Governor Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed A-4889 this week.
A-4889 eliminates the requirement for local government officers to disclose their property addresses, including their home address, on the Annual Financial Disclosure Statement filed annually in April. Instead, the bill requires the disclosure of the county and municipality where their property is situated.
In his conditional veto Governor Murphy states that he is "unable to sign the bill in its current form because the financial disclosure statements for 2023 were due on April 30”, and nearly all officers have already filed their statements by that deadline. It would be virtually impossible for both local government officers and the Local Finance Board (LFB) to “comply with the changed rules for statements filed in 2023, as required by the bill's effective date”. The Governor suggests amending the bill to make it effective only for financial disclosure statements filed in 2024 and subsequent years. This would prevent undue burden on the LFB and the thousands of local government officers in the state by avoiding the need for them to re-file their disclosures and extending the filing deadline by 60 days.
The League supports the legislation, including the Governor’s conditional veto, as this approach strikes a balance between transparency and privacy.
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Contact: Andrew LaFevre, Legislative Analyst, alafevre@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x116.