the Senate and General Assembly in joint meeting, or a
judicial officer. He may require such officers or employees to submit to him a
written statement or statements, under oath, of such information as he may call
for relating to the conduct of their respective offices or employments. After
notice, the service of charges and an opportunity to be heard at public hearing
the Governor may remove any such officer or employee for cause. Such officer or
employee shall have the right of judicial review, on both the law and the
facts, in such manner as shall be provided by law.
6.
No rule or regulation made by any department, officer, agency or
authority of this state, except such as relates to the organization or internal
management of the State government or a part thereof, shall take effect until
it is filed either with the Secretary of State or in such other manner as may
be provided by law. The Legislature
shall provide for the prompt publication of such rules and regulations. The Legislature may review any rule or regulation
to determine if the rule or regulation is consistent with the intent of the
Legislature as expressed in the language of the statute which the rule or
regulation is intended to implement.
Upon a finding that an existing or proposed rule or regulation is not
consistent with legislative intent, the Legislature shall transmit this finding
in the form of a concurrent resolution to the Governor and the head of the
Executive Branch agency which promulgated, or plans to promulgate, the rule or
regulation. The agency shall have 30
days to amend or withdraw the existing or proposed rule or regulation. If the agency does not amend or withdraw the
existing or proposed rule or regulation, the Legislature may invalidate that
rule or regulation, in whole or in part, or may prohibit that proposed rule or
regulation, in whole or in part, from taking effect by a vote of a majority of
the authorized membership of each House in favor of a concurrent resolution
providing for invalidation or prohibition, as the case may be, of the rule or
regulation. This vote shall not take
place until at least 20 calendar days after the placing on the desks of the
members of each House of the Legislature in open meeting of the transcript of a
public hearing held by either House on the invalidation or prohibition of the
rule or regulation.
Article V, section IV, paragraph 6
amended effective December 3, 1992.
ARTICLE
VI
JUDICIAL
SECTION
I
1. The judicial power shall be vested in a
Supreme Court, a Superior Court, and other courts of limited jurisdiction. The
other courts and their jurisdiction may from time to time be established,
altered or abolished by law.
Article VI, Section I, paragraph 1
amended effective December 7, 1978.
SECTION
II
1. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief
Justice and six Associate Justices. Five members of the court shall constitute
a quorum. When necessary, the Chief Justice shall assign the Judge or Judges of
the Superior Court, senior in service, as provided by rules of the Supreme
Court, to serve temporarily in the Supreme Court. In case the Chief Justice is
absent or unable to serve, a presiding Justice designated in accordance with
rules of the Supreme Court shall serve temporarily in his stead.
2.
The Supreme Court shall exercise appellate jurisdiction in the last
resort in all causes provided in this Constitution.
3.
The Supreme Court shall make rules governing the administration of all
courts in the State and, subject to the law, the practice and procedure in all
such courts. The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction over the admission to
the practice of law and the discipline of persons admitted.
SECTION
III
1. The Superior Court shall consist of such
number of judges as may be authorized by law, each of whom shall exercise the
powers of the court subject to rules of the Supreme Court. The Superior Court
shall at all times consist of at least two judges who shall be assigned to sit
in each of the counties of this State, and who are resident therein at the time
of appointment and reappointment.
Article VI, Section III, paragraph 1
amended effective December 7, 1978.
2.
The Superior Court shall have original general jurisdiction throughout
the State in all causes.
3.
The Superior Court shall be divided into an Appellate Division, a Law
Division, and a Chancery Division, which shall include a family part. Each
division shall have such other parts, consist of such number of judges, and
hear such causes, as may be provided by rules of the Supreme Court. At least
two judges of the Superior Court shall at all times be assigned to sit in each
of the counties of the State, who at the time of their appointment and
reappointment were residents of that county provided, however, that the number
of judges required to reside in the county wherein they sit shall be at least
equal in number to the number of judges of the county court sitting in each of
the counties at the adoption of this amendment.
Article VI, Section III, paragraph 3
amended effective December 8, 1983.
4.
Subject to rules of the Supreme Court, the Law Division and the Chancery
Division shall each exercise the powers and functions of the other division
when the ends of justice so require, and legal and equitable relief shall be
granted in any cause so that all matters in controversy between the parties may
be completely determined.
Article VI, Section IV, repealed
effective December 7, 1978.
SECTION
V
1. Appeals may be taken to the Supreme Court:
(a)
In causes determined by the appellate division of the Superior Court
involving a question arising under the Constitution of the United States or
this State;
(b)
In causes where there is a dissent in the Appellate Division of the
Superior Court;
(c)
In capital causes;
(d)
On certification by the Supreme Court to the Superior Court and, where
provided by rules of the Supreme Court, to the inferior courts; and
(e)
In such causes as may be provided by law.
2.
Appeals may be taken to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court
from the law and chancery divisions of the Superior Court and in such other
causes as may be provided by law.
Article VI, Section V, paragraphs 1
and 2 amended effective December 7, 1978.
3.
The Supreme Court and the Appellate Division of the Superior Court may
exercise such original jurisdiction as may be necessary to the complete
determination of any cause on review.
4.
Prerogative writs are superseded and, in lieu thereof, review, hearing
and relief shall be afforded in the Superior Court, on terms and in the manner
provided by rules of the Supreme Court, as of right, except in criminal causes
where such review shall be discretionary.
SECTION
VI
1. The Governor shall nominate and appoint,
with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Chief Justice and associate
justices of the Supreme Court, the Judges of the Superior Court, and the judges
of the inferior courts with jurisdiction extending to more than one
municipality; except that upon the abolition of the juvenile and domestic
relations courts or family court and county district courts as provided by law,
the judges of those former courts shall become the Judges of the Superior Court
without nomination by the Governor or confirmation by the Senate. No nomination
to such an office shall be sent to the Senate for confirmation until after 7
days' public notice by the Governor.
Article VI, Section VI, paragraph 1
amended effective December 8, 1983.
2.
The justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of the Superior Court
shall each prior to his appointment have been admitted to the practice of law
in this State for at least 10 years.
Article VI, Section VI, paragraph 2
amended effective December 7, 1978.
3.
The Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judges of the Superior Court
shall hold their offices for initial terms of 7 years and upon reappointment
shall hold their offices during good behavior; provided however, that, upon the
abolition of the juvenile and domestic relations courts or family court and
county district courts as provided by law, the judges in office in those former
courts who have acquired tenure and the Judges of the Superior Court who have
acquired tenure as a judge in those former courts prior to appointment to the
Superior Court, shall have tenure as Judges of the Superior Court. Judges of
the juvenile and domestic relations courts or family court and county district
courts who have not acquired tenure as a judge of those former courts shall
hold their offices for the period of their respective terms which remain
unexpired and shall acquire tenure upon reappointment to the Superior Court.
Such justices and judges shall be retired upon attaining the age of 70 years.
Provisions for the pensioning of the Justices of the Supreme Court and the
Judges of the Superior Court shall be made by law.
Article VI, Section VI, paragraph 3
amended effective December 8, 1983.
4.
The Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judges of the Superior Court
shall be subject to impeachment, and any judicial officer impeached shall not
exercise his office until acquitted. The Judges of the Superior Court shall
also be subject to removal from office by the Supreme Court for such causes and
in such manner as shall be provided by law.
5.
Whenever the Supreme Court shall certify to the Governor that it appears
that any Justice of the Supreme Court or Judge of the Superior Court is so
incapacitated as substantially to prevent him from performing his judicial
duties, the Governor shall appoint a commission of three persons to inquire
into the circumstances; and, on their recommendation, the Governor may retire
the justice or judge from office, on pension as may be provided by law.
Article VI, Section VI, paragraphs 4
and 5 amended effective December 7, 1978.
6.
The Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judges of the Superior Court
shall receive for their services such salaries as may be provided by law, which
shall not be diminished during the term of their appointment. They shall not,
while in office, engage in the practice of law or other gainful pursuit.
7.
The Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judges of the Superior Court
shall hold no other office or position, of profit, under this State or the
United States. Any such justice or judge who shall become a candidate for an
elective public office shall thereby forfeit his judicial office.
Article VI, Section VI, paragraph 7
amended effective December 7, 1978.
SECTION
VII
1. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall
be the administrative head of all the courts in the State. He shall appoint an
Administrative Director to serve at his pleasure.
2.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall assign Judges of the
Superior Court to the Divisions and Parts of the Superior Court, and may from
time to time transfer Judges from one assignment to another, as need appears.
