Clarifies timing of adjustments to county district boundaries and municipal ward boundaries following congressional and legislative redistricting.

A128

ASSEMBLY, No. 128

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman AL BARLAS

District 40 (Bergen, Essex and Passaic)

SYNOPSIS

���� Clarifies timing of adjustments to county district
boundaries and municipal ward boundaries following congressional and
legislative redistricting.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning adjustment of county district boundaries and
municipal ward boundaries following congressional and legislative redistricting
and amending P.L.1972, c.154 and P.L.1981, c.496.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

����

���� 1.��� Section 123 of P.L.1972,
c.154 (C.40:41A-123) is amended to read as follows:����������

���� 123.
[
Within three
months following the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census
of the United States for New Jersey, the
]

The
district commissioners shall meet, in the manner heretofore provided
in this article
,
for the purpose of making
[
such
]

any
adjustments in
district boundaries
following the certification of congressional districts
by the Redistricting Commission and the certification of legislative districts
by the Apportionment Commission, pursuant to the State Constitution,
as
shall be necessary pursuant to section 120 of
[
this
act
]

P.L.1972,
c.154 (C.40:41A-120)
.� Within 30 days following such meeting
[
they
]

, the
district commissioners
shall discharge their duties and report to the
county in the same manner as provided in sections 121 and 122 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1972,
c.154 (C.40:41A-121 and C.40:41A-122)
.��

(cf: P.L.1992, c.1, s.3)�

���� 2.��� Section 5 of P.L.1981,
c.496 (C.40:44-13) is amended to read as follows: ��

���� 5. �� a.� Within 5 days
following any election at which the voters of the municipality shall have
adopted a charter, or an amendment thereof, or a form of government requiring
the division of the municipality into a number of wards, the ward commissioners
shall meet and, having first taken and subscribed, before an officer authorized
to administer oaths, an oath to faithfully and impartially perform their
duties, shall proceed to divide the municipality into wards as required by the
charter or form of government and this act.

���� b. �� Within 30 days following
the final adoption pursuant to law by the municipal governing body of any
ordinance which by its terms requires that the municipality be divided into
wards, or that the existing wards of the municipality be increased or decreased,
or that the existing ward boundaries of the municipality be adjusted to allow
for the annexation or deannexation of territory, the ward commissioners shall
meet in the manner provided in subsection a. of this section and proceed to
divide the municipality into wards, or to make such adjustments in ward
boundaries, as shall be required to conform with the provisions of the
ordinance and this act.

���� c.���
[
Within 3
months following the receipt by the Governor of each federal decennial census
the
]

The

ward commissioners shall meet
,
in the manner provided in subsection a.
of this section
,
and proceed to make
[
such
]

any

adjustments in ward boundaries
following the certification of congressional
districts by the Redistricting Commission and the certification of legislative
districts by the Apportionment Commission, pursuant to the State Constitution,

as shall be necessary to conform them to the requirements of
[
this act
]

P.L.1981,
c.496 (C.40:44-9 et seq.)
.

(cf: P.L.2021, c.369, s.5)

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill clarifies the timing
of adjustments to county district boundaries and municipal ward boundaries
following congressional and legislative redistricting after the federal
decennial census.� Under the bill, the district commissioners and municipal
ward commissioners are required to meet for the purpose of making any
adjustments in district and municipal ward boundaries following the
certification of congressional districts by the Redistricting Commission and
the certification of legislative districts by the Apportionment Commission,
pursuant to the State Constitution.

���� On December 3, 2020, a new
paragraph 4 was added to the legislative redistricting provisions in Article
IV, Section III of the State Constitution to provide for a new redistricting
timeline in years when the release of the Census Bureau data is delayed. �While
the State Constitution was amended to account for instances when the federal
census is delayed, as was the case in 2020, county redistricting and municipal
ward redistricting were not similarly amended to account for such delays, which
resulted in confusion and multiple episodes of redistricting to meet the
statutory requirements.