To: Commission
From: Staff
Re: Title 39 Revision – Status Memorandum
Date: January 11, 2009
M E M O R A N D U M
As the Commission is aware, Staff has received comments on nearly the entire Title 39 project from the Legal Department at New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission. The comments received thus far include a complete set of comments on Volumes II and III of the project and comments on most of Volume I. The MVC Comments are thorough and detailed and were invaluable to Staff in reviewing and revising this project.
Commission Staff has reviewed and incorporated the MVC comments into the draft on an ongoing basis and has also updated the project to reflect changes made to the law during the course of the project.
Staff has incorporated the substantive changes recommended by the MVC and has generally incorporated many of the requests for non-substantive, stylistic changes in the language. In certain circumstances, however, when the MVC’s request for a change in the language appeared not to change the substance of the section, and where returning the language to the form in which it appears in the current statute seemed to make it duplicative or more cumbersome, Staff elected not to return the language to its original state.
The MVC generally suggested the elimination of acronyms (MVC, DOT, DEP, etc.) in the revised Title 39. Staff reviewed New Jersey’s body of statutes and observed that, while acronyms are found in Committee statements and in the case law annotations, with very limited exceptions acronyms are not found in the statutes. As a result, the acronyms included in the current draft will be removed.
In general, Staff has not incorporated MVC comments recommending changes to the internal document references. The report currently contains references to current statutory section numbers, rather than the number of the particular section as it appears in the draft. This was a deliberate choice by Staff to accommodate changes to the text or reordering of sections or subsections during the revision process and the numbers will be modified as appropriate when a complete final report is issued.
The MVC comments also suggest, in all of the Volumes, the inclusion of the Public Law references rather than just the statutory citations, and Staff will rely on the Commission for suggestions as to the Commission’s preference in that regard.
With regard to the modification of the penalties by the Commission, the MVC comments note only that the designation as an offense of a certain class modifies the existing statutory penalty but otherwise provides no comments on the classification.
This memorandum briefly describes the nature of changes that have been made to the chapters contained in the several volumes of the project and the outstanding issues on which Staff is seeking Commission guidance. A summary of the MVC comments regarding each Chapter and of the actions taken by Staff in response follows. With regard to the outstanding comments, MVC Staff has indicated that the comments on two of the largest chapters (Permits, Licenses and Identification Cards and Prohibitions) should be provided by the end of January, and that the balance will follow thereafter (Registration; Transfer, Destruction or Loss; Equipment; and Lamps, Reflectors and Specialized Lights).
Volume I
Definitions
Staff generally incorporated the comments of the MVC Staff in this Chapter with certain exceptions such as where the revised definition streamlined or updated the existing definition without changing its substance.
Motor Vehicle Commission
Staff is incorporating the limited changes requested by the MVC in this Chapter.
Permits, Licenses and Identification Cards
The changes to this Chapter were substantial and MVC Staff, in discussions with Commission Staff, indicated that because of the nature of the changes it was difficult to prepare a line-by-line review but that MVC Staff was willing to discuss the changes with Commission Staff to provide general comments and guidance. It is anticipated that the general comments will be received by Commission Staff by the end of January 2010.
Commercial Driver’s License
The changes proposed by the MVC were largely incorporated into the current draft except where they appeared to be inconsistent with the current law, as where it was recommended that language be changed to read “certain serious traffic violations” rather than “specified offenses”, a change which allows for broader authority to disqualify drivers, and where a change of the definition of “felony” was proposed to include the broader term “‘crimes’ as that term is defined in N.J.S. 2C:1-1 et seq.”.
Hours of Service Law
The modest changes suggested by the MVC were generally incorporated into the current draft.
Registration
No comments have been received regarding this Chapter yet.
License Plates
The MVC’s general comment on this Chapter was as follows:
Many of the numerous statutes cited as source laws for this chapter, which were enacted to create various types of license plates and to regulate their issuance and use, are unique as to the following: the prerequisites to the issuance of such plates; the restrictions upon the issuance and use of such plates; the design and content of such plates; the fees for such plates; the various Funds into which such plate fees are to be deposited; the State agency or agencies responsible for the administration of such Funds; and the circumstances under which such plates must be surrendered and the time period applicable thereto. Although the placement of statutes pertaining to license plates within a single chapter dedicated to that subject appears to be appropriate, it is recommended that the Law Revision Commission retain the source laws for this chapter in their existing form. Combining the source laws for this chapter in an effort to “streamline” and “consolidate” them often results in the omission or alteration of statutory language containing requirements that are unique to a specific type of license plate. Existing source laws should not be combined and revisions thereto should be limited to the correction of outdated references to terms such as “Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety,” “Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles,” “Division of Motor Vehicles,” “director,” and “division.” In light of the foregoing, a line-by-line review of the sections below is unnecessary.
The Law Revision Commission should solicit input from the State agencies that are impacted by one or more of the special Funds into which certain designated license plate fees are deposited pursuant to various source laws from which this chapter is derived. Those State agencies include the Department of Environmental Protection; the Department of the Treasury; the Department of Health and Senior Services; the Department of Community Affairs; and the Department of Transportation.
This section of the report grouped certain types of license plates together for purposes of a general description of their characteristics. The license plates were described, in the draft statutory sections as “vehicle-type license plates” (historic, street rod, commuter van, and farm vehicle), “occupation-type license plates” (ham radio, fire department, first aid, EMT, board of chosen freeholder, mayor or chief executive of a municipality, former member of the New Jersey Legislature), “military-type license plates” (New Jersey National Guard, disabled veteran, P.O.W., active member of military reserve, recipient of a Purple Heart, Silver Star, Combat Infantryman Badge, or Navy Cross), and non-profit organization type license plate.
