N.J.S. § 13:8C-4 "Garden State Preservation Trust"

• Library: New Jersey Permanent Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through L. 2023, c. 118.
• Year: 2023
• Citation: N.J.S. § 13:8C-4

a. There is hereby established in but not of the Department of the Treasury a public body corporate and politic, with corporate succession, to be known as the "Garden State Preservation Trust." For the purpose of complying with the provisions of Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, the trust is hereby allocated within the Department of the Treasury, but notwithstanding that allocation, the trust shall be independent of any supervision or control by that department or by any board or officer thereof. The trust is hereby constituted as an instrumentality of the State, exercising public and essential governmental functions, no part of whose revenues shall accrue to the benefit of any individual, and the exercise by the trust of the powers conferred by this act shall be deemed and held to be an essential governmental function of the State.

b. The trust shall consist of nine voting members as follows: the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of State, and the State Treasurer, who shall be members ex officio; and five public members, one of whom shall be appointed by the Governor, two of whom shall be appointed by the President of the Senate and of those two so appointed no more than one shall be from the same political party, and two of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and of those two so appointed no more than one shall be from the same political party. The public member appointed by the Governor shall serve a term of five years. Each public member appointed by the President of the Senate shall serve a term of five years, except of those first appointed, one shall serve a term of three years and the other a term of two years. Each public member appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly shall serve a term of five years, except of those first appointed, one shall serve a term of three years and the other a term of two years.

No person holding elective public office shall be eligible to be a member of the trust.

c. Each public member shall hold office for the term of the member's appointment and until the member's successor shall have been appointed and qualified. A public member shall be eligible for reappointment. Any vacancy in a public membership occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment but for the unexpired term only.

d. Any public member may be removed from office by the appointing authority, for cause, after a public hearing, and may be suspended by the appointing authority pending the completion of the hearing. All members before entering upon their duties shall take and subscribe an oath to perform the duties of their office faithfully, impartially and justly to the best of their ability. A record of each oath shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State.