January 2013

Jean Bestafka, CAVL – Renaissance Manchester
Vice Chair, New Jersey Legislative Action Committee

As a community volunteer on the Legislative Action Committee, I have been awed by the dedication of all of the professional committee members. The volunteer leaders on the committee offer perspective on the ways in which proposed legislation might affect our communities and provide feedback from the homeowner and board perspective.

I have been on the committee for three years and I overwhelmed at the amount of time and expertise the professionals on the committee volunteer. Each month the new bills are presented and, in general, the attorneys in the room divvy up the proposed legislation and review them in depth. At the next meeting the bills are reviewed by each attorney and discussed in depth. Members of this committee have at least 100 years combined community operations and legal issues experience. All of the pros and cons are debated and argued from all perspectives. Community managers share their experience with the operations problems with a bill. We also discuss the meaningful differences a proposed bill will provide everyone who lives in a community association, condominium association or adult community. It is very evident that the committee’s focus is on the benefits to the homeowner, not any self interest.

CAI has a significant ability to work with legislators, staff from numerous government departments and committee aides to present our views. Whether it is behind the scenes or at a legislator’s office the overall goal is to have a positive impact at the Statehouse to further the important needs of the membership.

One of the bills we have been reporting on in this column Senate Bill 2156 has been signed into law. The bill provides for an accelerated process for mortgage foreclosures as they relate to abandoned or vacant units passed in the legislature. Vacant and abandoned units have been a substantial problem across New Jersey. Stakeholders have at times not been willing move forward with a foreclosure for a number of reasons. This bill will allow for timely resolution to the problem.

Another new bill that has been introduced that the committee is watching is S2307. Under current law, school districts are subject to a State aid growth limit; in a single year, a district’s State aid may not increase by more than 10 percent or 20 percent, depending on the district’s expenditure level, relative to the prior school year. This bill eliminates the State aid growth limit for a school district in a municipality in which at least 33.3 percent of the residents are 65 years old or older, according to the most recent federal decennial census. In the case of a regional school district, the State aid growth limit would be eliminated if, among all of the residents in the constituent municipalities, more that 33.3 percent of the residents are 65 years old or older according to the most recent federal decennial census.

There are also a number of bills that were introduced as a result of Super Storm Sandy that we will be watching on your behalf.

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