Overview
Executive Branch
Legislative Branch
Judicial Branch
New Jersey State Government--Overview
Each of the three branches of the state government -- the executive,
the legislative and the judicial -- has powers granted to it by the
New Jersey Constitution which allow each to impose checks and balances
on the other two. Trenton has been New Jersey's capital since 1790.
The State House and the State House Annex, located on West State Street,
house the Legislature, the governor's office and some executive offices.
Other government offices are nearby.
Executive Branch
The executive branch is composed of the governor, the governor's staff,
the 15 executive departments and many authorities, boards and commissions.
The governor as chief executive is responsible for faithfully executing
state laws and appoints, with the advice and consent of the Senate,
executive department heads, judgeships (including the State Supreme
Court), county prosecutors, county boards of election and taxation,
and many policy-making and advisory boards and commissions. The governor
has the power of dismissal of most appointees. The governor may recommend
legislation to the legislature, may call the legislature into special
session, signs into law legislative action passed by both houses and
has veto powers (absolute veto, conditional veto and line item veto
on appropriation bills). The governor may grant pardons and reprieves
and may suspend and remit fines and forfeitures. He/she is the commander-in-chief
of the militia and the only person with the authority to call up the
National Guard.
The New Jersey Constitution does not include the office of lieutenant
governor, so a vacancy in the office of the governor results in succession
by the president of the New Jersey Senate, with the Speaker of the General
Assembly the next in line.
The governor sets the overall policy and priorities for the administration.
The governor's staff deals with the media, scheduling, speech writing,
research, policy decisions and maintains liaisons with department heads,
legislative leaders and party leaders. The two principal members of
the governor's staff are the chief of staff and the chief counsel to
the governor who is the legal advisor on legislative proposals. The
executive departments implement policies set by the governor. The departments
also have the primary responsibility for writing the rules and regulations
and administering laws passed by the Legislature. Serving all the administrative
agencies and departments, the Office of Administrative Law is an agency
of the executive branch with two functions: to conduct administrative
hearings into disputes between agencies and departments, and to supervise
the process of rule making (implementation of legislation) by the executive
branch departments and agencies.
Legislative Branch
The New Jersey Legislature consists of the Senate and the General
Assembly. All legislative sessions, many committee hearings and
most public hearings are held in the State House. The Senate and General
Assembly chambers each have visitor galleries. There are 40 senators,
one from each legislative district and 80 members of the Assembly (two
from each legislative district). Senators' terms are four years except
the term following the federal census which is two years. The full Senate
is up for election at the same time. Assembly member terms are two years,
all 80 seats being elected in November of odd-numbered years.
The Senate writes state laws, must confirm appointments of the governor
and acts as the Court of Impeachment. The state budget (an appropriations
bill) is by custom a Senate measure. The Assembly writes state laws,
originates all bills for raising revenue and has the sole power to vote
impeachment charges.
Each house chooses its own officers and determines the rules of its
own proceedings. The Senate elects a president while the presiding officer
elected by the General Assembly is called the Speaker. Each party elects
its own legislative leaders in each house: a majority and assistant
majority leader; a minority and assistant minority leader. There are
four partisan staffs, one for each party in each house.
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) provides professional
nonpartisan staff to provide bill drafting, legal advice, budgetary
and audit information, research and analysis, staffing for legislative
committees and study commissions.
The work of the Senate and Assembly is conducted in standing committees.
After being introduced, a bill is numbered and usually referred to the
appropriate standing committee. Following release from committee, the
full House debates and may amend the bill and the vote is taken. The
life of a legislature is two years. Bills introduced in the first-year
session, but not passed by both houses, carry over into the second session.
When in session the Legislature usually convenes twice a week. There
is no constitutional limit or requirement on the number of days the
legislature must meet.
Legislators are elected from 40 legislative districts of substantially
equal population. The voters in each district elect one state senator
and two members of the General Assembly. Every ten years, after the
federal census, the boundaries of the 40 districts are redrawn to maintain
an equal population in each district. The reapportionment of districts
is performed by a bipartisan Apportionment Commission, whose members
are appointed by the state chairs of the two major political parties.
Judicial Branch
The judicial branch of state government consists of the New
Jersey Supreme Court, Superior Court and Tax Court.
The Superior Court is divided into three divisions: Appellate, Law,
and Chancery. The Appellate Division receives appeals from the Law and
Chancery divisions, from lower courts and from decisions of state agencies.
Law contains a Criminal Division handling all indictments and accusations
in criminal cases and a Civil Division handling civil cases, appeals
from municipal courts and probate matters. There is a Special Civil
Part for contracts, landlord/tenant disputes and small claims cases.
In the Law Division a single judge presides over a trial court, either
with or without a jury. Chancery contains a General Equity Division
and Family Division. General Equity cases involve issues of injunctions,
completing the performance of a contract or probating contested estates.
The Family Division includes juvenile delinquency, juveniles and families
in crisis, domestic violence, child abuse, adoption, paternity, separation,
divorce, support and custody of children. In the Chancery Division a
single judge presides over the trials which are generally without juries.
The Tax Court, established by the Legislature in 1979, is a court of
limited jurisdiction to review state tax and local property tax assessments.
New Jersey's highest court is the Supreme Court. It serves as the court
of last resort for cases involving constitutional questions, dissent
in the Appellate Division or imposition of the death penalty at the
trial court level. Under the state constitution the Supreme Court administers
all the courts in New Jersey. The chief justice assigns judges, oversees
the finances of courts, supervises clerks and support personnel, conducts
investigations to review complaints against the courts and assembles
statistics for the judicial system. The Supreme Court admits attorneys
to practice and disciplines them. It promulgates the rules that govern
the administration, practice and procedure in all courts. The Administrative
Office of the Courts was created as a management and control agency
to assist the chief justice and the Court. The chief justice appoints
and supervises the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
