FUNCTIONS AND POWERS

A state legislature's function is to determine public policy in that state by making its laws, appropriating funds for government activities in those areas it deems proper, determining how to raise the necessary revenues, and seeing that its wishes are carried out by the executive branch of the government.

In spite of the vast expansion of federal government activity over the years, the powers reserved to the states by the United States Constitution are still of great importance to the daily lives of American citizens. Laws made by our state legislatures--within certain federal and state constitutional lim its--control and foster the health, safety, and welfare of the people, control municipal, county, and other organs of local government, regulate labor and conditions of work, establish civil and criminal law, control public education, charter corporations, and regulate political parties and elections.

The New Jersey Senate shares the appointive power with the Governor by being required to approve most nominations to posts in the executive and judicial branches. The whole legislature can exercise influence on the executive branch since it has the power to allocate the functions, powers, and duties of all executive and administrative offices and departments, with the constitutional limitation that not more than twenty major departments be established.

The legislature has the power to impeach and try judicial and executive officials (the General Assembly serves as the impeaching agent with the Senate as the trial court). The entire legislature appoints the state auditor, whose duty is to see that state funds are spent in accordance with the legislature's intentions. Furthermore, the legislature has investigatory powers and can subpoena witnesses as long as the legitimate public purpose of obtaining information as a basis for remedial corrective legislative is present. However, the Governor acts as a check on the legislature by the use of his veto powers, and the judiciary has the power to determine the constitutionality of the laws passed by the legislature.

New Jersey's constitution has limited some of the areas in which the legislature would otherwise be able to act. One of the most important restrictions the constitution imposes prohibits the legislature from passing private, special, or local laws in such categories as the laws of inheritance, taxation or exemption from taxation, the salaries or terms or tenure of public officials and employees, the management and control of public schools, the appointment of officers or commissions to regulate local or municipal affairs, and (except as otherwise provided in the constitution) the regulation of internal affairs of municipalities and counties. The legislature can pass only general laws affecting all cases within any of these categories. However, the legislature may group any of these categories into classes and then legislate separately for each class. The legislature has used this procedure, for example, in legislation regulating counties, after grouping them into six classes. Outside the prohibited categories, private, special, or local laws may be passed only when proper notice has been given in a manner specified by law.

The New Jersey Legislature is required to make its appropriations for the support of state government in one general bill that covers one fiscal year. The total amount of all appropriations may not exceed the total amount of revenues on hand or anticipated for that year, as estimated by the Governor. Should the legislature want to sell bonds, usually to pay for capital construction of highways, buildings, etc., the voters at a general election must first approve the bond issues.

Originally in our system of government, legislators were supposed to be the source of all laws and the executive was there to administer them. But in these days of strong executive power, the Governor is more apt to originate bills and formulate a legislative program which the legislature then considers and responds to. This is particularly true when the legislative majority is of the same political party as the Governor. Should different parties control the two branches of government, the opposition party in control of the legislature will attempt to formulate its own legislative program.

In New Jersey, the legislature's role in policy-making is in part limited by the fact that the budget is drawn up in the executive branch. A large portion of the budget is mandated by earlier commitments that are difficult to rescind and often reflect increases in population and other factors beyond the legislature's control.

The New Jersey Legislature, since 1776, has consisted of two houses. The Senate, an outgrowth of the colonial governor's council and until 1844 named the Legislative Council, consisted originally of one member elected annually from each county. The 1844 state constitution provided for the election of senators for three year terms, still one from each county. Over the years, senators from less populous counties successfully resisted attempts to equalize representation in the Senate on a population basis. The bill providing for the calling of the constitutional convention of 1947 passed the Senate only because it specifically prohibited the convention from considering changes in the method representation.

From 1844 to 1948, the General Assembly consisted of 60 members, each elected for a one-year term. At first, members were elected at-large within each county. From 1852 to 1906, they were chosen from districts within counties. However, districts had become the object of widespread gerrymandering and were declared unconstitutional in 1906. New Jersey then returned to the method of at-large election of assemblymen within each county, and the number from each county was based on its proportional share of the state population. This system tended to lead to over-representation of the majority party in heavily populated counties.

The 1947 constitution changed the terms of assemblymen to two years and senators to four, and adjusted the time of holding elections for legislature and the Governor to odd-numbered years to permit voters to concentrate on the selection of their state representatives.