Assignments to the Appellate Division shall be for terms fixed by rules of the
Supreme Court.
3.
The Clerk of the Supreme Court and the Clerk of the Superior Court shall
be appointed by the Supreme Court for such terms and at such compensation as
shall be provided by law.
SECTION
VIII
1. a. On
or before July 1, 1997:
(1)
The State shall be required to pay for certain judicial and probation
costs;
(2)
All judicial employees and probation employees shall be employees of the
State; and
(3)
Any judicial fees and probation fees collected shall be paid to the
State Treasury.
b.
As used in this section:
(1)
"Judicial facility costs" means any costs borne by the
counties prior to July 1, 1993 with regard to the operation and maintenance of
facilities used by the courts or judicial employees;
(2)
"Probation facility costs" means any costs borne by the
counties prior to July 1, 1993 with regard to the operation and maintenance of
facilities used by probation employees;
(3)
"Judicial costs" means the costs incurred by the county for
funding the judicial system, including but not limited to the following costs:
salaries, health benefits and pension payments of all judicial employees, juror
fees and library material costs ,except that judicial costs shall not include
costs incurred by employees of the surrogate's office or judicial facility
costs;
(4)
"Judicial employees" means any person employed by the county
prior to July 1, 1993 to perform judicial functions, including but not limited
to employees working for the courts, and the law library and employees of the
sheriff's office who act as court aides, except that employees of the
surrogate's office and probation employees shall not be construed to be
judicial employees;
(5)
"Judicial fees" means any fees or fines collected by the
judiciary but shall not include sheriff's or surrogate's fees or municipal
court fees or fines;
(6)
"Judicial functions" means any duties and responsibilities
performed in providing any services and direct support necessary for the
effective operation of the judicial system;
(7)
"Probation costs" means any costs incurred by the county for
the operation of the county probation department, including but not limited to
the costs of salaries, health benefits, and pension payments of probation
employees but shall not include probation facility costs;
(8)
"Probation employees" means any person employed by a county
probation department prior to July 1,1993;
(9)
"Probation fees" means any fees or fines collected in
connection with the probation of any persons.
Section VIII added effective
December 3, 1992.
ARTICLE
VII
PUBLIC OFFICERS
AND EMPLOYEES
SECTION
I
l. Every State officer, before entering upon the
duties of his office, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to
support the Constitution of this State and of the United States and to perform
the duties of his office faithfully, impartially and justly to the best of his
ability.
2.
Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State, and of
such political subdivisions as may be provided by law, shall be made according
to merit and fitness to be ascertained, as far as practicable, by examination,
which, as far as practicable, shall be competitive; except that preference in
appointments by reason of active service in any branch of the military or naval
forces of the United States in time of war may be provided by law.
3. Any compensation for services or any fees
received by any person by virtue of an appointive State office or position, in
addition to the annual salary provided for the office or position, shall
immediately upon receipt be paid into the treasury of the State, unless the
compensation or fees shall be allowed or appropriated to him by law.
4.
Any person before or after entering upon the duties of any public
office, position or employment in this State may be required to give bond as
may be provided by law.
5.
The term of office of all officers elected or appointed pursuant to the
provisions of this Constitution, except as herein otherwise provided, shall
commence on the day of the date of their respective commissions; but no
commission for any office shall bear date prior to the expiration of the term
of the incumbent of said office.
6.
The State Auditor shall be appointed by the Senate and General Assembly
in joint meeting for a term of five years and until his successor shall be
appointed and qualify. It shall be his duty to conduct post-audits of all
transactions and accounts kept by or for all departments, offices and agencies
of the State government, to report to the Legislature or to any committee
thereof as shall be required by law, and to perform such other similar or
related duties as shall, from time to time, be required of him by law.
SECTION
II
l. County prosecutors shall be nominated and
appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Their term
of office shall be five years, and they shall serve until the appointment and
qualification of their respective successors.
2.
County clerks, surrogates and sheriffs shall be elected by the people of
their respective counties at general elections. The term of office of county
clerks and surrogates shall be five years, and of sheriffs three years.
Whenever a vacancy shall occur in any such office it shall be filled in the
manner to be provided by law.
SECTION
III
l. The Governor and all other State officers,
while in office and for two years thereafter, shall be liable to impeachment
for misdemeanor committed during their respective continuance in office.
2.
The General Assembly shall have the sole power of impeachment by vote of
a majority of all the members. All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate,
and members, when sitting for that purpose, shall be on oath or affirmation
"truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question
according to the evidence". No person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate. When the Governor
is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside and the
President of the Senate shall not participate in the trial.
3.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from office, and to disqualification to hold and enjoy any public
office of honor, profit or trust in this State; but the person convicted shall
nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial and punishment according to law.
ARTICLE
VIII
TAXATION
AND FINANCE
SECTION
I
l. (a)
Property shall be assessed for taxation under general laws and by
uniform rules. All real property assessed and taxed locally or by the State for
allotment and payment to taxing districts shall be assessed according to the
same standard of value, except as otherwise permitted herein, and such real
property shall be taxed at the general tax rate of the taxing district in which
the property is situated, for the use of such taxing district.
(b)
The Legislature shall enact laws to provide that the value of land, not
less than 5 acres in area, which is determined by the assessing officer of the
taxing jurisdiction to be actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use
and to have been so devoted for at least the 2 successive years immediately
preceding the tax year in issue, shall, for local tax purposes, on application
of the owner, be that value which such land has for agricultural or horticultural
use.
Any such laws shall provide that
when land which has been valued in this manner for local tax purposes is
applied to a use other than for agriculture or horticulture it shall be subject
to additional taxes in an amount equal to the difference, if any, between the
taxes paid or payable on the basis of the valuation and the assessment
authorized hereunder and the taxes that would have been paid or payable had the
land been valued and assessed as otherwise provided in this Constitution, in the
current year and in such of the tax years immediately preceding, not in excess
of 2 such years in which the land was valued as herein authorized.
Such laws shall also provide for
the equalization of assessments of land valued in accordance with the
provisions hereof and for the assessment and collection of any additional taxes
levied thereupon and shall include such other provisions as shall be necessary
to carry out the provisions of this amendment.
Article VIII, Section I, paragraph
1 amended effective December 5, 1963.
2.
Exemption from taxation may be granted only by general laws. Until
otherwise provided by law all exemptions from taxation validly granted and now
in existence shall be continued. Exemptions from taxation may be altered or
repealed, except those exempting real and personal property used exclusively
for religious, educational, charitable or cemetery purposes, as defined by law,
and owned by any corporation or association organized and conducted exclusively
for one or more of such purposes and not operating for profit.
3. Any citizen and resident of this State
now or hereafter honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances
from active service, in time of war or other emergency as, from time to time, defined
by the Legislature, in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States
shall be entitled, annually to a deduction from the amount of any tax bill for
taxes on real and personal property, or both, including taxes attributable to a
residential unit held by a stockholder in a cooperative or mutual housing
corporation, in the sum of $50 or if the amount of any such tax bill shall be
less than $50, to a cancellation thereof, except that the deduction or
cancellation shall be $100 in tax year 2000, $150 in tax year 2001, $200 in tax
year 2002 and $250 in each tax year thereafter.
The deduction or cancellation shall not be altered or repealed. Any person hereinabove described who has been
or shall be declared by the United States Veterans Administration, or its
successor, to have a service-connected disability, shall be entitled to such
further deduction from taxation as from time to time may be provided by law.
The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has met or
shall meet his or her death on active duty in time of war or of other emergency
as so defined in any such service shall be entitled, during her widowhood or
his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the
deduction or cancellation in this paragraph provided for honorably discharged
veterans and to such further deduction as from time to time may be provided by
law. The surviving spouse of any citizen
and resident of this State who has had or shall hereafter have active service
in time of war or of other emergency as so defined in any branch of the Armed
Forces of the United States and who died or shall die while on active duty in
any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or who has been or may
hereafter be honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances
from active service in time of war or of other emergency as so defined in any
branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be entitled, during her
widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this
State, to the deduction or cancellation in this paragraph provided for
honorably discharged veterans and to such further deductions as from time to
time may be provided by law.
Article VIII, Section I, paragraph
3 amended effective December 2, 1999.
4.
