Requires contract between certain governmental units and online parking payment service providers stipulate service provider not charge user during certain times.

A1525

ASSEMBLY, No. 1525

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE

District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Haider, Speight and Carter

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires contract between certain governmental units
and online parking payment service providers stipulate service provider not
charge user during certain times.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act

concerning online parking payment services and
amending and supplementing the "Local Public Contracts Law,"
P.L.1971. c.198.

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

���� 1.� Section 2 of P.L.1971,
c.198 (C.40A:11-2) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.��� As used herein the
following words have the following definitions, unless the context otherwise
indicates:

���� (1)� "Contracting
unit" means:

���� (a)�� Any county; or

���� (b)� Any municipality; or

���� (c)�� Any board, commission,
committee, authority or agency, which is not a State board, commission,
committee, authority, except as provided pursuant to P.L.2013, c.4, or agency,
and which has administrative jurisdiction over any district other than a school
district, project, or facility, included or operating in whole or in part,
within the territorial boundaries of any county or municipality which exercises
functions which are appropriate for the exercise by one or more units of local
government, including functions exercised in relation to the administration and
oversight of a tourism district located in a municipality in which authorized
casino gaming occurs, and which has statutory power to make purchases and enter
into contracts awarded by a contracting agent for the provision or performance
of goods or services.

���� The term shall not include a
private firm that has entered into a contract with a public entity for the
provision of water supply services pursuant to P.L.1995, c.101 (C.58:26-19 et
al.).

���� "Contracting unit"
shall not include a private firm or public authority that has entered into a
contract with a public entity for the provision of wastewater treatment
services pursuant to P.L.1995, c.216 (C.58:27-19 et al.).

���� "Contracting unit"
shall not include a duly incorporated nonprofit association that has entered
into a contract with the governing body of a city of the first class for the
provision of water supply services or wastewater treatment services pursuant to
section 2 of P.L.2002, c.47 (C.40A:11-5.1).

���� "Contracting unit"
shall not include an entity that has entered into a contract for management and
operation services with a local hospital authority established pursuant to
P.L.2006, c.46 (C.30:9-23.15 et al.).

���� (2)� "Governing
body" means:

���� (a)�� The governing body of
the county, when the purchase is to be made or the contract or agreement is to
be entered into by, or on behalf of, a county; or

���� (b)� The governing body of the
municipality, when the purchase is to be made or the contract or agreement is
to be entered into by, or on behalf of, a municipality; or

���� (c)�� Any board, commission,
committee, authority or agency of the character described in subsection (1) (c)
of this section.

���� (3)� "Contracting
agent" means the governing body of a contracting unit, or appointed
membership of a State authority authorized to enter into a cooperative
purchasing agreement pursuant to P.L.2013, c.4, or its authorized designee,
which has the power to prepare the advertisements, to advertise for and receive
bids and, as permitted by
[
this
act
]

P.L.1971,
c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.)
, to make awards for the contracting unit in
connection with purchases, contracts or agreements.

���� (4)� "Purchase"
means a transaction, for a valuable consideration, creating or acquiring an
interest in goods, services and property, except real property or any interest
therein.

���� (5)� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.1999, c.440
[
.
]
)

���� (6)� "Professional
services" means services rendered or performed by a person authorized by
law to practice a recognized profession, whose practice is regulated by law,
and the performance of which services requires knowledge of an advanced type in
a field of learning acquired by a prolonged formal course of specialized
instruction and study as distinguished from general academic instruction or
apprenticeship and training.� Professional services may also mean services
rendered in the provision or performance of goods or services that are original
and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor.

���� (7)� "Extraordinary
unspecifiable services" means services which are specialized and
qualitative in nature requiring expertise, extensive training and proven
reputation in the field of endeavor.

���� (8)� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.1999, c.440
[
.
]
)

���� (9)� "Work" includes
services and any other activity of a tangible or intangible nature performed or
assumed pursuant to a contract or agreement with a contracting unit.

