Bill would require about 600 agencies to maintain websites with information about budgets, meetings, payroll and other basic items so the public can more easily monitor their activities.
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Sens. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), left, and Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) in file photos. The two senators have sponsored a bill that would require N.J. local authorities, boards and commissions to maintain websites and take other steps to increase transparency.TRENTON — New Jersey’s many local authorities, boards and commissions will be forced to become more transparent online under a bipartisan bill that cleared a state Senate committee Thursday.
The legislation would require nearly 600 agencies to maintain websites with information about budgets, meetings, payroll and other basic items so the public can more easily monitor their activities.
“I think it’s basic information that we’re asking for,” said Sen. Jen Beck, R-Monmouth, who is sponsoring the bill along with Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.
“I think it’s basic transparency that we’re seeking,” Beck said.
The measure was introduced in response to a report issued earlier this year by state Comptroller Matthew Boxer that showed nearly 40 percent of the state’s local authorities, boards and commissions maintain no website at all, and only seven of 587 meet basic standards Boxer set for online transparency.
The bill cleared the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee by a 5-0 bipartisan vote during its meeting Thursday morning.
“We are pleased that our recommendations are moving closer to becoming law,” said Pete McAleer, spokesman for the Office of the State Comptroller. “Taxpayers are entitled to a government that acts in a transparent and open way.”
Spending by authorities, boards and commissions has received renewed scrutiny since Governor Christie took office last year and labeled the agencies New Jersey’s “shadow government.”
The governor has vetoed the meeting minutes of numerous state-affiliated authorities, boards and commissions, and has also targeted waste at regional agencies, such as the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission and the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.
Boxer released his report in February, estimating the local authorities, boards and commissions spend about $5 billion annually, often with little public oversight, and are responsible for putting 10,000 employees into the state pension system.
He said many have acted like “private clubs, publicizing agency information only when it suits their needs.”
Committee Chairman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, said the bill before the committee Thursday represents a “changing time” for government transparency.
“This is the new standard,” he said. “People have a right to access this information and they should.”
The legislation would apply to fire districts, housing authorities, joint insurance funds, workforce investment boards, soil conservation districts, urban enterprise zone development corporations, regional health commissions and county parks commissions.
Among other requirements, the agencies would be forced to maintain websites listing the entity’s mission, the name and phone number of its principal officer, a complete list of full and part-time employees, meeting minutes and meeting notices.
The agencies would also have to post online their current budget and audit, as well as rules, regulations, resolutions and policy statements.
The agencies would have three months after the bill is signed into law to comply with the new transparency standards.
Jon Moran, legislative analyst for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, told the committee his organization opposes the bill in its current form because some of the smaller agencies that would be subject to the online upgrades may not have the money to pay for them. It represents another unfunded state mandate, something the organization opposes by rule, he said.
But Beck said her office researched the cost of creating and maintaining a website with the basic information the bill requires and found it to be between $900 and $2,600, which she said is reasonable given the taxpayers’ interest.