Major change has come to the New Jersey with the United States Supreme Court's 1964 decision, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533; in that case, the Court ruled that representation in both houses of state legislatures must be solely on the basis of population--any other means of representation would be a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was immediately apparent that New Jersey's system of one-senator-per-county would not be constitutional and so ended the "Twenty-one club." A series of corrective actions soon began.

The legislature authorized the calling of a constitutional convention, consisting of 126 delegates elected at a special March 1966 election, to meet and consider the changes necessary to bring the New Jersey Constitution into conformity with the Court decision and to draw up new districts for the 1967 election. The convention lasted from March through June 1966, and the constitutional amendments it proposed were approved by the voters at the general election of November 1966.

The new amendments made the following changes: The Senate was enlarged to 40 members and the General Assembly to 80. Assemblymen continue to serve for two years; Senators continue to serve for four years, except that those elected at the election following each census serve for only two. The entire legislature may thereby be reapportioned as population changes each decade may require, without having to alter senatorial districts in mid-term. The terms in each house are concurrent, not staggered.

New districts are formed from which legislators are elected and standards are established for determining these districts. Senators are elected at large from senatorial districts composed of a single county where practicable, otherwise of two or more contiguous, whole counties. However, if the senatorial district consists of two or more counties and is allotted exactly two senators, then one senator is elected from each assembly district. Each senatorial district is subdivided into as many assembly districts as it has senators, and two assemblymen are elected from each assembly district. Assembly districts are to be compact, contiguous, and not deviate in population by more than 20 percent from the norm. No county or municipality shall be divided unless its population is greater than the norm, and then no more than necessary. Fifteen senatorial districts were delineated for use until the 1971 election, and assigned from one to six senators each; another provision created an Apportionment Commission, appointed as described below, to establish assembly districts for use during the same period.

An Apportionment Commission is to be created, after each decennial federal census to establish new senatorial and assembly districts and apportion the number of senators and assemblymen among the districts. Ten commissioners are to be appointed, five by each of the state committee chairmen of the two major political parties, with due consideration to the representation of the various geographical areas of the state. If a majority of the commissioners are unable to reach agreement, the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court is to appoint an eleventh member to break the deadlock.

The new districts decided upon by the commission are then to be certified to the Secretary of State and used in the legislative election in the year following the census.

During the four years 1967 to 1971, every apportionment plan offered was the subject of litigation. The New Jersey Supreme Court decisions have, in effect, nullified those provisions of the New Jersey Constitution that permit legislative districts to deviate by as much as 20% from the norm, that tie to assemblymen every Senator, and that favor single county senatorial districts whenever practicable. To remedy inequities, the Courts have ordered the use of at-large assembly districts not provided for in the State Constitution. However, two 1969 Supreme Court decisions have held that respect for county, municipal and ward lines cannot justify population inequities among congressional districts, had not, by 1971 , been applied to State legislative districts in New Jersey except as to ward lines.

The Apportionment Commission's plan devised in 1971 for the next decade was found unconstitutional in April 1971 by a trial judge. The judge permitted the 1971 plan to be used for that year's election, but he ordered the Apportionment Commission to draft a new plan for subsequent elections by November 16, 1971. The trial judge's decision was appealed, and the November deadline postponed.

The long time county basis of representation in the Senate had resulted, most observers believe, in a conservative legislature. The ability of a small number of conservative Senators from rural counties to bottle up legislation in caucus was a great frustration to advocates of legislation beneficial to the urban counties. Many thought reapportionment would markedly change the character of the bills emerging from the legislature. The 1966-67 legislature, which had been partially reapportioned, seemed to bear out this contention by finally passing a broad-based tax (the sales tax) which New Jersey, unlike most states, had long postponed. The election of 1968-69 legislature left observers in doubt as to whether this trend would continue. However, reapportionment has resulted in Senators from the urban and suburban counties outnumbering those from the more rural areas, and, in representing their constituent's interests, these less conservative legislators were able to pass legislation that would have been blocked in earlier Senates.

In the Assembly, on the other hand, the majority came mainly from the smaller two-man suburban and rural districts and thus were not answerable to urban voters. Nonetheless, the legislature authorized bond referenda in 1968, 69 and 71 to provide funds for such items of suburban and urban concern as roads commuter railroads, higher and vocational education, low cost housing, sewage treatment facilities, and reservoir site acquisition. Funds for these purposes had long been limited by former legislatures.