THE LEGISLATORS

In New Jersey, State Senators must be at least 30 years old, citizens of the United States, residents of the state for four years, and must have lived in the district from which they are elected for one year. Assemblymen must be at least 21 years old, citizens, state residents for two years, and residents of their districts for one year. Assemblymen and senators must be eligible to vote. Each house is the sole judge of the qualifications of its members and of the validity of their elections.

Members of the legislature enjoy certain limited constitutional immunities. Senators and assemblymen may not be officially questioned in any other place for any statement they make in either house or at any meeting of a legislative committee. In addition, in all cases except treason and high misdemeanor, they are immune from arrest during their attendance at the sitting of their respective houses and in traveling to and from the sitting.

Membership in the legislature is considered a part-time job, although the time required for legislative, caucus, and committee meetings, study of proposed bills, meetings with constituents, and campaigning for offices make it virtually a full-time post. The legislature has been in the habit of meeting only one or two days a week for the first half of the year, because the members can commute to the one-day meetings--no part of the state is more than a three-hour drive from the State House in Trenton. Consequently, membership in the legislature is effectively limited to those whose jobs, business, or incomes permit them to absent themselves irregularly for part of the year without suffering financial loss.

A large proportion of New Jersey's legislators have been lawyers. This occupational pattern has changed little even this last quarter of the century. Women have been elected to the Assembly since the 1920's; the first woman served in the Senate in the 1966-67 session.

The possibility of conflicts of interest arising because most legislators hold other jobs or have interests that might conflict with their responsibility as legislators was first dealt with by conflict of interest legislation passed in 1967. This law merely required lawyer legislators representing private clients before State agencies to file disclosure statements, and legislators doing business with the State to do so only in public bids. In 1971 , however the law was enacted which prohibits (i) lawyer legislators and their firms from appearing before most State agencies, (2) legislators from engaging in party transactions with the State, and (3) legislators from transacting any other business with the State without prior approval from a legislative committee on ethical standards. This law also provides for codes or ethics for legislators and other State officials and employees. Efforts to pass laws requiring financial disclosures by legislators have been unsuccessful for the most part.

Legislators' salaries are fixed by law and may be changed by law, but such a change cannot become effective until the year following the election for members of the Assembly. Legislators of both houses receive salaries of $35,000 a year. The Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly are constitutionally paid an additional amount equal to one-third of whatever a member receives. Salaries are paid half at the first legislative meeting of each year and half at the beginning of the fiscal year in July.

The State provides stationery for each legislator, and 5,000 postage stamps--with additional stamps for those in leadership positions. Each legislator has a telephone. Legislators receive the same health insurance coverage and other health benefits as other State employees, and they have access to a special pension system, to which they must contribute if they are to benefit.

Only legislative officers and leaders have office space in the State House. Legislative committees are permanently assigned small meeting rooms.

Each legislator is allotted $60,000 each year for district office expenses including secretarial staff and legislative assistants. Dispersal of the aid money varies considerably from legislator to legislator. Some use the allowance to pay their business secretaries or wives for work in connection with their legislative duties; some use the job as a source of patronage. Other than this aide, a legislator must rely on the professional staff maintained by the legislature as a whole for information, research and legal advice.

The professional staff is composed of the Legislative Services Agency and the Office of Fiscal Affairs. Both operate under the direction of a Law Revision and Legislative Services Commission, which is appointed from both houses with equal representation from both major parties. The Commission appoints an executive director, who is chief counsel for the legislature and who supervises the work of the Legislative Services Agency. The Commission also appoints the directors of the agency's divisions and the executive director of the Office of Fiscal Affairs. The staff for these groups is hired by the Commission on the recommendation of the various directors, and serves at the pleasure of the Commission. The Commission has a policy requiring all staff members to sign an agreement before being hired that they will not engage in any political activity that would conflict with their positions as employees of the legislature as a whole. Violation is just cause for dismissal.

The Legislative Services Agency is organized into three divisions. (1) The Division of Bill Drafting and Legal Services drafts many of the bills introduced, examines all bills prior to formal introduction for proper legal form, checks them for conflict with existing legislation, advises sponsors of possible constitutional problems, and provides other legal aid to members when required. (2) The Division of Legislative Information and Research collects information and conducts research on bills or proposed areas of legislation for legislators. It maintains status reports of bills as they go through the legislative process. This division also provides stenographers for public committee hearings and arranges for printing the transcripts when required. (3) The Division of Law Revision, is responsible for large-scale revisions of whole sections of the laws dealing with one subject, and usually works under the supervision of specially-appointed commissions.

The Office of Fiscal affairs was created in 1971 to direct the work of two existing offices--the State Auditor's office and the Office of Legislative Budget and Finance, and to provide legislators with performance and management analysis of State programs.

The Office of Legislative Budget and Finance presents the legislature's own budget to the Bureau of the Budget for incorporation into the total state budget. This office serves as staff for the Joint Appropriations Committee, attending budget hearings of the executive departments and inspecting various state institutions and properties. It approves all line-to-line budget transfers up to $10,000, in accordance with legislative intent. Larger transfers must be approved by the Joint Appropriations Committee. The office also supervises the preparation of the fiscal notes that estimate the financial impact of a proposed bill; these notes must accompany bills that would increase or decrease state revenues or expenditures.

The State Auditor is the sole exception to the Constitutional rule that the legislature alone cannot elect or appoint any executive, administrative or judicial officer. The exception is made in order that the Legislature's review of State finances would be under legislative auspices. The State Auditor is appointed by the Legislature for a term of five years. He and his 60 member staff are charged with postauditing the accounts of the various State agencies to assure that revenues have been collected in compliance with the law and the money has been spent in accordance with the legislative intent.

There are approximately 40 to 60 jobs to be filled each year on the housekeeping or administrative staff of the legislature. These include clerks, doorkeepers, mailroom supervisors, Sergeants-at-Arms, journal clerks, etc. as well as the Clerk of the General Assembly and the Secretary of the Senate, who supervise these employees and various aides appointed to help the leadership. Appointment to these jobs is by majority vote in each house, and each county organization with representation in the legislative majority is informally allotted a share as patronage to dispense to the party faithful. Since 1970, each party in each house has hired an executive director or chief counsel to provide it with additional professional assistance.

Legislative representative, or "LOBBYISTS", are required by the Legislative Activities Disclosure Act of 1964 to register with the Secretary of State if they receive more than $500 in any quarter of the year, although there is no requirement for reporting the money actually spent. Representatives of religious organizations are not required to register.