First Annual NJSBA Day in Trenton

On March 3, 2008, President Lynn Fontaine Newsome welcomed close to 60 legislators and NJSBA members at the first Annual NJSBA Day in Trenton held at the State House Annex. President Newsome presented the Robert B. Meyner Award, instituted by the Board of Trustees in recognition of members of the NJ Legislature and/or Executive Branch, to State Senators John H. Adler, Christopher "Kip" Bateman, and Nicholas P. Scutari; and Assemblymen Neil M. Cohen, Reed Gusciora and Joseph Vas. Congressman Rodney P. Frelinguysen, State Senator Nia H. Gill and former State Senator Robert E. Littell were also recognized with the award, but unable to attend the event. Keynote remarks were delivered by former NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice James R. Zazzali.

Senate Resolution Commemorating the First Annual New Jersey State Bar Association Day in Trenton
Fact Sheet and NJSBA Written Laws Enacted Since 1990
NJSBA President Lynn Fontaine Newsome and State Senator Nicholas P. Scutari
Former NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice James R. Zazzali
State Senator John H. Adler
State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr.
Reception at NJSBA Day in Trenton
Amirali Haidri, Kevin McCann, Charles Kahwaty and Eli Eytan
Richard Steen, Donna duBeth Gardiner and Susan Feeney
NJ State Capitol Dome

NJSBA High Priority Legislation/Issues

New Jersey State Bar Association High Priority Legislation/Issues - 212th Legislative Session & Federal Legislation (includes bills drafted by the NJSBA.

High Priority Legislation/Issues Report

Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee releases S-611 (Vitale) Open Adoption Legislation.

On Thursday, January 24, 2008, the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee released, with committee amendments, S-611 (Vitale), which permits an adoptive person access to the original birth certificate and other related information.

Click here to read the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee statement to S-611 (Vitale).

The New Jersey State Bar Association opposes S-611 (Vitale) in its present form for reasons that have been articulated over many years. These reasons include the following:

• The bill tramples the birth mother’s reasonable expectation of privacy;
• The bill conflicts with the Infant Safe Haven Act; and
• The bill’s reporting requirements are burdensome and unreasonable on the birth mother.

The NJSBA has offered suggested amendments to seek to address the legal and practical realities of adoption law. We support the use of mutual consent adoption registries. We support adult adoptees’ access to the original birth certificate, if made prospective in its application with reasonable safeguards to address the parties’ constitutional rights.

Use the link below to read the entire NJSBA Position Statement.

NJSBA Position Statement on S-611 (Vitale)

Governor signs Pay-To-Play Bill into law

On January 13, 2008, Governor Corzine signed into law legislation, S-3025 (Lesniak/Kyrillos)/A-4660 (Quigley/Cryan), to clarify that the pay-to-play disclosure laws do not apply to non-profit entities. The new law, P.L. 2007, c. 304, takes effect immediately.

WHAT THE BILL DOES: This bill amends and clarifies that certain political contribution disclosures that must be made annually to the Election law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) apply only to for-profit business entities and not to nonprofit entities. Specifically under the bill, only for-profit business entities, not nonprofit entities, that receive $50,000 or more in public contracts are required to file annual disclosure statements of political contributions with the ELEC. In addition, only for-profit business entities, not nonprofit entities, are required to disclose certain political contributions prior to entering into certain public contracts.

Governor signs NJSBA drafted S-68 into law

On January 13, 2008, Governor Corzine signed into law legislation, S-68/A- 812 (Adler/Gusciora) which amends the wrongful death act to clarify that surviving children continue to share in any recovery awarded under that act. The new law takes effect immediately but is made retroactive to the date the provisions of P.L.2004, c.132 took effect (February 28, 2005).

