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S3719
SENATE, No. 3719
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 5, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
���� Establishes fund to reimburse municipalities for
police costs related to crowding at MVC sites; appropriates $500,000.�
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
providing for the reimbursement of
municipalities for certain police costs and making an appropriation.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� a.� The Commissioner of
Community Affairs shall establish within the Division of Local Government
Services in the Department of Community Affairs a fund for the purpose of
reimbursing a municipality for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by
the municipal police force or department for the management and control of
crowds and traffic at a New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission location during
the COVID-19 emergency period.
���� b.��� The fund shall consist
of moneys appropriated thereto by section 2 of P.L.��� , c.���� (pending before
the Legislature as this bill), and such other moneys as may be appropriated or
otherwise made available for that purpose.
���� c.���� Not more than five
percent of the moneys paid into the fund during any fiscal year of the State
may be used to pay the costs of the fund's administration by the Division of
Local Government Services during that fiscal year.
���� d.� A municipality may submit
an application to the Division of Local Government Services for reimbursement
of municipal police expenses, pursuant to subsection a. of this section, in
accordance with procedures specified by the division.
���� e.� �COVID-19� means the
coronavirus disease 2019, as announced by the World Health Organization on
February 11, 2020, and first identified in Wuhan, China.
���� �COVID-19 emergency period�
means the period beginning March 9, 2020 and continuing for as long as a public
health emergency, pursuant to the �Emergency Health Powers Act,� P.L.2005,
c.222 (C.26:13-1 et seq.), or a state of emergency, pursuant to P.L.1942, c.
251 (C.App.A:9-33 et seq.), or both, that has been declared by the Governor in
response to COVID-19, is in effect.
���� 2.� There is appropriated the
sum of $500,000 from a portion of the federal block grant funds allocated to
the State from the federal �Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
Act,� Pub.L.116-136, to the Division of Local Government Services in the Department
of Community Affairs for the reimbursement of reasonable and necessary expenses
incurred by a municipality for the management and control of crowds and traffic
at a New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission location during the COVID-19
emergency period, to the extent this funding is available for this purpose.
���� 3.� This act shall take effect
immediately, shall be retroactive to March 9, 2020, and shall expire upon the
conclusion of the COVID-19 emergency period.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would establish a
fund to provide reimbursements to municipalities for reasonable and necessary
expenses incurred by a municipal police force or department for the management
and control of crowds and traffic at a New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission (�MVC�)
location during the COVID-19 pandemic.� When MVC locations were reopened to the
public during this pandemic, there were massive crowds necessitating the
presence of police, at significant expense to the affected municipalities.�
Since these costs were due to poor planning on the part of the State, and not
the municipalities, the State should reimburse these municipalities for those
costs.
���� The bill appropriates $500,000
to the fund, which would be established within the Division of Local Government
Services in the Department of Community Affairs.� To obtain a reimbursement, a
municipality would have to submit an application to the division in accordance
with procedures specified by the division.� The bill would be retroactive to
March 9, 2020, when Executive Order No. 103 was issued, declaring a public
health emergency and state of emergency in response to COVID-19, and would
expire upon the conclusion of both declared emergencies.