Enables municipality to allow newly elected member of municipal governing body to participate in meeting where public is excluded.

A1594

ASSEMBLY, No. 1594

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN

District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Enables municipality to allow newly elected member of
municipal governing body to participate in meeting where public is excluded.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
enabling a municipality to allow newly elected
municipal governing body members to participate in meetings where the public is
excluded and amending P.L.1975, c.231.

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

���� 1.��� Section 7 of P.L.1975,
c.231 (C.10:4-12) is amended to read as follows:

���� 7.��� a.� Except as provided
by subsection b. of this section all meetings of public bodies shall be open to
the public at all times.� Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the
discretion of a public body to permit, prohibit, or regulate the active participation
of the public at any meeting, except that a municipal governing body and a
board of education shall be required to set aside a portion of every meeting of
the municipal governing body or board of education, the length of the portion
to be determined by the municipal governing body or board of education, for
public comment on any governmental or school district issue that a member of
the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the municipality or
school district.

���� b.� A public body may exclude
the public only from that portion of a meeting at which the public body
discusses any:

���� (1)�� matter which, by express
provision of federal law, State statute, or rule of court shall be rendered
confidential or excluded from the provisions of subsection a. of this section;

���� (2)�� matter in which the
release of information would impair a right to receive funds from the
Government of the United States;

���� (3)�� material the disclosure
of which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy such as any
records, data, reports, recommendations, or other personal material of any
educational, training, social service, medical, health, custodial, child protection,
rehabilitation, legal defense, welfare, housing, relocation, insurance, and
similar program or institution operated by a public body pertaining to any
specific individual admitted to or served by an institution or program,
including but not limited to, information relative to the individual's personal
and family circumstances, and any material pertaining to admission, discharge,
treatment, progress, or condition of any individual, unless the individual
concerned (or, in the case of a minor or an incapacitated individual, the
individual's guardian) shall request in writing that the material be disclosed
publicly;

���� (4)� collective bargaining
agreement, or the terms and conditions which are proposed for inclusion in any
collective bargaining agreement, including the negotiation of the terms and
conditions thereof with employees or representatives of employees of the public
body;

���� (5)� matter involving the
purchase, lease, or acquisition of real property with public funds, the setting
of banking rates, or investment of public funds, if it could adversely affect
the public interest if discussion of the matters were disclosed;

���� (6)� tactics and techniques
utilized in protecting the safety and property of the public, provided that
their disclosure could impair that protection, or investigations of violations
or possible violations of the law;

���� (7)� pending or anticipated
litigation or contract negotiation other than in subsection b. (4) herein in
which the public body is, or may become, a party, or matters falling within the
attorney-client privilege, to the extent that confidentiality is required in
order for the attorney to exercise his ethical duties as a lawyer;

���� (8)� matter involving the
employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of
employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion, or disciplining of any
specific prospective public officer or employee or current public officer or
employee employed or appointed by the public body, unless all the individual
employees or appointees whose rights could be adversely affected request in
writing that the matter or matters be discussed at a public meeting; or

���� (9)�� deliberations of a
public body occurring after a public hearing that may result in the imposition
of a specific civil penalty upon the responding party or the suspension or loss
of a license or permit belonging to the responding party as a result of an act
or omission for which the responding party bears responsibility.

����
c.���� A municipality may,
by resolution or ordinance, allow a newly elected member of the municipality�s
governing body to participate in a meeting where the public has been excluded,
pursuant to subsection b. of this section, before the newly elected member has
taken their required oaths of office.� The Division of Local Government
Services in the Department of Community Affairs shall create an official
statement for a newly elected member of a municipality�s governing body to sign
acknowledging that the newly elected member will abide by the municipality�s
rules concerning official conduct regarding meetings where the public has been
excluded.� An official statement signed by a newly elected member of a
municipality�s governing body, pursuant to this subsection, shall be filed with
the municipal clerk.

(cf: P.L.2013, c.103, s.57)

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

STATEMENT

���� This
bill enables a municipality to allow a newly elected member of the
municipality�s governing body to participate in a meeting where the public is
excluded.

���� Under the bill, a municipality
may, by resolution or ordinance, allow a newly elected member of the municipality�s
governing body to participate in a meeting where the public has been excluded
before the newly elected member has taken their required oaths of office.� The
bill, thereby, provides the opportunity for a newly elected member of a
municipal governing body to engage in important municipal issues in advance of
the reorganization municipal meeting.

���� Additionally, the Division of
Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs would create
an official statement for a newly elected member of a municipality�s governing
body to sign acknowledging that the newly elected member will abide by the municipality�s
rules concerning official conduct regarding meetings where the public has been
excluded.� This official statement signed by the newly elected member would be filed
with the municipal clerk.