���� (10)� "Homemaker--home
health services" means at home personal care and home management provided
to an individual or members of the individual's family who reside with the
individual, or both, necessitated by the individual's illness or incapacity.
"Homemaker--home health services" includes, but is not limited to,
the services of a trained homemaker.

���� (11)� "Recyclable
material" means those materials which would otherwise become municipal
solid waste, and which may be collected, separated or processed and returned to
the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products.

���� (12)� "Recycling"
means any process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste
are collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream
in the form of raw materials or products.

���� (13)� "Marketing"
means the sale, disposition, assignment, or placement of designated recyclable
materials with, or the granting of a concession to, a reseller, processor,
materials recovery facility, or end-user of recyclable material, in accordance
with a district solid waste management plan adopted pursuant to P.L.1970, c.39
(C.13:1E-1 et seq.) and shall not include the collection of such recyclable
material when collected through a system of routes by local government unit
employees or under a contract administered by a local government unit.

���� (14)� "Municipal solid
waste" means, as appropriate to the circumstances, all residential,
commercial and institutional solid waste generated within the boundaries of a
municipality; or the formal collection of such solid wastes or recyclable material
in any combination thereof when collected through a system of routes by local
government unit employees or under a contract administered by a local
government unit.

���� (15)� "Distribution"
(when used in relation to electricity) means the process of conveying
electricity from a contracting unit that is a generator of electricity or a
wholesale purchaser of electricity to retail customers or other end users of electricity.

���� (16)� "Transmission"
(when used in relation to electricity) means the conveyance of electricity from
its point of generation to a contracting unit that purchases it on a wholesale
basis for resale.

���� (17)� "Disposition"
means the transportation, placement, reuse, sale, donation, transfer or
temporary storage of recyclable materials for all possible uses except for
disposal as municipal solid waste.

���� (18)� "Cooperative
marketing" means the joint marketing by two or more contracting units of
the source separated recyclable materials designated in a district recycling
plan required pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.13) pursuant
to a written cooperative agreement entered into by the participating
contracting units thereof.

���� (19)� "Aggregate"
means the sums expended or to be expended for the provision or performance of
any goods or services in connection with the same immediate purpose or task, or
the furnishing of similar goods or services, during the same contract year
through a contract awarded by a contracting agent.

���� (20)� "Bid
threshold" means the dollar amount set in section 3 of P.L.1971, c.198
(C.40A:11-3), above which a contracting unit shall advertise for and receive
sealed bids in accordance with procedures set forth in P.L.1999, c.440
(C.40A:11-4.1 et al.).

���� (21)� "Contract"
means any agreement, including but not limited to a purchase order or a formal
agreement, which is a legally binding relationship enforceable by law, between
a vendor who agrees to provide or perform goods or services and a contracting
unit which agrees to compensate a vendor, as defined by and subject to the
terms and conditions of the agreement.� A contract also may include an
arrangement whereby a vendor compensates a contracting unit for the vendor's
right to perform a service, such as, but not limited to, operating a
concession.

���� (22)� "Contract
year" means the period of 12 consecutive months following the award of a
contract.

���� (23)� "Competitive
contracting" means the method described in sections 1 through 5 of
P.L.1999, c.440 (C.40A:11-4.1
[
thru
]

through

40A:11-4.5) of contracting for specialized goods and services in which formal
proposals are solicited from vendors; formal proposals are evaluated by the
purchasing agent or counsel or administrator; and the governing body awards a
contract to a vendor or vendors from among the formal proposals received.

���� (24)� "Goods and
services" or "goods or services" means any work, labor,
commodities, equipment, materials, or supplies of any tangible or intangible
nature, except real property or any interest therein, provided or performed
through a contract awarded by a contracting agent, including goods and property
subject to N.J.S.12A:2-101 et seq.

