New Jersey Law Librarians Association (NJLLA)

Rutgers Thanks NJLLA

The Special Education Clinic at Rutgers Law School thanks us for our book donations. Great job NJLLA!

Candidates for the Executive Board

The 2011-2012 NJLLA Slate of Candidates for the Executive Board has been put together. Thanks to the Nominating Committee for their hard work. The slate will be presented at the Annual Business Meeting in May.

AALL Deadline Approaching

The April 1 deadline for AALL Annual Meeting/Workshop grant applications is fast approaching – Many institutions are forced to limit their financial support for law librarians and graduate students to attend the AALL Annual Meeting, or to attend workshops associated with the Annual Meeting.

The AALL Grants Program provides financial assistance to cover registration costs to experienced law librarians who are actively involved in AALL or its chapters and to newer law librarians or graduate students who hold promise of future involvement in AALL and the law library profession. Funds are provided by AALL, AALL individual members, and vendors.

The Grants Committee encourages members to apply for a grant by reviewing the criteria and application instructions at: http://www.aallnet.org/committee/grants/grants.asp

Legislative/regulatory "impact" features gone from Lexis.

The “State Legislative Impact” and “State Regulatory Impact” features from Potomac Publishing Company are no longer found on LexisNexis. Pending bills amending a statutory section can be found by Shepardizing that section. Proposed amendments of an N.J.A.C. section can be found by searching the N.J.Register for the section number.

Bill on ALJ opinions progresses

The bill A2722 was reported by a Senate committee on March 10th; the committee amended the bill to allow a party to a case to request a written opinion.

Bill affecting ALJ opinions

As noted in this Monday’s New Jersey Law Journal, 203 N.J.L.J. 590 (Feb.28,2011),
Assembly Bill 2722 [First Reprint] (passed by the Assembly Feb.17th) would authorize certain Administrative Law Judge decisions to be made either without written opinion or with a decision in the form of a checklist, and would also eliminate the power of several agencies to reject or modify ALJ decisions.

The bill would amend N.J.S.A. 52:14B-10 by adding this language in subsection (c):

Unless the head of the agency requests that the recommended report and decision be filed in writing, the recommended report and decision of the administrative law judge may be filed orally in such appropriate cases as prescribed by the director and if a transcript has been requested pursuant to subsection (e) of section 9 of P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-9). ….
An administrative law judge may file a recommended report and decision in the form of a checklist in such appropriate cases and formats as prescribed by the director after consultation with each State agency.

and would add a subsection (g) reading in part as follows:

With regard to contested cases commenced with an agency on or after the effective date of … this bill…. that are described in this subsection1, the report and decision of the administrative law judge shall be the final decision upon the filing thereof with the agency, notwithstanding any other provision of State law to the contrary. In such contested cases, the head of the agency shall not have the opportunity to reject or modify the administrative law judge’s report and decision pursuant to subsection (c) of this section and the final decision by the administrative law judge shall comply with the requirements of and shall be given the same effect as a final decision of the head of the agency … This subsection shall apply to any contested case from:

(1) the Department of Community Affairs;
(2) the Department of Education;
(3) the Department of Environmental Protection;
(4) the Department of Children and Families involving placement on a child abuse registry;
(5) the Department of Health and Senior Services involving placement on the nurse aid registry, and penalty matters;
(6) the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services;
(7) the Division of Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety;
(8) the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission;
(9) the Civil Service Commission; and
(10) the Department of Law and Public Safety under P.L.1988, c.123 (C.56:12-29 et seq.).[the lemon law]

Under another added subsection (f), other agency heads could order that in certain categories of cases the ALJ decision would be final.

Public Web Access to Civil Dockets

The Automated Case Management System — Public Access (ACMS-PA) containing docket information on New Jersey civil cases, is now available via the Judiciary’s web site. On the Judiciary homepage, follow the link “Civil Case Public Access” under “Online Resources” in the left-hand menu. Internet Explorer must be used.