Sponsored by:
Senator JOHN J. BURZICHELLI
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes qualifications to be appointed as AG.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the Attorney General and amending P.L.1948, c.439.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1948, c.439 (C.52:17B-2) is amended to read as follows:
a. The head of the Department of Law and Public Safety shall be the Attorney General who shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall serve during the term of office of the Governor. [He] The Attorney General shall receive [such] a salary as shall be provided by law. Any vacancy occurring in the office of Attorney General shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment, but for the unexpired term only.
[The person in office as Attorney-General on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, shall hold the office of Attorney General in the Department of Law and Public Safety established hereunder for the unexpired period of the term for which he was appointed, and until his successor is appointed and qualifies.]
b. A person shall not be appointed as the Attorney General pursuant to subsection a. of this section unless the person:
(1) is 30 years of age or older;
(2) has been a citizen of the United States for at least 20 years;
(3) has been a resident of this State for at least seven years immediately preceding appointment as the Attorney General, unless the person was absent during that time on the public business of the United States or of this State; and
(4) has been an attorney in good standing licensed to practice law in this State for at least 10 years immediately preceding appointment as the Attorney General and has been actively engaged for at least seven of those years as a practicing attorney, judge, or professor of law in this State.
(cf: P.L.1948, c.439, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes qualifications to be appointed as the Attorney General.
Under current law, the Attorney General is appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
Under this bill, a person is not to be appointed as the Attorney General unless the person: 1) is 30 years of age or older; 2) has been a citizen of the United States for at least 20 years; 3) has been a resident of this State for at least seven years immediately preceding appointment as the Attorney General, unless the person was absent during that time on the public business of the United States or of this State; and 4) has been an attorney in good standing licensed to practice law in this State for at least 10 years immediately preceding appointment as the Attorney General and has been actively engaged, for at least seven of those years as a practicing attorney, judge, or professor of law in this State.