���� (25)� "Library and
educational goods and services" means textbooks, copyrighted materials,
student produced publications and services incidental thereto, including but
not limited to books, periodicals, newspapers, documents, pamphlets, photographs,
reproductions, microfilms, pictorial or graphic works, musical scores, maps,
charts, globes, sound recordings, slides, films, filmstrips, video and magnetic
tapes, other printed or published matter and audiovisual and other materials of
a similar nature, necessary binding or rebinding of library materials, and
specialized computer software used as a supplement or in lieu of textbooks or
reference material.

���� (26)� "Lowest price"
means the least possible amount that meets all requirements of the request of a
contracting agent.

���� (27)� "Lowest responsible
bidder or vendor" means the bidder or vendor:� (a) whose response to a
request for bids offers the lowest price and is responsive; and (b) who is
responsible.

���� (28)� "Official
newspaper" means any newspaper designated by the contracting unit pursuant
to R.S.35:1-1 et seq.

���� (29)� "Purchase
order" means a document issued by the contracting agent authorizing a
purchase transaction with a vendor to provide or perform goods or services to
the contracting unit, which, when fulfilled in accordance with the terms and
conditions of a request of a contracting agent and other provisions and
procedures that may be established by the contracting unit, will result in
payment by the contracting unit.

���� (30)� "Purchasing
agent" means the individual duly assigned the authority, responsibility,
and accountability for the purchasing activity of the contracting unit, and who
has such duties as are defined by an authority appropriate to the form and
structure of the contracting unit, pursuant to P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et
seq.) and who possesses a qualified purchasing agent certificate.

���� (31)� "Quotation"
means the response to a formal or informal request made by a contracting agent
by a vendor for provision or performance of goods or services, when the
aggregate cost is less than the bid threshold.� Quotations may be in writing,
or taken verbally if a record is kept by the contracting agent.

���� (32)� "Responsible"
means able to complete the contract in accordance with its requirements,
including but not limited to requirements pertaining to experience, moral
integrity, operating capacity, financial capacity, credit, and workforce, equipment,
and facilities availability.

���� (33)� "Responsive"
means conforming in all material respects to the terms and conditions,
specifications, legal requirements, and other provisions of the request.

���� (34)� "Public works"
means building, altering, repairing, improving or demolishing any public
structure or facility constructed or acquired by a contracting unit to house
local government functions or provide water, waste disposal, power, transportation,
and other public infrastructures.

���� (35)� "Director"
means the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the
Department of Community Affairs.

���� (36)�
"Administrator" means a municipal administrator appointed pursuant to
N.J.S.40A:9-136 and N.J.S.40A:9-137; a business administrator, a municipal
manager or a municipal administrator appointed pursuant to the "Optional
Municipal Charter Law," P.L.1950, c.210 (C.40:69A-1 et seq.); a municipal
manager appointed pursuant to "the municipal manager form of government
law," R.S.40:79-1 et seq.; or the person holding responsibility for the
overall operations of an authority that falls under the "Local Authorities
Fiscal Control Law," P.L.1983, c.313 (C.40A:5A-1 et seq.).

���� (37)� "Concession"
means the granting of a license or right to act for or on behalf of the
contracting unit, or to provide a service requiring the approval or endorsement
of the contracting unit, and which may or may not involve a payment or exchange,
or provision of services by or to the contracting unit.

���� (38)� "Index rate"
means the rate of annual percentage increase, rounded to the nearest
half-percent, in the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government
Purchases of Goods and Services, computed and published quarterly by the United
States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

���� (39)� "Proprietary"
means goods or services of a specialized nature, that may be made or marketed
by a person or persons having the exclusive right to make or sell them, when
the need for such goods or services has been certified in writing by the
governing body of the contracting unit to be necessary for the conduct of its
affairs.