WHAT THE BILL DOES: This bill amends certain provisions of the wrongful death act to clarify that changes made by P.L.2004, c.132 to the intestacy provisions of the probate code were not intended to impede recovery by children in wrongful death actions. N.J.S.2A:31-4 currently provides that the amount recovered in wrongful death proceedings shall be for the exclusive benefit of the persons entitled to take any intestate personal property of the decedent, and in the proportions in which they are entitled to take the same. P.L.2004, c.132 changes the statutes governing intestacy to make the entire estate pass to the surviving spouse of the decedent if there is a surviving spouse. The unintended consequence of that change is that in wrongful death cases where there is a spouse and children the children are not "persons entitled to take any intestate personal property of the decedent." This bill provides that if there is a surviving spouse of the decedent and one or more surviving descendants of the decedent they shall be entitled to equal proportions for purposes of recovery under wrongful death actions notwithstanding the provisions of Title 3B of the New Jersey Statutes (the probate code). The bill leaves intact the applicability of intestate share proportions for other situations such as if there is no surviving spouse in which case the estate passes to the decedent's descendants by representation.

Governor signs Hate Crimes and Bullying Law

On January 13, 2008, Governor Corzine signed into law legislation, S-2975/A-4591 (Buono/Caraballo), which revises laws concerning hate crimes and bullying; establishes Commission on Bullying in Schools. Section 9 of the new law takes effect immediately. Sections 1 through 8 take effect on March 15, 2008, but the Attorney General and the Commissioner of the Department of Education are to take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as is necessary for the implementation of the new law.

WHAT THE BILL DOES: The bill amends the law concerning the crime of bias intimidation to specifically provide that “gender identity or expression” and “national origin” are within the protected classes set forth in the statute. Current law enumerates the protected classes of “race, color, religion, gender, handicap, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.” Although a bias crime based on gender identity or expression or national origin can be prosecuted using the protected classes currently enumerated in the law, this amendment makes clear that these classes are intended to fall within the provisions of the statute. The bill further clarifies the law by specifying that it is not a defense to a prosecution for the crime of bias intimidation that the defendant was mistaken as to the race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or ethnicity of the victim.

Wrongful Death Legislation S-176 (Scutari)

On January 15, 2008, Gov. Jon Corzine chose to allow a constitutional deadline to expire without signing S-176 (Scuatri) which expands the type of recoverable damages under wrongful death actions to include mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society and loss of companionship.

The bill has subsequently been re-introduced as S-125 (Scutari) on January 8, 2008 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill was also re-introduced as A-1158 (Oliver) on January 8, 2008 and referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Neither bill has been scheduled for a hearing at this time. The NJSBA continues to strongly support this bill.

NJSBA Position Statement on S-176/A-1511 (Doria/Oliver)
Senate Bill 176

Final Report of the Medical Care Availability Task Force (MCATF)

The following documents provide the NJSBA position statment on the MCATF, and the final task force report.

NJSBA POSITIONSTATEMENT MCATF SEPT2007
Medical Care Availability Task Force FINAL REPORT August3 2007.pdf

Governor Signs Bill Prohibiting Step-Down Clauses Limiting Uninsured and UnderInsured Motorist Coverage in Corporate or Business Entities Auto Policies

On September 11, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed S-1666/A-3038 (Scutari/Gill/Cohen), which prohibits the use of “step-down” provision to limit uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in certain circumstances, legislation strongly supported by the New Jersey State Bar Association.

The New Jersey insurance statutes require an insurer that issues a motor vehicle liability policy to provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage up to at least $250/500,000 split limits of $500,000 single limit (not to exceed the liability limits). N.J.S.A. 17:28-1.1(b). In Pinto v. NJM, 183 N.J. 205 (2005), the Supreme Court held that a motor vehicle liability policy that names a corporate or business entity as a named insured may “step-down” UM/UIM coverage for employees who are not named individually on the corporate policy and who are named individually on a personal policy, even if the employee is injured in a corporate vehicle while in the course of employment.

The purpose of this law is to reverse the effect of Pinto v. NJM and to prohibit step-down clauses that provide “less insured or underinsured motorist coverage for an individual employed by the corporate or business entity than the coverage provided by the named insured under the policy.” NJSBA supports the law for the following reasons:

1. Step-down clauses violate the plain language of the insurance statutes which require insurers to offer UM/UIM coverage as an option to the named insured.
2. Step-down clauses do not fulfill the reasonable expectations of the insured.
3. Step-down clauses provide illusory coverage.

New Jersey State Bar Association Position on Senate 442/H.R. 916 which Establishes the John R. Justice prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007

The New Jersey State Bar Association strongly supports S.442/H.R.916 (Durbin/Scott).