The MVC found the grouping of these license plate types objectionable and found the description of the license plates as “non-standard” objectionable as well. Staff is revising the language of the draft to address those issues. Staff believes, however, that there is merit to eliminating the numerous instances of duplicative language contained in the sections of the current statute that pertain to requirements, restrictions, and general provisions for license plates and that consolidation of that language, redrafted to address the MVC concerns as appropriate, should remain in the draft.
Touring Privileges
The modest changes suggested by the MVC were generally incorporated into the current draft.
Documents
The MVC comments recommended modifications to the revised language contained in the tentative report to either conform the language to reflect changes in the law or regulations since the time of the draft or, in certain subsections, to return the language to the form in which it appears in the current statute. Staff has incorporated the changes requested by the MVC.
Transfer, Destruction or Loss
No comments have been received regarding this Chapter yet.
Equipment
No comments have been received regarding this Chapter yet.
Display of Information on Commercial Vehicles
The few minor changes recommended by the MVC will be incorporated by Staff.
Lamps, Reflectors and Specialized Lights
No comments have been received regarding this Chapter yet.
Intermodal Chassis
The MVC comments suggested limited changes to this Chapter that will be incorporated by Staff.
Dimensions and Weight
The MVC, in its comments, indicated that the “[s]tatutes cited as source laws for this chapter (39:3-84, 39:3-84.1, and 39:3-84.3) were amended in 1983 so as to conform New Jersey law to Federal law relating to this subject.” “The amendments were drafted by the Attorney General’s Office. Pursuant to Federal law, the State is required to submit an annual certification to the Federal Highway Administration relating to this State’s enforcement of its laws pertaining to motor vehicle dimensions and weights. Accordingly, it is recommended that the Law Revision Commission retain the source laws contained in this chapter in its present form.”
Staff will return the language of the draft to the form of the current statute.
Vehicles or Apparatus of Unusual Size or Weight
The MVC comments suggested a number of changes to the language of the draft and the language will be modified to conform to the MVC comments.
Loads and Loading of Vehicles
The MVC comments contain limited suggestions for revisions to the language, largely to correct errors in the draft and will be incorporated.
Transportation of Dangerous Articles
The MVC suggested that input should be obtained from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Attorney General and the Department of Transportation with regard to the subject matter of this Chapter.
The MVC comments also proposed returning portions of the language to its original form and Staff will conform the language of the draft to the MVC comments in this regard.
Prohibitions
No comments have been received regarding this Chapter yet.
General Penalty
The MVC, in its general comments on this Chapter, said that the:
new penalty classification system set forth in section 1 of this chapter has resulted in a multitude of penalties throughout Title 39A that do not conform to current law. The Motor Vehicle Commission has identified a large number of such penalties that are inconsistent with current law during its review of the respective chapters of Title 39A and has noted that fact in its comments pertaining thereto. In light of the foregoing, the Law Revision Commission should reconsider its attempt to incorporate a new penalty classification system into Title 39A, and should consider retaining the existing statutory penalties set forth in source laws throughout Title 39.
Beyond that, the MVC offered useful proposed modifications to some of the language of this Chapter and took no position on the manner in which the individual penalties created as a part of the classification system differed from the current penalties.
Funds
The MVC comment on this section said, among other things, that “[e]ach of the statutes cited as source laws for this chapter (39:3-20.4, 39:3-79.23, 39:3-79.24, 39:4-36.2, 39:8-2, and 39:8-75) and each Fund created by those source laws is unique as to subject matter, purpose, and the State agency or agencies responsible for the Fund’s administration. It is recommended that the Law Revision Commission retain the above referenced source laws in their existing form.” Having considered this issue, Staff is in agreement and the language will be returned to its original form and location.
Volume II
Application
There was only a single stylistic comment by MVC in this Chapter, which consists of a single section, and that comment will be incorporated into the draft by Staff.
Enforcement
In this Chapter, the MVC recommended the updating of the names of certain entities, like the change from “Public Utility Commission” to “Board of Public Utilities”. Also recommended was a change from “subtitle” or “chapter” to “Title” to clarify the broader scope of the application of various provisions. These changes will be made by Staff.
The MVC comments pointed out the application of updated statutory sections in cases where the cited sections had been repealed, and those changes will be incorporated by Staff.
The MVC recommended returning the language of the section pertaining to the suspension or revocation of driving privileges to its present form despite the fact that the language contained in the draft is substantially similar and Staff will inquire about the basis for this recommendation.
Powers and Duties of Commissioner of Transportation, Municipalities, Counties and Highway Commissioner
In this section the MVC recommended that Staff “[c]onform subsection a. of 39A:PD-2 to 39:4-2 as that section sets forth the historical evolution of the powers delegated to the traffic commission, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, and the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles. See N.J.S.A. 52:17B-19 through 52:17B-22. See also N.J.S.A. 27:1A-44 relating to powers and duties transferred from the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles to the Commissioner of Transportation.” The subsection in question summarizes the information contained in the section to which the MVC refers and Staff will inquire as to why the MVC believes that is not adequate.
The MVC comments note language that can be deleted as covered by other sections.
There are instances in which the MVC comments recommend the substitution of the word “roadway” for “highway” and those substitutions will be confirmed as proper and then made by Staff.
The MVC recommends the addition of the following language in the section pertaining to parking for streets under municipal or county control: “Nothing in this subsection shall allow municipalities or counties to establish angle parking or to reinstate or add parking on any street, or approve the closure of streets for more than 48 continuous hours, without the approval of the Commissioner of Transportation.” Staff will confirm the origin of that language and then include it as appropriate.