Garden State Times

On Nov 12, 2023, Senator Vince Polistina’s (R-02) bill regarding regional municipal court jurisdiction over State Police and other external matters was successfully passed by the New Jersey Senate.

"The goal of the pilot program is to make the courts more efficient and cut down on governmental waste," stated Sen. Polistina.

S4040, the bill in question, aims to address the issue of central municipal courts handling cases without corresponding revenue, which has proven to be burdensome and costly. The legislation clarifies that regional municipal courts will no longer be obligated to hear State Police or county police cases originating from outside participating municipalities. However, counties retain the ability to confer certain countywide jurisdiction upon regional municipal courts through ordinance if they opt to do so. While the regional municipal court will continue to have jurisdiction over existing countywide cases, new cases from non-participating municipalities will be filed in their respective municipality of origin after the bill's effective date.

For those interested in reading the full bill, it is available for review. Contact Kyle Fischer, SRO director of communications, at [email protected] to arrange an interview with Sen. Polistina regarding this development.