Anti-Bullying Law Overturned
New Jersey’s recently enacted “Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” has been struck down by the Council on Local Mandates.
The state has until the end of March to amend the law or to provide funding for its implementation, according to Gannett’s Statehouse Bureau.
The Council on Local Mandates was created in 1995 by a constitutional amendment approved by the voters. Its members are appointed by the governor and both parties leaders in the legislature and the chief justice of the supreme court. The council is empowered to “expire” laws, rules and regulations that compel boards of educations, municipalities and counties to take action without providing resources to pay for the mandate.
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), the anti bullying bill’s lead sponsor, called the council a “rarely used, shadowy fourth branch of government.”
Why is it rarely used? MMM often hears local municipal officials and school board members complaining about money the state is making them spend.
Posted: January 28th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Council on Local Mandates, New Jersey | Tags: Anti-Bullying Law, Council on Local Mandates, Valerie Vainieri Huttle | 7 Comments »