���� (40)� "Service or
services" means the performance of work, or the furnishing of labor, time,
or effort, or any combination thereof, not involving or connected to the
delivery or ownership of a specified end product or goods or a manufacturing process.�
Service or services may also include an arrangement in which a vendor
compensates the contracting unit for the vendor's right to operate a
concession.

���� (41)� "Qualified
purchasing agent certificate" means a certificate granted by the director
pursuant to section 9 of P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-9).

���� (42)� "Mistake"
means, for a public works project, a clerical error that is an unintentional
and substantial computational error or an unintentional omission of a
substantial quantity of labor, material, or both, from the final bid
computation.

����
(43)� �Parking project�
shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.1948, c.198
(C.40:11A-3).

����
(44)� �Online parking
payment service� means a public-facing Internet website, Internet web
application, or computer or mobile application that allows a user to submit
payment for parking a motor vehicle at a publicly available parking project.

(cf: P.L.2016, c.55, s.8)

���� 2.� Section 13 of P.L.1971,
c.198 (C.40A:11-13) is amended to read as follows:

���� 13.� Specifications. Any
specifications for the provision or performance of goods or services under
[
this act
]

P.L.1971,
c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.)
shall be drafted in a manner to encourage free,
open and competitive bidding.� In particular, no specifications under
[
this act
]

P.L.1971,
c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.)
may:

���� (a)�� Require any standard,
restriction, condition or limitation not directly related to the purpose,
function or activity for which the contract is awarded; or�

���� (b)� Require that any bidder
be a resident of, or that the bidder's place of business be located in, the
county or municipality in which the contract will be awarded or performed,
unless the physical proximity of the bidder is requisite to the efficient and economical
performance of the contract; except that no specification for a contract for
the collection and disposal of municipal solid waste shall require any bidder
to be a resident of, or that the bidder's place of business be located in, the
county or municipality in which the contract will be performed; or

���� (c)�� Discriminate on the
basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, creed, color, ancestry, age,
marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, familial status, liability
for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or nationality; or

���� (d)� Require, with regard to
any contract, the furnishing of any "brand name," but may in all
cases require "brand name or equivalent," except that if the goods or
services to be provided or performed are proprietary, such goods or services
may be purchased by stipulating the proprietary goods or services in the bid
specification in any case in which the resolution authorizing the contract so
indicates, and the special need for such proprietary goods or services is
directly related to the performance, completion or undertaking of the purpose
for which the contract is awarded; or

���� (e)�� Fail to include any
option for renewal, extension, or release which the contracting unit may intend
to exercise or require; or any terms and conditions necessary for the
performance of any extra work; or fail to disclose any matter necessary to the
substantial performance of the contract; or�

���� (f)�� Require that any bidder
submit a financial statement if either a guarantee, by certified check,
cashier's check or bid bond, or a surety company certificate is also required
to be furnished by the bidder, unless any law or regulation of the United
States imposes a condition upon the awarding of a monetary grant to be used for
the purchase, contract or agreement, which condition requires that a financial
statement be submitted.

���� (g)� As used in this
subsection:

���� "asphalt price
index" means the asphalt price index as determined and published by the
New Jersey Department of Transportation;

���� "basic asphalt price
index" means the asphalt price index for the month preceding the month in
which the bids are opened;

���� "department" means
the New Jersey Department of Transportation;

���� "fuel price index"
means the fuel price index as determined and published by the New Jersey
Department of Transportation; and

���� "pay item" means a
specifically described item of work for which the bidder provides a per unit or
lump sum price in a bid specification determined and published by the New
Jersey Department of Transportation.

