Your Legislators: 39th District-Sponsored Bills Approved

The New Jersey state Senate and Assembly met Thursday to vote on several bills. Sen. Gerald Cardinale, of District 39, was as one of the primary sponsors of S2628 and Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk co-sponsored A444 and A1851. All three bills were approved.

Cardinale and Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-22) both sponsored S2628 which authorizes an exception to the hearsay rule for certain out-of-court statements by witnesses in cases involving a crime. It was approved by a 24-15 vote.

The bill states that, "in a criminal proceeding involving a crime, a statement offered against a party who has engaged, directly or indirectly, in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure the unavailability of the declarant as a witness would not be excluded by the hearsay rule."

At the Assembly level, A444 which disqualifies a member of a board of education or member of a charter school board of trustees for conviction of certain crimes and requires a member to undergo a criminal history background investigation was approved 76-0-1.

Previously, candidates and members of a Board of Education had to be a resident of the district for at least one year, be a registered voter and be able to read and write.

Now, within 30 days of being appointed or elected to a seat on a Board of Education, the member must undergo a background check to prove that he or she had not been convicted of a first or second degree offense involving the manufacture, transportation, sale, possession, distribution or habitual use of a "controlled dangerous 24 substance" or a crime involving the use of force or the threat of force on the act of a robbery, assault, stalking, kidnapping, arson, manslaughter or murder; a third degree crime involving terroristic threats, enticing a child into a motor vehicle, criminal mischief, burglary or perjury; or any fourth degree crime that involves a victim that is a minor.

The "Historic Property Reinvestment Act," A1851, provides credits against certain taxes for certain costs of rehabilitating historic properties following its 61-10-6 approval. The Historic Property Reinvestment Act applies to those homes or properties that are designated by the Pinelands Commission as a historic resource of significance to the Pinelands.