The Legislature may, from time to time, enact laws granting an annual
deduction, from the amount of any tax bill for taxes on the real property, and
from taxes attributable to a residential unit in a cooperative or mutual housing
corporation, of any citizen and resident of this State of the age of 65 or more
years, or any citizen and resident of this State less than 65 years of age who
is permanently and totally disabled according to the provisions of the Federal
Social Security Act, residing in a dwelling house owned by him which is a
constituent part of such real property, or residing in a dwelling house owned
by him which is assessed as real property but which is situated on land owned
by another or others, or residing as tenant-shareholder in a cooperative or
mutual housing corporation, but no such deduction shall be in excess of $160.00
with respect to any year prior to 1981, $200.00 per year in 1981, $225.00 per
year in 1982, and $250.00 per year in 1983 and any year thereafter and such
deduction shall be restricted to owners having an income not in excess of
$5,000.00 per year with respect to any year prior to 1981, $8,000.00 per year
in 1981, $9,000.00 per year in 1982, and $10,000.00 per year in 1983 and any
year thereafter, exclusive of benefits under any one of the following:
a.
The Federal Social Security Act and all amendments and supplements thereto;
b.
Any other program of the federal government or pursuant to any other
federal law which provides benefits in whole or in part in lieu of benefits referred to in, or for persons
excluded from coverage under, a. hereof
including but not limited to the Federal Railroad Retirement Act and federal
pension, disability and retirement programs; or
c.
Pension, disability or retirement programs of any state or its political
subdivisions, or agencies thereof, for persons not covered under a. hereof;
provided, however, that the total amount of benefits to be allowed exclusion by
any owner under b. or c. hereof shall not be in excess of the maximum amount of
benefits payable to, and allowable for exclusion by, an owner in similar
circumstances under a. hereof.
The surviving spouse of a deceased
citizen and resident of the State who during his or her life received a
deduction pursuant to this paragraph shall be entitled, so long as he or she
shall remain unmarried and a resident of the same dwelling house situated on
the same land with respect to which said deduction was granted, to the same
deduction, upon the same conditions, with respect to the same real property or
with respect to the same dwelling house which is situated on land owned by
another or others, or with respect to the same cooperative or mutual housing
corporation, notwithstanding that said surviving spouse is under the age of 65
and is not permanently and totally disabled, provided that said surviving
spouse is 55 years of age or older.
Any such deduction when so granted
by law shall be granted so that it will not be in addition to any other
deduction or exemption, except a deduction granted under authority of paragraph
3 of this section, to which the said citizen and resident may be entitled, but
said citizen and resident may receive in addition any homestead rebate or
credit provided by law. The State shall annually reimburse each taxing district
in an amount equal to one-half of the tax loss to the district resulting from
the allowance of tax deductions pursuant to this paragraph.
Article VIII, Section I, paragraph
4 amended effective December 8, 1988.
5.
The Legislature may adopt a homestead statute which entitles homeowners,
residential tenants and net lease residential tenants to a rebate or a credit
of a sum of money related to property taxes paid by or allocable to them at
such rates and subject to such limits as may be provided by law. Such rebates
or credits may include a differential rebate or credit to citizens and
residents who are of the age of 65 or more years, or less than 65 years of age
who are permanently and totally disabled according to the provisions of the
Federal Social Security Act, or are 55 years of age or more and the surviving
spouse of a deceased citizen or resident of this State who during his lifetime
received, or who, upon the adoption of this amendment and the enactment of
implementing legislation, would have been entitled to receive a rebate or
credit related to property taxes.
Article VIII, Section I, paragraph
5 amended effective December 2, 1976.
6.
The Legislature may enact general laws under which municipalities may
adopt ordinances granting exemptions or abatements from taxation on buildings
and structures in areas declared in need of rehabilitation in accordance with
statutory criteria, within such municipalities and to the land comprising the
premises upon which such buildings or structures are erected and which is
necessary for the fair enjoyment thereof. Such exemptions shall be for limited
periods of time as specified by law, but not in excess of 5 years.
Article VIII, Section I, paragraph
6 added effective December 4, 1975.
7.
a. No tax shall be levied on personal incomes of individuals, estates and
trusts of this State unless the entire net receipts therefrom shall be received
into the treasury, placed in a perpetual fund designated the Property Tax
Relief Fund and be annually appropriated, pursuant to formulas established from
time to time by the Legislature, to the several counties, municipalities and
school districts of this State exclusively for the purpose of reducing or
offsetting property taxes. In no event, however, shall a tax so levied on
personal incomes be levied on payments received under the federal Social
Security Act, the federal Railroad Retirement Act, or any federal law which
substantially reenacts the provisions of either of those laws.
b. There shall be annually credited from the General Fund and
placed in a special account in the perpetual Property Tax Relief Fund
established pursuant to this paragraph, which account shall be designated the
Property Tax Reform Account, an amount equal to the annual revenue derived from
a tax rate of 0.5% imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax Act,"
P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented, or any other
subsequent law of similar effect, which amount shall be appropriated annually
by the Legislature exclusively for the purpose of property tax reform.
Article VIII, Section I,
paragraph 7 added effective December 2, 1976; amended effective December 6,
1984; amended effective December 7, 2006.
SECTION
II
1. The credit of the State shall not be directly
or indirectly loaned in any case.
2. No money shall be drawn
from the State treasury but for appropriations made by law. All moneys for the
support of the State government and for all other State purposes as far as can
be ascertained or reasonably foreseen, shall be provided for in one general
appropriation law covering one and the same fiscal year; except that when a
change in the fiscal year is made, necessary provision may be made to effect
the transition. No general appropriation law or other law appropriating money
for any State purpose shall be enacted if the appropriation contained therein,
together with all prior appropriations made for the same fiscal period, shall
exceed the total amount of revenue on hand and anticipated which will be
available to meet such appropriations during such fiscal period, as certified
by the Governor.
3. a. The
Legislature shall not, in any manner, create in any fiscal year a debt or
debts, liability or liabilities of the State, which together with any previous
debts or liabilities shall exceed at any time one per centum of the total
amount appropriated by the general appropriation law for that fiscal year,
unless the same shall be authorized by a law for some single object or work
distinctly specified therein. Regardless of any limitation relating to taxation
in this Constitution, such law shall provide the ways and means, exclusive of
loans, to pay the interest of such debt or liability as it falls due, and also
to pay and discharge the principal thereof within thirty-five years from the
time it is contracted; and the law shall not be repealed until such debt or
liability and the interest thereon are fully paid and discharged. Except as
hereinafter provided, no such law shall take effect until it shall have been
submitted to the people at a general election and approved by a majority of the
legally qualified voters of the State voting thereon.
b. On and after the date on which this
subparagraph b. becomes part of the Constitution, the Legislature shall not
enact any law that, in any manner, creates or authorizes the creation of a debt
or liability of an autonomous public corporate entity, established either as an
instrumentality of the State or otherwise exercising public and essential
governmental functions, which debt or liability has a pledge of an annual
appropriation as the ways and means to pay the interest of such debt or
liability as it falls due and pay and
discharge the principal of such debt, unless a law authorizing the creation of
that debt for some single object or work distinctly specified therein shall
have been submitted to the people at a general election and approved by a
majority of the legally qualified voters of the State voting thereon. Voter approval shall not be required for any
such law providing that the ways and means to pay the interest of and to pay
and discharge the principal of such debt or liability shall be subject to
appropriations of an independent non-State source of revenue paid by third
persons for the use of the single object or work thereof, or from a source of
State revenue otherwise required to be appropriated pursuant to another
provision of this Constitution.
c. No voter approval shall be required for any
such law under subparagraphs a. or b. of this paragraph authorizing the
creation of a debt or debts in a specified amount or an amount to be determined
in accordance with such law for the refinancing of all or a portion of any
outstanding debts or liabilities of the State, or of an autonomous public
corporate entity, established either as an instrumentality of the State or
otherwise exercising public and essential governmental functions, heretofore or
hereafter created, so long as such law shall require that the refinancing
provide a debt service savings determined in a manner to be provided in such
law and that the proceeds of such debt or debts and any investment income
therefrom shall be applied to the payment of the principal of, any redemption
premium on, and interest due and to become due on such debts or liabilities
being refinanced on or prior to the redemption date or maturity date thereof,
together with the costs associated with such refinancing.
d. All money to be raised by the authority of
such law shall be applied only to the specific object stated therein, and to
the payment of the debt thereby created.
e. This paragraph shall not be construed to
refer to any money that has been or may be deposited with this State by the government
of the United States. Nor shall anything in this paragraph contained apply to
the creation of any debts or liabilities for purposes of war, or to repel
invasion, or to suppress insurrection or to meet an emergency caused by
disaster or act of God.
