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A1330
ASSEMBLY, No. 1330
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CODY D. MILLER
District 4 (Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires certain institutions of higher education to
make annual payment to municipality.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
requiring certain institutions of higher education to
make annual payment to municipality and supplementing chapter 48J of Title 40
of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey
���� 1.� This act shall be known
and may be cited as the �University Host Community Services Act.�
���� 2.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:
���� a.� Host municipalities that
are home to institutions of higher education incur substantial public safety,
emergency medical, fire protection, and traffic management costs as a direct
result of student populations, campus events, and institutional growth.
���� b.� While institutions of
higher education are generally exempt from local property taxation, they
contribute to service demands that strain local budgets.
���� c.� A uniform, Statewide
contribution framework, modeled after the �community service contribution� for
nonprofit hospitals, is necessary to ensure fairness, predictability, and
transparency.
���� d.� The Legislature, therefore,
establishes a formula for institutions of higher education to provide community
service contributions to host municipalities, with adjustments for institutions
of higher education that provide certain services directly.
���� 3.� a.� As used in P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
���� �Campus police department�
means a sworn, law enforcement agency consisting of officers appointed pursuant
to section 1 of P.L.1970, c.211 (C.18A:6-4.2).
���� �Community service
contribution� means the payment from an institution of higher education to a
host municipality required pursuant to this section.
���� �Full-time equivalent student�
or �FTE� means the sum of full-time students and part-time students aggregated
on a one-half basis.
���� �Host municipality� means a
municipality in which the primary campus of an institution of higher education
is located.
���� �Institution of higher
education� means a public or independent institution of higher education with
an enrollment greater than 2,000 full-time equivalent students.
���� b.� Each institution of higher
education shall make an annual community service contribution to its host
municipality, to be paid in quarterly installments, in an amount calculated
pursuant to subsection d. of this section.
���� c.� Community service
contributions received by a host municipality shall be deposited into a
dedicated University Host Services Fund, established by a host municipality, to
be used exclusively for police, fire, emergency medical services, dispatch,
traffic control, and event management related to the financial impact of these
services provided to an institution of higher education on the host
municipality.
���� d.� The base community service
contribution (CSC) shall be calculated as follows:
���� CSC = (1 x R x FTE On Campus)
+ (.5 x R x FTE Commuter)
where
���� R is a per-student rate of
$100 for the first fiscal year after the effective date of P.L.��� , c.���
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).� Within 12 months
after the enactment of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill), and every five years thereafter, the Department of
the Treasury, in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs and the
Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, shall conduct a fiscal and service
impact study, and promulgate, by regulation, the value of R, to be annually
adjusted in accordance with changes in the Consumer Price Index.
���� FTE On Campus is the number of
full-time equivalent students that are on-campus student residents.
���� FTE Commuter is the number of
full-time equivalent students that are commuter students registered for a
campus parking permit.
���� e.� An institution of higher
education shall receive credit, in proportional dollar amounts, of up to 50
percent of the total required community service contribution, which shall be
subject to annual reporting and certification as determined by the Department
of the Treasury, for documented community benefits provided directly to the
host municipality, including but not limited to:
���� (1)� fire or emergency medical
services staffing or equipment;
���� (2)� direct funding of
municipal public safety positions;
���� (3)� scholarships restricted
to residents of the host municipality; and
���� (4)� documented joint public
safety initiatives.
���� f.� Where an institution of
higher education maintains a campus police department:
���� (1)� the portion of the
community service contribution dedicated to law enforcement shall be reduced by
50 percent, unless otherwise adjusted by the Department of Community Affairs
pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection; and
���� (2)� within 12 months after
the enactment of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.�� ) (pending before the Legislature as
this bill), and every three years thereafter, the Department of Community
Affairs, in consultation with the Department of the Treasury and the Office of
the Secretary of Higher Education, shall review the division of law enforcement
responsibilities between the campus police and municipal police, and may
increase or decrease the reduction required pursuant to paragraph (1) of this
subsection by up to 25 percentage points to reflect actual practice.
���� g.� No reduction in a
community service contribution pursuant to subsection f. of this section shall
apply to the community service contribution portions dedicated to fire
protection, emergency medical services, traffic control, or event management.
���� h.� (1)� A community service
contribution not paid within 60 days of the close of each fiscal year shall
accrue interest at a rate determined by the Department of the Treasury.
���� (2)� A host municipality may
bring an action against an institution of higher education for noncompliance
with
P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) in a court of competent
jurisdiction.�
���� i.� Five percent of all
community service contributions received by a host municipality shall be
transferred by the host municipality to the county in which the institution of
higher education is located.
���� 4.� The Department of the
Treasury, in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs and the
Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, shall adopt, pursuant to the �Administrative
Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations to
effectuate the provisions of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill).�
���� 5.� This act shall take effect
immediately and shall apply beginning on July 1 next following enactment.
STATEMENT
���� This bill requires an
institution of higher education with an enrollment greater than 2,000 full-time
equivalent students, as that term is defined in the bill, to make an annual
community service contribution to the municipality in which the institution of
higher education is located.� The purpose of a community service contribution
is to cover the costs incurred by a municipality for police, fire, emergency
medical services, dispatch, traffic control, and event management services
provided to an institution of higher education by the municipality.
���� The bill provides that the
base community service contribution is to be calculated using a per-student
rate, the number of full-time equivalent students, and weighted based upon the
students� enrollment status.� Institutions of higher education may receive
credits of up to 50 percent of the total required community service
contribution for certain documented community benefits provided to the
municipality and are to receive a reduction in required community service
contribution if the institution of higher education maintains a campus police
department.�
���� Pursuant to the bill,
community service contribution payments are required to be made on a quarterly
basis and community service contributions not paid within 60 days of the close
of each fiscal year will accrue interest at a rate to be determined by the
Department of the Treasury.� The bill also requires municipalities to transfer
five percent of community service contributions to the county in which the
institution of higher education is located.