S 168

SENATE, No. 168
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR.
District 18 (Middlesex)
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator McKeon
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires membership of boards of trustees of State
colleges and universities and county colleges to include two college employees.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act concerning the boards of trustees of State colleges and
universities and county colleges, supplementing chapters 64 and 64A of Title
18A of the New Jersey Statutes, and amending N.J.S.18A:64A-9 and P.L.1982,
c.42.
���� Be It
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� (New section) �� a.� The
board of trustees of any State college or university established pursuant to
chapter 64 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes shall have two members who
are employees of the college or university and who shall be appointed by the
Governor from a list of candidates recommended by the labor organizations that
represent the employees.
���� b.��� Each employee member
shall serve a term of two years, except that of the initial selections, one
member shall serve a term of one year and one member shall serve a term of two
years.� In the event that the employees of the State college or university are
represented by more than two labor organizations, the employee members shall be
recommended to the Governor based on an agreement among the labor
organizations.
���� c.���� An employee member
shall have full voting rights, provided that the member shall not participate
in any matter affecting the employment or terms or conditions of employment of
an employee of the college or university.
���� 2.��� (New section)� a.�
Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the board of
trustees of any county college established pursuant to chapter 64A of Title 18A
of the New Jersey Statutes shall have two members who are employees of the
college and who shall be appointed by the Governor from a list of candidates
recommended by the labor organizations that represent the employees.
���� b.��� Each employee member
shall serve a term of two years, except that of the initial selections, one
member shall serve a term of one year and one member shall serve a term of two
years.� In the event that the employees of the county college are represented by
more than two labor organizations, the employee members shall be recommended to
the Governor based on an agreement among the labor organizations.
���� c.���� An employee member
shall have full voting rights, provided that the member shall not participate
in any matter affecting the employment or terms or conditions of employment of
an employee of the college.
���� 3.��� N.J.S.18A:64A-9 is
amended to read as follows:
���� 18A:64A-9 Appointed members of
the board of trustees shall have been residents of the county for a period of
four years prior to said appointment, and no elected public official [or employee of
the county college]
shall serve as a voting member of the board.� The term of office of appointed
members, except for the first appointments, shall be for four years.� Each
member shall serve until his successor shall have been appointed and
qualified.�
���� Vacancies shall be filled in
the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the unexpired
term.� Any appointed member may be removed by the board of chosen freeholders
of the appointing county for cause upon notice and opportunity to be heard.
Members shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to be reimbursed
for all reasonable and necessary expenses.�
���� [A voting member of a board of
trustees shall not be eligible to accept employment as an employee of the
college at which he has served as a member of the board for a period of two
years following resignation or expiration of his term as a member.]�
���� In the case of a county
college established by one county, the terms of office of members initially
appointed to the board of trustees by the appointing authority of the county
shall be as follows: two persons shall receive terms of one year; two, terms of
two years; two, terms of three years; and two, terms of four years.�
���� In the case of a county
college established by more than one county, the terms of the members initially
appointed to the board of trustees shall be fixed so that as nearly as
possible, one-quarter of the appointed members will receive terms of four years,
one-quarter terms of three years, one-quarter terms of two years and the
remainder terms of one year. Such terms shall be allocated by the commission
among the participating counties, in accordance with the number of members on
the board of trustees apportioned to each county, starting with the terms of
four years, by allocating one of such terms to each of the participating
counties in alphabetical order of the names of such counties, and continuing,
still in such order, with the terms of three years, the terms of two years and
the terms of one year.�
���� Members initially appointed to
the board may serve from the time of their respective appointments, but the
term of such office shall be deemed to commence as of November 1 of the year in
which the appointment was made.�
(cf: P.L.1994, c.48, s.126)�
���� 4.��� Section 6 of P.L.1982,
c.42 (C.18A:64A-55) is amended to read as follows:
���� 6.��� The board of trustees
shall include seven public trustees, consisting of the county superintendent of
schools, four members appointed by the board of chosen freeholders, and two
citizens of the county appointed by the Governor, and four trustees appointed
by the board of governors from among its members.� However, no trustee shall be
appointed after July 1, 1994 who is an employee of a constituent county.� In
addition, the student body shall be entitled to elect from the graduating class
one representative to serve as a member of the board of trustees for a term of
one year commencing at the first meeting of the board in July following
graduation of his class.� The student representative may be granted voting
rights by a majority vote of the members of the board of trustees.� If the
board of trustees grants the student representative voting rights and all
members of the board are present at the board meeting and there is a tie vote,
the chairman shall break the tie.
���� All appointive members shall
be residents of the county for a period of four years prior to appointment and
no elected public official [or
employee of the county college]
shall serve as a voting member of the board.� The terms of office of the
appointive members shall be four years, except for the first appointment.�
Terms of those initially appointed by the chairman of the board of chosen
freeholders shall expire, respectively, one, two, three and four years after
appointment.� Of those appointed by the Governor, one person shall be appointed
for a term of two years and one for a term of four years.� Of the members
appointed by the board of governors, one person shall be appointed for a term
of one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of three years, and
one for a term of four years.
���� Each member shall serve until
his successor is appointed and qualified.
���� Vacancies shall be filled in
the same manner as the original appointment for the unexpired term.� Upon
notice and opportunity to be heard, an appointee may be removed for cause by
the body originally making the appointment.� Members shall serve without compensation
but shall be entitled to be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary
expenses.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.147, s.2)
���� 5.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill provides that the
board of trustees of any State college or university and the board of trustees
of any county college is required to have two members who are employees of the
college or university, to be appointed by the Governor from a list of
candidates recommended by the labor organizations that represent the
employees.� An employee member would serve a term of two years, except that the
initial terms would be staggered.� In the event that the employees of the State
college or university or county college are represented by more than two labor
organizations, the employee members will be recommended to the Governor based
on an agreement among the labor organizations.
���� An employee member would have
full voting rights, but could not participate in any matter affecting the
employment or terms or conditions of employment of an employee of the college.
���� Current law prohibits county
college employees from serving as members of the college�s board of trustees.
This bill amends the law to eliminate that prohibition.