Article VIII, Section II, paragraph
3 amended Nov. 8, 1983, effective Dec. 8, 1983; amended effective December 4,
2008.
4. There shall be credited to a special
account in the General Fund:
(a) for each State fiscal year commencing on and after July 1,
2007 an amount equivalent to the revenue derived from $0.105 per gallon from
the tax imposed on the sale of motor fuels pursuant to chapter 39 of Title 54
of the Revised Statutes;
(b) for the State fiscal year 2001 an amount not less than $100,000,000
derived from the State revenues collected from the tax on the gross receipts of
the sale of petroleum products imposed pursuant to P.L.1990, c.42 (C.54:15B-1
et seq.) as amended and supplemented, or any other subsequent law of similar
effect, and for each State fiscal year thereafter an amount not less than
$200,000,000 derived from those revenues; and
(c) for the State fiscal year
2002 an amount not less than $80,000,000 from the State revenue
collected from the State tax imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax
Act," pursuant to P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), as amended and
supplemented, or any other subsequent law of similar effect, for the State
fiscal year 2003 an amount not less than
$140,000,000 from those revenues, and
for each State fiscal year thereafter an amount not less than
$200,000,000 from those revenues;
provided, however, the dedication and use of such revenues as provided in this
paragraph shall be subject and subordinate to (a) all appropriations of
revenues from such taxes made by laws enacted on or before December 7, 2006 in
accordance with Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 3 of the State Constitution
in order to provide the ways and means to pay the principal and interest on
bonds of the State presently outstanding or authorized to be issued under such
laws or (b) any other use of those revenues enacted into law on or before
December 7, 2006. These amounts shall be
appropriated from time to time by the Legislature, only for the purposes of
paying or financing the cost of planning, acquisition, engineering,
construction, reconstruction, repair and rehabilitation of the transportation
system in this State and it shall not be competent for the Legislature to
borrow, appropriate or use these amounts or any part thereof for any other
purpose, under any pretense whatever.
Article VIII, Section II,
paragraph 4 added effective December 6, 1984; amended effective December 7,
2000; amended effective December 7, 2006.
5. (a) With respect to any
provision of a law enacted on and after January 17, 1996, and with respect to
any rule or regulation issued pursuant to a law originally adopted after July
1, 1996, and except as otherwise provided herein, any provision of such law, or
of such rule or regulation issued pursuant to a law, which is determined in
accordance with this paragraph to be an unfunded mandate upon boards of
education, counties, or municipalities because it does not authorize resources,
other than the property tax, to offset the additional direct expenditures required
for the implementation of the law or rule or regulation, shall, upon such
determination cease to be mandatory in its effect and expire. A law or rule or regulation issued pursuant
to a law that is determined to be an unfunded mandate shall not be considered
to establish a standard of care for the purpose of civil liability.
(b) The Legislature shall create by law a Council on Local
Mandates. The Council shall resolve any
dispute regarding whether a law or rule or regulation issued pursuant to a law
constitutes an unfunded mandate. The
Council shall consist of nine public members appointed as follows: four members to be appointed by the Governor;
one member to be appointed by the President of the Senate; one member to be
appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly; one member to be appointed by
the minority leader of the Senate; one member to be appointed by the minority
leader of the General Assembly; and one member to be appointed by the Chief
Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Of the members appointed by the Governor, at least two shall be
appointed from a list of six willing nominees submitted by the chairman of the
political party whose candidate for Governor received the second largest number
of votes at the most recent gubernatorial general election. The decisions of the Council shall be
political and not judicial determinations.
(c) Notwithstanding anything in this paragraph to the contrary,
the following categories of laws or rules or regulations issued pursuant to a
law, shall not be considered unfunded mandates:
(1) those which are required to comply with
federal laws or rules or to meet eligibility standards for federal
entitlements;
(2) those which are imposed on both government and non-government
entities in the same or substantially similar circumstances;
(3) those which repeal, revise or ease an
existing requirement or mandate or which reapportion the costs of activities
between boards of education, counties, and municipalities;
(4) those which stem from failure to comply
with previously enacted laws or rules or regulations issued pursuant to a law;
(5) those which implement the provisions of
this Constitution; and
(6) laws which are enacted after a public hearing, held after
public notice that unfunded mandates will be considered, for which a fiscal
analysis is available at the time of the public hearing and which, in addition
to complying with all other constitutional requirements with regard to the
enactment of laws, are passed by 3/4 affirmative vote of the members of each
House of the Legislature.
Article VIII, Section II,
paragraph 5 added effective December 7, 1995.
6. There shall be credited annually to a special
account in the General Fund an amount equivalent to 4% of the revenue annually
derived from the tax imposed pursuant to the "Corporation Business Tax Act
(1945)," P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-1 et seq.), as amended and
supplemented, or any other State law of similar effect.
The amount annually credited
pursuant to this paragraph shall be dedicated and shall be appropriated from
time to time by the Legislature only for the following purposes: paying or
financing costs incurred by the State for the remediation of discharges of
hazardous substances, which costs may include performing necessary operation
and maintenance activities relating to remedial actions and costs incurred for
providing alternative sources of public or private water supplies, when a water
supply has been, or is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous
substance discharge; providing funding, including the provision of loans or
grants, for the upgrade, replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks
that store or were used to store hazardous substances, and for the costs of
remediating any discharge therefrom; providing funding, including the provision
of loans or grants, for the costs of the remediation of discharges of hazardous
substances, which costs may include costs incurred for providing alternative
sources of public or private water supplies, when a water supply has been, or
is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance discharge; for
paying or financing the cost of water quality point and nonpoint source
pollution monitoring, watershed based water resource planning and management,
and nonpoint source pollution prevention projects; for providing grants for the
costs of air pollution control equipment to reduce the levels of particulate
matter emissions from diesel-powered engines, and for funding for other
measures to reduce human exposure to those emissions; and for providing
funding, including loans and grants, for the development of lands for
recreation and conservation purposes, and to satisfy any payments relating to
bonds, notes, or other obligations, including refunding bonds, issued by an
authority or similar entity established by law to provide funding for the
development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes.
It shall not be competent for
the Legislature, under any pretense whatever, to borrow, appropriate, or use
the amount credited to the special account pursuant to this paragraph, or any
portion thereof, for any purpose or in any manner other than as enumerated in
this paragraph. It shall not be
competent for the Legislature, under any pretense whatever, to borrow,
appropriate, or use the amount credited to the special account pursuant to this
paragraph, or any portion thereof, for the payment of the principal or interest
on any general obligation bond that was approved by the voters prior to this
paragraph becoming part of this Constitution.
(a) Fifteen percent of the amount annually credited pursuant to
this paragraph shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to time
by the Legislature, only for paying or financing the cost of water quality
point and nonpoint source pollution monitoring, watershed based water resource
planning and management, and nonpoint source pollution prevention projects.
(b) Twenty-five percent of
the amount annually credited pursuant to this paragraph shall be dedicated, and
shall be appropriated from time to time by the Legislature, only for providing
funding, including the provision of loans or grants, for the upgrade,
replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or were used to
store hazardous substances, and for the costs of remediating any discharge
therefrom, and for providing funding, including the provision of loans or
grants, for the costs of the remediation of discharges of hazardous substances,
which costs may include costs incurred for providing alternative sources of
public or private water supplies, when a water supply has been, or is suspected
of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance discharge. Of any amount dedicated pursuant to this
subparagraph (b) but not expended prior to January 1, 2004, fifty percent of
that amount shall be expended on funding for the upgrade, replacement, or
closure of underground storage tanks that store or were used to store hazardous
substances, and for the costs of remediating any discharge therefrom, and fifty
percent shall be expended on funding the costs of the remediation of discharges
of hazardous substances, including costs incurred for providing alternative
sources of public or private water supplies, when a water supply has been, or
is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance discharge.
Commencing January 1, 2004 and
ending December 31, 2005, fifty percent of the moneys dedicated pursuant to
this subparagraph (b) shall be appropriated for funding the upgrade,
replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or were used to
store hazardous substances, and for the costs of remediating any discharge
therefrom, and fifty percent shall be appropriated for funding the costs of the
remediation of discharges of hazardous substances, which costs may include
costs incurred for providing alternative sources of public or private water
supplies, when a water supply has been, or is suspected of being, contaminated
by a hazardous substance discharge.