The NJSBA Board of Trustees, Legislative Committee and Criminal Law Section voted to support this legislation because we believe it establishes an appropriate and necessary incentive to keep talented attorneys in public service and imperative to assure the continued existence of public service legal careers.

This nation is facing a crisis with recruitment and retention of talented attorneys in public service legal careers. The underlying reason for not choosing to enter into public service is consistent: high student loan debt. As a result, many young attorneys are forced out of public service careers. This is a particular problem for the prosecutor and the public defender programs as prosecutors provide a mechanism to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens and public defenders provide a critical voice for the indigent while fulfilling an important right guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A student loan repayment assistance program must be enacted immediately in order to assure that the future of prosecutor and public defender programs across the country are secure.

The amount of debt that a law student carries is substantial, averaging approximately $78,000 and can be as high as $170,000 and even higher. Upon graduation, it is the unfortunate reality that most monthly payments of student loans mirror that of a mortgage payment. Due to this exorbitant debt that law students and law graduates carry, many are forced to forego dreams of working in public service.

According to a survey completed by Nellie Mae, a Sallie Mae Student Loan Company and popular source of loans for students, borrowers who report the highest levels of loan burden upon graduation are professionals, particularly attorneys and those who went to law school. In addition, according to the same survey, about 40% of law graduates have student loan levels that exceed their current salaries, even those with high salaries. As a result, when it comes to default risk on student loans, it should be no surprise that law students rank near the top. In fact, according to the National Law Journal, law students have the highest default rates of any students borrowing for graduate studies.

The aforementioned statistics are not so shocking when one considers the cost of law school relative to salaries. As reported by the National Law Journal, tuition and costs of public and private law schools have drastically soared since 1990. In-state residents at public law schools are paying 267% more than in 1990 and non-residents are paying 197% more. Private tuitions have also increased by 130%. These increases alone are alarming; however, when coupled with the meager 78% increase (averaging $125,000.00/yr.) in salaries of the top law firms in the nation since 1990, these statistics are quite disturbing.

As a result of the skyrocketing cost of law school education, federal loans are no longer sufficient to cover tuition and other costs of law school. In addition to the available federal loans, many law students must take out private loans in order to cover the cost of school. Interest rates on federal loans are relatively low, most under 5%. However, the same is not true for private loans. Currently, there are no regulations on the interest rates on private student loans. As a result, some law graduates may be paying in excess of 10% on such loans. This is significant as private loans can be as high as $60,000.00 or higher. When financed for 15, sometime 30 years, the total amount repaid on such a loan is distressing.

There is no dispute that attorneys who work in non-profit sector, like prosecutor and defenders, fall at the bottom of the attorney pay scale, earning less than one third of their private sector peers. Unfortunately, those who have chosen to stay in low paying public service careers have chosen to do so at a significant price. Many have made substantial personal sacrifices in order to pursue their dream of serving the public.

Those who do begin their legal career in public service will often find it short lived, forced out due to inability to pay back loans. Tragically, this failure to retain talented attorneys significantly affects the quality of representation received by clients and the delivery of justice.

Student Loan Repayment Assistance Programs are necessary to help achieve the recruitment and retention of talented employees. In fact, the Federal government employs such a program which has had a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of talented employees. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in fiscal year 2006, 34 Federal agencies provided 5,755 employees with a total of nearly $36 million in student loan repayment benefits, each receiving an average of $6,245.00. As a result of the student loan repayment programs, several agencies have reported to Congress that use of the program has helped them achieve their recruitment and retention goals. Parenthetically, since 2002, the amount of federal assistance for this program has increased ten-fold. Clearly, such a student loan repayment program is successful and needed in the area of public sector attorneys.

By establishing the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Act of 2007, programs across the county will be able to recruit and retain the talented attorneys that are needed to protect the rights of the citizens of our country. Public service work embodies the highest ideals of the legal profession. The passion and sacrifices made by public service attorneys should be recognized and rewarded. Establishing a loan repayment assistance program is one step towards achieving that goal.

We respectfully urge you to support S-442/H.R.916.

NJSBA Legislative Department Activity Schedule 2008

The following lists the NJSBA Legislative Department activity for the coming year.

