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May 21, 2014 REVISED

Re: Assembly Voting Session for May 22

Dear Mayor:

The General Assembly returns for its first voting session since late March, when it recessed before consideration of the Governor’s conditional veto of S-1969/A-3067. Thursday marked 8 weeks since the State Senate acted immediately to accept the conditional veto, which effectively extends the 2% cap on interest arbitration awards. The conditional veto is NOT scheduled for consideration by the Assembly on Thursday.

In advance of the Thursday voting session, we urge you to again reach out to your Assembly representatives and ask them to advocate for and support the Governor’s conditional veto.

In addition, the League supports the following the bills scheduled for the Assembly vote:

A-1348 (PDF)-- Requires boil water notices to be provided by certain public water systems via telephone, email or text message.
A-1396-- Enacts the "Reader Privacy Act."
A-1726 (PDF)-- Amends "Flood Hazard Area Control Act" to require DEP to take certain actions concerning delineations of flood hazard areas and floodplains.
A-1883 (PDF)-- Revises exemption from license requirement for raffles for door prizes of donated or purchased merchandise; increases total retail value from $50 to $200 or higher if permitted.
A-2479 (PDF) - Requires elevators in new buildings be at least a certain size.

The League opposes the following bills:

A-815 (PDF)-- Requires municipalities which license canvassers, peddlers, and solicitors to accept certain background check results from other municipalities.
The League opposes this bill because it eliminates local discretion to secure most up-to-date information.

A-1244 (PDF)-- Permits sale of home-baked goods under certain circumstances.
Without inspection of facilities by a qualified health officer there is no way to ensure the quality and type of ingredients used, nor the sanitation standards in place in the kitchen. Standards currently in place have evolved over decades, too often in response to incidents resulting from a casual disregard of basic hygienic practices. We believe the public should continue to enjoy the protection provided by inspections designed to ensure compliance with those standards.

A-1947 (PDF)-- Requires county elections board give notice by Internet posting, mail or electronic means when polling place location changes unexpectedly before election; requires board develop plan for polling place change notification.
We believe the requirements of A-1947 may be an unfunded mandate. Specifically, the section requiring counties to detail a police officer or other competent individual to provide guidance is vague; it does not indicate if the county is permitted to require municipal employees or police officers to provide guidance, and if so, whether the county will pay that employee’s salary for the time spent at the former polling location.

A-2280 (PDF)-- Requires certain police vehicles to be equipped with cameras.
The League concurs with the fiscal estimate prepared by the Office of Legislative Services (OLS), which indicates that the revenues generated by this bill will likely be insufficient to cover the costs. A-2280 is therefore an unfunded state mandate.

Please reach out to your Assembly representatives on these bills. For more information, please contact Mike Cerra by email  or 609-695-3481, ext. 120.

Very truly yours,

William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director