Commencing January 1, 2006 and
ending December 31, 2006, forty percent
of the moneys dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (b) shall be appropriated
for funding the upgrade, replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks
that store or were used to store hazardous substances, and for the costs of
remediating any discharge therefrom, and sixty percent shall be appropriated
for funding the costs of the remediation of discharges of hazardous substances,
which costs may include costs incurred for providing alternative sources of
public or private water supplies, when a water supply has been, or is suspected
of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance discharge.
Commencing January 1, 2007 and
ending December 31, 2021, the moneys dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph
(b) shall be appropriated for funding the costs of the remediation of
discharges of hazardous substances, which costs may include costs incurred for
providing alternative sources of public or private water supplies, when a water
supply has been, or is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous
substance discharge; but if in any fiscal year during that time the amount
previously dedicated and appropriated for funding loans or grants for the
upgrade, replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or
were used to store hazardous substances, and for the costs of remediating any
discharge therefrom, and available for that purpose but not expended, is less
than $20,000,000, then in the following fiscal year, fifty-five percent of the
monies dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (b) shall be appropriated for
funding loans or grants for underground storage tanks and only forty-five
percent of the monies dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (b) shall be
appropriated for funding the costs of the remediation of discharges of
hazardous substances, which costs may include costs incurred for providing
alternative sources of public or private water supplies, when a water supply
has been, or is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance
discharge.
Commencing January 1, 2004, up
to $2,000,000.00 per year, which shall be taken from the amount appropriated
pursuant to this subparagraph (b) for the costs of the remediation of
discharges of hazardous substances, may be expended for the costs of a State
underground storage tank inspection program, which costs may include the direct
but not indirect program administrative costs incurred by the State for the
employment of inspectors and a compliance and enforcement staff, and the
purchase of vehicles and equipment necessary for the implementation thereof.
All moneys derived from
repayments of any loan issued from the amount dedicated pursuant to this
subparagraph (b) shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to
time by the Legislature, only for the purposes authorized pursuant to this
subparagraph (b). The dedication of
moneys derived from loan repayments shall not expire.
Except for moneys that may be
expended for the costs of a State underground storage tank inspection program,
and except for amounts that may be appropriated from time to time by the
Legislature on or after January 1, 2006, but not to exceed $1,000,000 annually,
to administer programs to provide loans and grants for the upgrade,
replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or were used to
store hazardous substances, no moneys appropriated pursuant to this
subparagraph (b) may be expended on any direct or indirect administrative costs
of the State or any of its departments, agencies, or authorities.
Commencing January 1, 2006,
funding for administrative costs for programs to provide loans and grants for
the upgrade, replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or
were used to store hazardous substances may be appropriated from time to time
by the Legislature from the amount
dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (b) for those purposes in an amount not
to exceed $1,000,000 in any year.
No moneys appropriated
pursuant to this subparagraph (b) may be expended on any upgrade, replacement, or
closure of any underground storage tank, or for the remediation of any
discharge therefrom, for any underground storage tank owned by the State or any
of its departments, agencies, or authorities, or for costs incurred by the
State for the remediation of discharges of hazardous substances.
Commencing on January 1, 2022,
the moneys dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (b) may be appropriated from
time to time by the Legislature: for providing funding, including the provision
of loans or grants, for the upgrade, replacement, or closure of underground
storage tanks that store or were used to store hazardous substances, and for
the costs of remediating any discharge therefrom; for providing funding,
including the provision of loans or grants, for the costs of the remediation of
discharges of hazardous substances, which costs may include costs incurred for
providing alternative sources of public or private water supplies, when a water
supply has been, or is suspected of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance
discharge; or for the costs of a State underground storage tank inspection
program, in an amount up to $2,000,000.00 per year.
The Legislature may
appropriate after January 1, 2006, an amount not to exceed $10,000,000, of any
of the amounts appropriated in any fiscal year ending before July 1, 2005, made
for the purpose of the provision of loans or grants, for the upgrade,
replacement, or closure of underground storage tanks that store or were used to
store hazardous substances, and for the costs of remediating any discharge
therefrom, and not expended for that purpose prior to the end of the fiscal
year ending on June 30, 2005, for the purpose set forth in subparagraph (d) of
this paragraph.
(c) Twenty-eight percent of the amount annually credited pursuant
to this paragraph shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to
time by the Legislature, only for paying or financing costs incurred by the
State for the remediation of discharges of hazardous substances, which costs
may include performing necessary operation and maintenance activities relating
to remedial actions and costs incurred for providing alternative sources of
public or private water supplies, when a water supply has been, or is suspected
of being, contaminated by a hazardous substance discharge. No moneys appropriated pursuant to this
subparagraph (c) may be expended for any indirect administrative costs of the
State, its departments, agencies, or authorities. No more than nine percent of the moneys
annually credited pursuant to this paragraph, which shall be taken from the
amount dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (c), may be expended for any
direct program administrative costs of the State, its departments, agencies, or
authorities.
(d) Commencing January 1, 2006 and ending December 31, 2015,
seventeen percent of the amount annually credited pursuant to this paragraph
shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to time by the
Legislature, only for providing grants
for the costs of air pollution control equipment to reduce the levels of
particulate matter emissions from diesel-powered engines, funding for other
measures to reduce human exposure to those emissions, and funding for those
program administrative costs as provided in this subparagraph. No more than $1,150,000 per year of the
amount dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (d) may be expended for program
administrative costs of the State, its departments, agencies, or authorities
for implementing the provisions of this subparagraph (d), and for regulating
particulate matter emissions from diesel-powered engines.
Any amount dedicated and
appropriated pursuant to this subparagraph (d) but not expended prior to
January 1, 2016 shall be dedicated and may be appropriated from time to time by
the Legislature for the purposes authorized in subparagraph (c) of this
paragraph.
(e) Fifteen percent of the amount annually
credited pursuant to this paragraph shall be dedicated, and shall be
appropriated from time to time by the Legislature, only for providing funding,
including loans and grants, for the development of lands for recreation and
conservation purposes, and to satisfy any payments relating to bonds, notes, or
other obligations, including refunding bonds, issued by an authority or similar
entity established by law to provide funding for the development of lands for
recreation and conservation purposes.
Commencing January 1, 2016,
thirty-two percent of the amount annually credited pursuant to this paragraph
shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to time by the
Legislature, only for providing funding, including loans and grants, for the
development of lands for recreation or conservation purposes, and to satisfy
any payments relating to bonds, notes, or other obligations, including
refunding bonds, issued by an authority or similar entity established by law to
provide funding, for the development of lands for recreation or conservation
purposes.
All moneys derived from
repayments of any loan issued from the amount dedicated pursuant to this
subparagraph (e) shall be dedicated, and shall be appropriated from time to
time by the Legislature, only for the purposes authorized pursuant to this
subparagraph (e).
No more than five percent per
year of the amount dedicated pursuant to this subparagraph (e) may be expended
for program administrative costs of the State, its departments, agencies, or
authorities for implementing the provisions of this subparagraph (e).
The authority or other similar
entity established by law as described in this subparagraph (e) shall be the
same authority or entity established for the purposes of Article VIII, Section
II, paragraph 7 of the State Constitution.
Article VIII, Section II,
paragraph 6, added effective December 5, 1996; amended effective December 4,
2003; amended effective December 8, 2005; amended effective December 7, 2006.
7. (a)
Commencing July 1, 1999, there shall be credited in each State fiscal
year, until June 30, 2009, to a special account in the General Fund $98,000,000
from the State revenue annually collected from the State tax imposed under the
"Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), as
amended and supplemented, or from any other State law of similar effect. The dedication and use of those moneys
credited pursuant to this subparagraph shall be subject and subordinate to (1)
all appropriations of revenues from taxes made by laws enacted prior to
the effective date of this paragraph in accordance with Article VIII, Section
II, paragraph 3 of the State Constitution in order to provide the ways and
means to pay the principal and interest on bonds of the State presently
outstanding or authorized to be issued under those laws, or (2)
any other use of those revenues enacted into law prior to the effective
date of this paragraph. The amount
credited each State fiscal year pursuant to this subparagraph shall be
dedicated and shall be appropriated from time to time by the Legislature only
to: provide funding, including loans or
grants, for the acquisition and development of lands for recreation and
conservation purposes, for the preservation of farmland for agricultural or
horticultural use and production, and for historic preservation; and satisfy
any payments relating to bonds, notes, or other obligations, including
refunding bonds, issued by an authority or similar entity established by law to
provide funding, including loans and grants, for the acquisition and
development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, for the
preservation of farmland for agricultural or horticultural use and production,
and for historic preservation.
