S 173

SENATE, No. 173
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 SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires publication online of Senate Journals,
Assembly Minutes, and their indexes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act concerning the publication of the Senate
Journals and Assembly Minutes, and amending R.S.1:4-1 through R.S.1:4-4, and
R.S.1:4-6.
���� Be It
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� R.S.1:4-1 is amended to
read as follows:�
���� 1:4-1.� The Senate Journal,
the Assembly Minutes, and the minutes of the joint meetings of both
Houses of the Legislature shall be [printed] published
in such style as the Senate and General Assembly shall direct, and shall be
published by the Office of Legislative Services on its Internet site.�
(cf: P.L.1981, c.448, s.8)
���� 2.��� R.S.1:4-2 is amended to
read as follows:�
���� 1:4-2.� The Secretary of the
Senate shall cause to be prepared for [printing] publication
copies of the Senate Journal in which shall be included the minutes of the
joint meetings of the Legislature, as directed by the Senate; and the clerk of
the General Assembly shall cause to be prepared like copies of the house
minutes. The copies so prepared shall be delivered by the Office of Legislative
Services [to
the person having the contract to print the same].� The Office of Legislative
Services shall publish the copies on its Internet site.�
���� The President of the Senate
or the Speaker of the General Assembly may direct the Office of Legislative
Services to have printed on paper and bound as a volume not more than 10 copies
of the journal or minutes, as appropriate, for an entire annual session.
���� Immediately after each copy of
the Senate Journal and Assembly Minutes has been made and prepared for [printing] publication
as required by this section, the originals shall be [deposited in] sent by
electronic mail to the office of the Secretary of State, there to remain
and [by
him]
be kept unaltered [and
undefaced].
(cf: P.L.1981, c.448, s.9)
���� 3.��� R.S.1:4-4 is amended to
read as follows:�
���� 1:4-4.� The Secretary of the
Senate and the Clerk of the General Assembly, respectively, shall prepare and
deliver to the [printer] Office of
Legislative Services an index of the Senate Journal and Assembly Minutes
for the entire session.� The [printer
shall print as many copies as the Senate and General Assembly direct] Office of
Legislative Services shall publish the index on its Internet site.
(cf: P.L.1981, c.448, s.10)
���� 4.��� R.S.1:4-6 is amended to
read as follows:�
���� 1:4-6.� a.� Any person
desiring a complete set of the bills and resolutions introduced in any year in
the Legislature, together with the usual index slips, daily memoranda, [advance parts
of the Journal of the Senate and Minutes of the Assembly] and advance
copies of laws, may file an application therefore with the Office of
Legislative Services, accompanying the application with payment of an annual
subscription fee in an amount to be fixed from time to time by the Legislative
Services Commission.� Upon receipt of the application and fee, the Office of
Legislative Services shall cause the name and address of the applicant to be
added to the printer's mailing list of members of the Legislature, and
thereafter during the year such bills and resolutions, slips, daily memoranda, [advance parts
of the Journal and Minutes]
and advance copies of laws shall be mailed by the printer to such applicant as
and when the same are mailed to members of the Legislature.�
���� b.��� Any person desiring an
advance copy of each law, to be published and distributed prior to the printing
of the annual edition of the laws as provided in R.S. 1:3-1, may file an
application therefor with the Office of Legislative Services accompanying the application
with payment of an annual subscription fee to be fixed by the Legislative
Services Commission in the manner provided in subsection a. of this section.
(cf: P.L.1981, c.448, s.12)
���� 5.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the first annual session of the 2024-2025
Legislative Term.
STATEMENT
���� Under current law, the Senate
Journals, Assembly Minutes, minutes of the joint meetings of both Houses of the
Legislature, and their indexes, are printed and bound as a volume for each
annual legislative session of each House.
���� Under this bill, the journals,
minutes, and indexes would be published online by the Office of Legislative
Services, and not as bound volumes.� However, the President of the Senate or
the Speaker of the General Assembly may have the Office of Legislative Services
print not more than 10 copies of a bound volume for an entire annual session of
the Senate or General Assembly.