���� In addition to the
requirements of paragraphs (a) through (f) of this section, any bid
specification for the provision or performance of goods or services under
P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.) that includes the purchase or use of 1,000
or more tons of hot mix asphalt shall include a pay item for an asphalt price
adjustment reflecting changes in the cost of asphalt cement.� The pay item for
asphalt price adjustment shall apply to each ton of hot mix asphalt purchased
or used by the contracting unit.� Any bid specification prepared pursuant to
P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.) that includes the purchase or use of less
than 1,000 tons of hot mix asphalt shall include a pay item for an asphalt
price adjustment applicable to any quantity of hot mix asphalt exceeding 1,000
tons that may be purchased or used in the work in the event that performance of
the work, including change orders, requires more than 1,000 tons of hot mix
asphalt.� As set forth in section 7 of P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-7), no contract
shall be divided to disaggregate the quantity of hot mix asphalt or equivalent
asphalt cement-based paving product to be purchased or used for the purpose of
avoiding compliance with this paragraph.

���� The asphalt price adjustment
shall be calculated in accordance with the formula and relevant instructions
published in the most recent edition of the "New Jersey Department of
Transportation Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction."�
All invoices for payment shall be accompanied by the calculation of any asphalt
price adjustment and a showing of the current month's asphalt price index and
the basic asphalt price index.

���� Every bid specification
prepared pursuant to P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.) shall be eligible for
a fuel price adjustment.� Fuel that is eligible for a fuel price adjustment
shall be the sum of the quantities of the eligible pay items in the contract
multiplied by the fuel usage factors as determined by the department.� The
types of fuel furnished shall be at the discretion of the contractor.

���� The fuel requirement for items
not determined by the department to be eligible, and for pay items in the bid
specifications calling for less than 500 gallons of fuel, shall not be eligible
for a fuel price adjustment.� If more than one pay item has the same
nomenclature but with different thicknesses, depths, or types, each individual
pay item must require 500 gallons or more of fuel to be eligible for a fuel
price adjustment. If more than one pay item has the same nomenclature, similar
pay items shall be combined and the combination must require 500 gallons or
more of fuel to be eligible for the fuel price adjustment.

���� Fuel price index adjustments
shall not be made in those months for which the monthly fuel price index has
changed by less than five percent from the basic fuel price index.

���� Any specification which
knowingly excludes prospective bidders by reason of the impossibility of
performance, bidding or qualification by any but one bidder, except as provided
herein, shall be null and void and of no effect and shall be readvertised for
receipt of new bids, and the original contract shall be set aside by the
governing body.

���� Any specification for a
contract for the collection and disposal of municipal solid waste shall conform
to the uniform bid specifications for municipal solid waste collection
contracts established pursuant to section 22 of P.L.1991, c.381 (C.48:13A-7.22).

����
Any specification for a
contract for an online parking payment service shall stipulate that parking
fees shall not be charged to a user of the online parking payment service
during a time period when parking is prohibited or is free at a parking
project.

���� Any specification may include
an item for the cost, which shall be paid by the contractor, of creating a file
to maintain the notices of the delivery of labor or materials required by
N.J.S.2A:44-128.

���� Any prospective bidder who
wishes to challenge a bid specification shall file such challenges in writing
with the contracting agent no less than three business days prior to the
opening of the bids.� Challenges filed after that time shall be considered void
and having no impact on the contracting unit or the award of a contract.

(cf: P.L.2015, c.201, s.1)

����� 3.� (New section)� Any
contract entered into by a municipality, or a parking authority, as that term
is defined in section 3 of P.L.1948, c.198 (C.40:11A-3), for an online parking
payment service shall stipulate that parking fees shall not be charged to a
user of the service during a time period when parking is prohibited or is free
at a parking project.

����� 4.
�This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all contracts and
agreements entered into, renewed, modified, or amended on or after the date
this act takes effect.

STATEMENT

���� This bill amends the
"Local Public Contracts Law" to provide that a contract between a
municipality or parking authority and an online parking payment service
provider is to stipulate that the service provider is not to charge a parking
fee to a user during a time period when parking is prohibited or is free at a
parking project.� The bill defines an "online parking payment
service" to mean a public-facing Internet website, Internet web
application, or computer or mobile application that allows a user to submit
payment for parking a motor vehicle at a publicly available parking project