(b) Commencing July 1, 2009 and ending June 30, 2029, there shall
be credited in each State fiscal year to a special account in the General Fund
from the State revenue annually collected from the State tax imposed under the
"Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), as
amended and supplemented, or from any other State law of similar effect, the
lesser of $98,000,000 or the amount necessary in each State fiscal year to
satisfy any payments relating to bonds, notes, or other obligations, including
refunding bonds, issued by an authority or similar entity established by law to
provide funding, including loans and grants, for the acquisition and development
of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, for the preservation of
farmland for agricultural or horticultural use and production, and for historic
preservation. The dedication and use of
those moneys credited pursuant to this subparagraph shall be subject and
subordinate to (1) all appropriations of revenues from taxes
made by laws enacted prior to the effective date of this paragraph in
accordance with Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 3 of the State Constitution
in order to provide the ways and means to pay the principal and interest on
bonds of the State presently outstanding or authorized to be issued under those
laws, or (2) any other use of those revenues enacted into
law prior to the effective date of this paragraph. The amount credited each State fiscal year
pursuant to this subparagraph shall be dedicated and shall be appropriated from
time to time by the Legislature only to satisfy any payments relating to bonds,
notes, or other obligations, including refunding bonds, issued by an authority
or similar entity established by law to provide funding, including loans and
grants, for the acquisition and development of lands for recreation and
conservation purposes, for the preservation of farmland for agricultural or
horticultural use and production, and for historic preservation.
(c) Moneys credited to the special account pursuant to this
paragraph shall not be used for (1) payments related to bonds, notes, or other
obligations which in aggregate principal amount exceed $1,150,000,000 plus
costs of issuance; or (2) payments
relating to bonds, notes, or other obligations, except refunding bonds, issued
after June 30, 2009.
(d) The authority or similar entity established by law as
described in this paragraph shall consist of members appointed by the Governor
and of members appointed by the Legislature.
(e) All moneys derived from repayments of any loan issued from
the amounts dedicated pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, and all
income derived from the investment of moneys in the special account established
pursuant to this paragraph, shall be credited to that special account, and
shall be dedicated and shall be appropriated from time to time by the
Legislature only for the purpose of providing funding, including loans or
grants, for the acquisition and development of lands for recreation and
conservation purposes, for the preservation of farmland for agricultural or
horticultural use and production, and for historic preservation. Notwithstanding any provision of this
paragraph to the contrary, the dedication of moneys derived from loan
repayments and investments shall not expire.
(f) It shall not be competent for the Legislature, under any
pretense whatever, to borrow, appropriate, or use the amounts credited to the
special account established pursuant to this paragraph, or any portion thereof,
for any purpose or in any manner other than as enumerated in this paragraph.
Article VIII, Section II,
paragraph 7 added effective December 3, 1998; amended effective December 4,
2003.
SECTION
III
1. The clearance, replanning, development or
redevelopment of blighted areas shall be a public purpose and public use, for
which private property may be taken or acquired. Municipal, public or private
corporations may be authorized by law to undertake such clearance, replanning,
development or redevelopment; and improvements made for these purposes and
uses, or for any of them, may be exempted from taxation, in whole or in part,
for a limited period of time during which the profits of and dividends payable
by any private corporation enjoying such tax exemption shall be limited by law.
The conditions of use, ownership, management and control of such improvements
shall be regulated by law.
2.
No county, city, borough, town, township or village shall hereafter give
any money or property, or loan its money or credit, to or in aid of any
individual, association or corporation, or become security for, or be directly
or indirectly the owner of, any stock or bonds of any association or
corporation.
3.
No donation of land or appropriation of money shall be made by the State
or any county or municipal corporation to or for the use of any society,
association or corporation whatever.
SECTION
IV
1. The Legislature shall provide for the
maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public
schools for the instruction of all the children in the State between the ages
of five and eighteen years.
2.
The fund for the support of free public schools, and all money, stock
and other property, which may hereafter be appropriated for that purpose, or
received into the treasury under the provisions of any law heretofore passed to
augment the said fund, shall be securely invested, and remain a perpetual fund;
and the income thereof, except so much as it may be judged expedient to apply
to an increase of the capital, shall be annually appropriated to the support of
free public schools, and for the equal benefit of all the people of the State;
and it shall not be competent, except as hereinafter provided, for the
Legislature to borrow, appropriate or use the said fund or any part thereof for
any other purpose, under any pretense whatever. The bonds of any school
district of this State, issued according to law, shall be proper and secure
investments for the said fund and, in addition, said fund, including the income
therefrom and any other moneys duly appropriated to the support of free public
schools may be used in such manner as the Legislature may provide by law to
secure the payment of the principal of or interest on bonds or notes issued for
school purposes by counties, municipalities or school districts or for the
payment or purchase of any such bonds or notes or any claims for interest thereon.
Article VIII, Section IV, paragraph
2 amended effective December 4, 1958.
3.
The Legislature may, within reasonable limitations as to distance to be
prescribed, provide for the transportation of children within the ages of five
to eighteen years inclusive to and from any school.
SECTION
V
1. No lands that were formerly tidal flowed, but
which have not been tidal flowed at any time for a period of 40 years, shall be
deemed riparian lands, or lands subject to a riparian claim, and the passage of
that period shall be a good and sufficient bar to any such claim, unless during
that period the State has specifically defined and asserted such a claim
pursuant to law. This section shall apply to lands which have not been tidal
flowed at any time during the 40 years immediately preceding adoption of this
amendment with respect to any claim not specifically defined and asserted by
the State within 1 year of the adoption of this amendment.
Article VIII, Section V, paragraph
1 added effective December 3, 1981.
ARTICLE
IX
AMENDMENTS
1. Any specific amendment or amendments to this
Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or General Assembly. At least twenty
calendar days prior to the first vote thereon in the house in which such
amendment or amendments are first introduced, the same shall be printed and
placed on the desks of the members of each house. Thereafter and prior to such
vote a public hearing shall be held thereon. If the proposed amendment or
amendments or any of them shall be agreed to by three-fifths of all the members
of each of the respective houses, the same shall be submitted to the people. If
the same or any of them shall be agreed to by less than three-fifths but
nevertheless by a majority of all the members of each of the respective houses,
such proposed amendment or amendments shall be referred to the Legislature in
the next legislative year; and if in that year the same or any of them shall be
agreed to by a majority of all the members of each of the respective houses,
then such amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the people.
2.
The proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on the journal of
each house with the yeas and nays of the members voting thereon.
3.
The Legislature shall cause the proposed amendment or amendments to be
published at least once in one or more newspapers of each county, if any be
published therein, not less than three months prior to submission to the
people.
4.
The proposed amendment or amendments shall then be submitted to the
people at the next general election in the manner and form provided by the
Legislature.
5.
If more than one amendment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such
manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment
separately and distinctly.
6.
If the proposed amendment or amendments or any of them shall be approved
by a majority of the legally qualified voters of the State voting thereon, the
same shall become part of the Constitution on the thirtieth day after the
election, unless otherwise provided in the amendment or amendments.
7.
If at the election a proposed amendment shall not be approved, neither
such proposed amendment nor one to effect the same or substantially the same
change in the Constitution shall be submitted to the people before the third
general election thereafter.
ARTICLE
X
GENERAL
PROVISIONS
1. The seal of the State shall be kept by the
Governor, or person administering the office of Governor, and used by him
officially, and shall be called the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.
2.
All grants and commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of
the State of New Jersey, sealed with the Great Seal, signed by the Governor, or
person administering the office of Governor, and countersigned by the Secretary
of State, and shall run thus: "The State of New Jersey, to ..............,
Greeting".
3.
All writs shall be in the name of the State. All indictments shall
conclude: "against the peace of this State, the government and dignity of
the same".
4.
Wherever in this Constitution the term "person",
"persons", "people" or any personal pronoun is used, the
same shall be taken to include both sexes.
5.
Except as herein otherwise provided, this Constitution shall take effect
on the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred
and forty-eight.
ARTICLE
XI
SCHEDULE
SECTION
I
1. This Constitution shall supersede the
Constitution of one thousand eight hundred and forty-four as amended.
2.
The Legislature shall enact all laws necessary to make this Constitution
fully effective.
3.
All law, statutory and otherwise, all rules and regulations of
administrative bodies and all rules of courts in force at the time this
Constitution or any Article thereof takes effect shall remain in full force
until they expire or are superseded, altered or repealed by this Constitution
or otherwise.
4.