Legislative Department Calendar 2008

Legislative Advocacy Program for 2008

The New Jersey State Bar Association will sponsor a training session on legislative procedures on January 22, 2008. the program will be held at the Law Center in New Brunswick and is open to bar leaders, including NJSBA section and committee chairs, vice-chairs, legislative coordinators and officers, all incoming association trustees and county bar legislative chairs.

This program will be conducted via Meetings Bridge, allowing participants to join the meeting via web conference, teleconference or in person. Those who plan to attend in person will be served a light dinner.

Attendees will learn:

• When is a bill expected to move in the Legislature
• What constitutes a high priority bill for the NJSBA
• How to complete the revised Legislative Position Form
• How to prepare bill amendments
• how to target key bills for a specific section or committee

ELEC Adopts NJSBA Position on Lobbying Regulations

On July 10, the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) agreed with the NJ State Bar Association when the Commission decided not to adopt the proposed definition of “administrative proceeding with the state,” regarding amendments and new rules proposed by ELEC to implement the Legislative and Government Process Activities Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:13C-20. The NJ State Bar Association asked for a clarification of the term so that attorneys would know with certainty when a communication was exempt from lobbying because it was made within the context of an “administrative proceeding.” The new regulations could have required many attorneys engaged in the practice of law to register as lobbyists and comply with ELEC reporting requirements.

The Commission noted that from the comments received, the proposed definition “has not provided the desired clarification for an attorney who needs to know whether or not his or her communications is exempt from lobbying reporting requirements.” The Commission indicated it would revisit the definition in future rulemaking.

In the August 6, 2007 edition of the New Jersey Register, the Commission specifically thanked NJSBA Immediate Past President Wayne Positan, and NJSBA members Paul Josephson and John Spinello for their comments and testimony on the proposal. Additionally, NJSBA Past Presidents Edwin J. McCreedy and Stuart Hoberman submitted comments on behalf of the State Bar in March and September of 2005 that outlined the association's position. These comments are provided immediately below as an attachment.

In 2004, the Legislative and Government Process Activities Disclosure Act expanded the scope of reportable lobbying activity to include lobbying concerning “governmental processes,” also called “administrative lobbying.” The amendments exempted from “governmental processes” any matters within the attorney-client privilege and matters concerning collective negotiations. In 2005, ELEC adopted an exemption from the scope of lobbying reporting for certain activity by an attorney representing a client. The exemption excluded “any communication by an attorney representing a client in the regular course of a routine litigation or administrative proceeding with the state, or in the course of a quasi-judicial civil or administrative proceeding with the state.”

The NJSBA will continue to monitor the progress of amendments by ELEC regarding the Lobbying Act, and in particular, those that fall under the category "Lobbyists and Governmental Affairs Agents."

NJSBA History Regarding ELEC Rules Concerning Lobbyists and Governmental Affairs Agents
March 22, 2007 email to NJSBA members on ELEC testimony

Enactments for 2006

2006 was the first year of the two-year legislative session. During the 2006 legislative year, 103 laws, 3 joint resolutions and 8 concurrent resolutions were approved. The New Jersey Legislature provides information on these chapter laws, joint resolutions and concurrent resolutions.

Use the following link to view a PDF file of The Summary of the Legislature's Enactments for 2006.

www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/newSummaryofEnactments05.pdf.

Full text of the laws are available through the New Jersey Legislature's website, located at www.njleg.state.nj.us.

County Bar Legislative Chairs

List of County Bar Legislative Chairs

Click here for a list of county bar legislative chairs

Attorney Members of the State Legislature

List of Attorney Members of the State Legislature

Click here to see the List of Attorney Members of the State Legislature

Key Contact Network

The NJSBA Key Contact Network has been part of the NJSBA’s grassroots advocacy efforts for over 20 years. In fact, the NJSBA’s Key Contact Network was recently selected to be part of the ABA publication “Best of the Best Projects” based on a review of the last 20 years of projects that were featured. The Network seeks to link NJSBA members with key government officials to assist us in influencing legislation on behalf of the NJSBA. To sign up, select "Get The Details" to download the registration form, complete and send to: Laurie Weresow, New Jersey Law Center, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, Phone: (732) 937-7540; Fax:(732) 249-2815.

Click here to access the Key Contact Network Form

Archived Legislative Advocacy