Except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, all writs, actions,
judgments, decrees, causes of action, prosecutions, contracts, claims and
rights of individuals and of bodies corporate, and of the State, and all
charters and franchises shall continue unaffected notwithstanding the taking
effect of any Article of this Constitution.
5.
All indictments found before the taking effect of this Constitution or
any Article may be proceeded upon. After the taking effect thereof, indictments
for crime and complaints for offenses committed prior thereto may be found,
made and proceeded upon in the courts having jurisdiction thereof.
SECTION
II
1. The first Legislature under this Constitution
shall meet on the second Tuesday in January, in the year one thousand nine
hundred and forty-eight.
2.
Each member of the General Assembly, elected at the election in the year
one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, shall hold office for a term
beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January in the year one thousand
nine hundred and forty-eight and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in
January in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty. Each member of the
General Assembly elected thereafter shall hold office for the term provided by
this Constitution.
3.
Each member of the Senate elected in the years one thousand nine hundred
and forty-five and one thousand nine hundred and forty-six shall hold office
for the term for which he was elected. Each member of the Senate elected in the
year one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven shall hold office for a term of
four years beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January following his
election. The seats in the Senate which would have been filled in the years
hereinafter designated had this Constitution not been adopted shall be filled
by election as follows: of those seats which would have been filled by election
in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, three seats, as chosen
by the Senate in the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, shall be filled
by election in that year for terms of five years, and three, as so chosen,
shall be filled by election in that year for terms of three years, and those
seats which would have been filled by election in the year one thousand nine
hundred and forty-nine shall be filled by election in that year for terms of
four years, so that eleven seats in the Senate shall be filled by election in
the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one and every fourth year
thereafter for terms of four years, and the members of the Senate so elected
and their successors shall constitute one class to be elected as prescribed in
paragraph 2 of Section II of Article IV of this Constitution, and ten seats
shall be filled by election in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-three
and every fourth year thereafter for terms of four years, and the members of
the Senate so elected and their successors shall constitute the other class to
be elected as prescribed in said paragraph of this Constitution.
4.
The provisions of Paragraph 1 of Section V of Article IV of this
Constitution shall not prohibit the nomination, election or appointment of any
member of the Senate or General Assembly first organized under this
Constitution, to any State civil office or position created by this
Constitution or created during his first term as such member.
SECTION
III
1. A Governor shall be elected for a full term
at the general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred and
forty-nine and every fourth year thereafter.
2.
The taking effect of this Constitution or any provision thereof shall
not of itself affect the tenure, term, status or compensation of any person
then holding any public office, position or employment in this State, except as
provided in this Constitution. Unless otherwise specifically provided in this
Constitution, all constitutional officers in office at the time of its adoption
shall continue to exercise the authority of their respective offices during the
term for which they shall have been elected or appointed and until the
qualification of their successors respectively. Upon the taking effect of this
Constitution all officers of the militia shall retain their commissions subject
to the provisions of Article V, Section III.
3. The
Legislature, in compliance with the provisions of this Constitution, shall
prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine, and
may from time to time thereafter, allocate by law the executive and
administrative offices, departments and instrumentalities of the State
government among and within the principal departments. If such allocation shall
not have been completed within the time limited, the Governor shall call a
special session of the Legislature to which he shall submit a plan or plans for
consideration to complete such allocation; and no other matters shall be
considered at such session.
SECTION
IV
1. Subsequent to the adoption of this
Constitution the Governor shall nominate and appoint, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices of the new
Supreme Court from among the persons then
being the Chancellor, the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the
old Supreme Court, the Vice Chancellors and Circuit Court Judges. The remaining
judicial officers enumerated and such Judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals
as have been admitted to the practice of law in this State for at least ten
years, and are in office on the adoption of the Constitution, shall constitute the
Judges of the Superior Court. The Justices of the new Supreme Court and the
Judges of the Superior Court so designated shall hold office each for the
period of his term which remains unexpired at the time the Constitution is
adopted; and if reappointed he shall hold office during good behavior. No
Justice of the new Supreme Court or Judge of the Superior Court shall hold his
office after attaining the age of seventy years, except, however, that such
Justice or Judge may complete the period of his term which remains unexpired at
the time the Constitution is adopted.
2.
The Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas shall constitute the Judges of
the County Courts, each for the period of his term which remains unexpired at
the time the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect.
3.
The Court of Errors and Appeals, the present Supreme Court, the Court of
Chancery, the Prerogative Court and the Circuit Courts shall be abolished when
the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect; and all their
jurisdiction, functions, powers and duties shall be transferred to and divided
between the new Supreme Court and the Superior Court according as jurisdiction
is vested in each of them under this Constitution.
4.
Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution and until otherwise
provided by law, all courts now existing in this State, other than those
abolished in paragraph 3 hereof, shall continue as if this Constitution had not
been adopted, provided, however, that when the Judicial Article of this
Constitution takes effect, the jurisdiction, powers and functions of the Court
of Common Pleas, Orphans' Court, Court of Oyer and Terminer, Court of Quarter
Sessions and Court of Special Sessions of each county, the judicial officers,
clerks and employees thereof, and the causes pending therein and their files,
shall be transferred to the County Court of the county. All statutory
provisions relating to the county courts aforementioned of each county and to
the Judge or Judges thereof shall apply to the new County Court of the county
and the Judge or Judges thereof, unless otherwise provided by law. Until
otherwise provided by law and except as aforestated, the judicial officers,
surrogates and clerks of all courts now existing, other than those abolished in
paragraph 3 hereof, and the employees of said officers, clerks, surrogates and
courts shall continue in the exercise of their duties, as if this Constitution
had not been adopted.
5.
The Supreme Court shall make rules governing the administration and
practice and procedure of the County Courts; and the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court shall be the administrative head of these courts with power to
assign any Judge thereof of any county to sit temporarily in the Superior Court
or to sit temporarily without the county in a County Court.
6.
The Advisory Masters appointed to hear matrimonial proceedings and in
office on the adoption of this Constitution shall, each for the period of his
term which remains unexpired at the time the Constitution is adopted, continue
so to do as Advisory Masters to the Chancery Division of the Superior Court,
unless otherwise provided by law.
7.
All Special Masters in Chancery, Masters in Chancery, Supreme Court
Commissioners and Supreme Court Examiners shall, until otherwise provided by
rules of the Supreme Court, continue respectively as Special Masters, Masters,
Commissioners and Examiners of the Superior Court, with appropriate similar
functions and powers as if this Constitution had not been adopted.
8.
When the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes effect:
(a)
All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in the
Court of Errors and Appeals shall be
transferred to the new Supreme
Court;
(b)
All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending on appeal
or writ of error in the present Supreme
Court and in the Prerogative
Court and all pending causes involving
the prerogative writs shall be
transferred to the Appellate Division of
the Superior Court;
(c)
All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in the
Supreme Court other than those stated
shall be transferred to the
Superior Court;
(d)
All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in the
Prerogative Court other than those
stated shall be transferred to the
Chancery Division of the Superior Court;
(e)
All causes and proceedings of whatever character pending in all
other courts which are abolished shall
be transferred to the Superior
Court.
For the purposes of this paragraph,
paragraph 4 and paragraph 9, a cause shall be deemed to be pending
notwithstanding that an adjudication has been entered therein, provided the
time limited for review has not expired or the adjudication reserves to any party
the right to apply for further relief.
9.
The files of all causes pending in the Court of Errors and Appeals shall
be delivered to the Clerk of the new Supreme Court; and the files of all causes
pending in the present Supreme Court, the Court of Chancery and the Prerogative
Court shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Superior Court. All other files,
books, papers, records and documents and all property of the Court of Errors
and Appeals, the present Supreme Court, the Prerogative Court, the Chancellor
and the Court of Chancery, or in their custody, shall be disposed of as shall
be provided by law.
10.
Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, all
the functions, powers and duties conferred by statute, rules or otherwise upon
the Chancellor, the Ordinary, and the Justices and Judges of the courts
abolished by this Constitution, to the extent that such functions, powers and
duties are not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall be transferred to and
may be exercised by Judges of the Superior Court until otherwise provided by
law or rules of the new Supreme Court; excepting that such statutory powers not
related to the Administration of justice as are then vested in any such
judicial officers shall, after the Judicial Article of this Constitution takes
effect and until otherwise provided by law, be transferred to and exercised by
the Chief Justice of the new Supreme Court.
11.
Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, the
Clerk of the Supreme Court shall become the Clerk of the new Supreme Court and
shall serve as such Clerk until the expiration of the term for which he was
appointed as Clerk of the Supreme Court, and all employees of the Supreme Court
as previously constituted, of the Clerk thereof and of the Chief Justice and
the Justices thereof, of the Circuit Courts and the Judges thereof and of the
Court of Errors and Appeals shall be transferred to appropriate similar
positions with similar compensation and civil service status under the Clerk of
the new Supreme Court or the new Supreme Court, or the Clerk of the Superior
Court or the Superior Court, which shall be provided by law.
12.
Upon the taking effect of the Judicial Article of this Constitution, the
Clerk in Chancery shall become the Clerk of the Superior Court and shall serve
as such Clerk until the expiration of the term for which he was appointed as
Clerk in Chancery, and all employees of the Clerk in Chancery, the Court of
Chancery, the Chancellor and the several Vice Chancellors shall be transferred
to appropriate similar positions with similar compensation and civil service
status under the Clerk of the Superior Court or the Superior Court, which shall
be provided by law.
13.
Appropriations made by law for judicial expenditures during the fiscal
year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, one thousand nine hundred and
forty-nine may be transferred to similar objects and purposes required by the
Judicial Article.
14.
The Judicial Article of this Constitution shall take effect on the
fifteenth day of September, one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, except
that the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall have the
power to fill vacancies arising prior thereto in the new Supreme Court and the
Superior Court; and except further that any provision of this Constitution
which may require any act to be done prior thereto or in preparation therefor
shall take effect immediately upon the adoption of this Constitution.
SECTION
V
1.
For the purpose of electing senators in 1967 and until the 1970
decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have been received
by the Governor, the forty senators are hereby allocated among fifteen Senate
districts, as follows:
First District - the counties of Gloucester,
Atlantic and Cape May, two Senators;
Second District - the counties of
Salem and Cumberland, one senator;
Third District - the county of
Camden, three senators;
Fourth District - the counties of
Burlington and Ocean, two senators;
Fifth District - the county of
Monmouth, two senators;
Sixth District - the county of
Mercer, two senators;
Seventh District - the county of
Middlesex, three senators;
Eighth District - the county of
Somerset, one senator;
Ninth District - the county of
Union, three senators;
Tenth District - the county of
Morris, two senators;
Eleventh District - the county of
Essex, six senators;
Twelfth District - the county of
Hudson, four senators;
Thirteenth District - the county of
Bergen, five senators;
Fourteenth District - the county of
Passaic, three senators; and
Fifteenth District - the counties
of Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon, one senator.
2. For
the purpose of electing members of the General Assembly and the senators from
Assembly districts where so required in 1967 and until the 1970 census of the
United States for New Jersey shall have been received by the Governor, the
Assembly districts shall be established by an Apportionment Commission
consisting of ten members, five to be appointed by the chairman of the State
committee of each of the two political parties whose candidates for Governor
receive the largest number of votes at the most recent gubernatorial election.
Each State chairman, in making such appointments, shall give due consideration
to the representation of the various geographical areas of the State. Such
Apportionment Commission shall be appointed no earlier than November 10 nor
later than November 15, 1966, and their appointments shall be certified by the
Secretary of State on or before December 1, 1966. The Commission, by a majority
of the whole number of its members, shall certify the establishment of Assembly
districts to the Secretary of State on or before February 1, 1967.
3.
If such Apportionment Commission fails so to certify the establishment
of Assembly districts to the Secretary of State on or before the date fixed or
if prior thereto it determines that it will be unable so to do, it shall so
certify to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and he shall
appoint an eleventh member of the Commission. Such Commission, by a majority of
the whole number of its members, shall within one month after the appointment
of such eleventh member certify to the Secretary of State the establishment of
Assembly districts.
4.
The Assembly districts so established shall be used thereafter for the
election of members of the General Assembly and shall remain unaltered until
the following decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have
been received by the Governor.
Article XI, Section V, paragraphs
1, 2, 3, 4 added effective December 8, 1966.
SECTION
VI
When this amendment to the
Constitution providing for the abolition of the County Courts takes effect:
(a)
All the jurisdiction, functions, powers and duties of the County Court
of each county, the judicial officers, clerks, employees thereof, and the
causes pending therein, and their files, shall be transferred to the Superior
Court. Until otherwise provided by law, the judicial officers, surrogates and
clerks of the County Courts and the employees of said officers, clerks,
surrogates and courts, shall continue in the exercise of their duties as if
this amendment had not been adopted. For the purposes of this paragraph, a
cause shall be deemed to be pending notwithstanding that an adjudication has
been entered therein, provided the time limited for appeal has not expired or
the adjudication reserves any party the right to apply for further relief.
(b)
All the functions, powers and duties conferred by the statute, rules or
otherwise, upon the judges of the County Courts, shall be transferred to and
may be exercised by judges of the Superior Court until otherwise provided by
law or rules of the Supreme Court.
(c)
Until otherwise provided by law, all county clerks shall become clerks
of the Law Division of the Superior Court and all surrogates shall become clerks
of the Chancery Division (Probate Part) of the Superior Court for their
respective counties and shall perform such duties and maintain such files and
records on behalf of the Clerk of the Superior Court as may be required by law
and rule of court; and all fees payable to the county clerks and surrogates
prior to the effective date of this amendment shall continue to be so payable
and be received for the use of their respective counties until otherwise
provided by law.
(d)
The judges of the County Courts in office on the effective date of this
amendment shall be judges of the Superior Court. All such judges who had
acquired tenure on a County Court shall hold office as a judge of the Superior
Court during good behavior, with all rights, and subject to all the provisions
of the Constitution affecting a judge of the Superior Court, as though they
were initially appointed to the Superior Court. All other judges of the County
Courts shall hold office as judges of the Superior Court, each for the period of
his term which remains unexpired on the effective date of this amendment; and
if reappointed, he shall hold office during good behavior, with all the rights
and subject to all the provisions of the Constitution affecting a judge of the
Superior Court as though he were initially appointed to the Superior Court.
Article XI, Section VI, added
effective December 7, 1978.
SECTION
VII
In the event of a
vacancy in the office of Governor resulting from the death, resignation or
removal of a Governor in office, or the death of a Governor-elect, or from any
other cause, occurring prior to noon on January 19, 2010, the President of the
Senate shall become Governor until a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor is
elected and qualifies, and in the event of the Senate President's death,
resignation or removal prior to becoming Governor, or if the Senate President
declines to become Governor, then the Speaker of the General Assembly shall
become Governor until a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor is elected and
qualifies, and in the event of the Speaker's death, resignation or removal
prior to becoming Governor, or if the Speaker declines to become Governor, then
the functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall devolve for
the time being upon such officers and in such order of succession as may be
provided by law until a new Governor or Lieutenant Governor is elected and
qualifies. When the President or Speaker
becomes Governor pursuant to this section, the President's or Speaker's seat in
the Legislature and leadership position shall become vacant.
In the event of a vacancy in
the office of Governor occurring prior to noon on January 19, 2010, a Governor
shall be elected to fill the unexpired term at the general election next
succeeding the vacancy, unless the vacancy shall occur within sixty days
immediately preceding a general election, in which case the Governor shall be
elected at the second succeeding general election; but no election to fill an
unexpired term shall be held in calendar year 2009. A Governor elected for an
unexpired term shall assume office immediately upon election.
Until noon on January 19,
2010, in the event of the failure of the Governor-elect to qualify, or of the
absence from the State of a Governor in office, or the Governor's inability to
discharge the duties of the office, or the Governor's impeachment, the
functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the
President of the Senate, for the time being; and in the event of the Senate
President's death, resignation, removal, absence, inability or impeachment,
then upon the Speaker of the General Assembly, for the time being; and in the
event of the Speaker's death, resignation, removal, absence, inability or
impeachment, then upon such officers and in such order of succession as may be
provided by law; until the Governor-elect qualifies, or the Governor in office
returns to the State, or is no longer unable to discharge the duties of the
office, or is acquitted, as the case may be, or until a new Governor or
Lieutenant Governor is elected and qualifies.
If the President of the Senate
is to become Governor or acting Governor pursuant to this section but the
Senate has elected more than one President, only one of whom is of the same
political party as the Governor, the President who is of that same political
party shall become Governor or acting Governor, as appropriate.
If the Speaker of the General
Assembly is to become Governor or acting Governor pursuant to this section but
the General Assembly has elected more than one Speaker, only one of whom is of
the same political party as the Governor, the Speaker who is of that same
political party shall become Governor or acting Governor, as appropriate.
Article XI, Section VII added
effective January 17, 2006.