TRENTON — Opponents of the sweeping changes to New Jersey’s bail system that took effect this year suffered a defeat Wednesday when an oversight body threw out their case.
The state Council on Local Mandates, an obscure panel with the power to strike down laws if it determines they don’t meet the New Jersey constitution’s “state mandate, state pay” requirement, narrowly voted to dismiss a challenge mounted by an association of counties claiming lawmakers failed to properly fund the bail overhaul.
The 4-3 decision was a victory for supporters of the state’s criminal justice reform, which include Gov. Chris Christie, legislative leaders and the state’s Supreme Court.
But several concurrent court battles over the details of the new system are ongoing, and more legal challenges could be on the way.
The new system virtually eliminated cash bail in the state, replacing it with a risk assessment that helps judges weigh whether a defendant presents a danger to the community or is likely to flee the state.
It also put in place new requirements that defendants be processed more quickly, straining the budgets of county courthouses, prosecutors and police departments.
Bail reform takes heat from cops
The New Jersey Association of Counties filed a complaint with the council last year, arguing the system created those additional costs without setting up an adequate way to pay for them.
John Donnadio, the association’s executive director, said the overhaul will cost the state’s 21 counties at least $50 million a year. While the legislation creating the new bail system allocated money to the state judiciary to cover court costs, Donnadio said, county governments have no funding mechanism for their other costs other than to hike property taxes.
The state Attorney General’s Office, which fought the counties’ challenge, argued that because the bail overhaul was based on a constitutional amendment approved by New Jersey voters, it was exempt from the “state mandate, state pay” requirement.
The state was joined by the New Jersey Bar Association and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that if the council threw out the new law, it would create “chaos” in the state court system.
While the changes took effect on January 1, the law was passed in 2014 and took years to implement. Assistant Attorney General Joseph Fanaroff told the council that going back to the old system could be disastrous.
“You would essentially be trying to fix a plane mid-flight,” he said.
The counties were joined in their opposition by members of the state’s bail bonds industry, which has effectively been put out of business by the new system.
Douglas Motzenbecker, one of the attorneys for the bail bondsmen, said voters who approved the constitutional amendment were misled by language that suggested it simply gave judges the discretion to hold violent offenders without bail.
The new system’s opponents are now weighing a challenge to the new law in state Superior Court, where they could argue the legislation enacting the new system went beyond the mandate given to lawmakers by the voters who approved the amendment.
Donnadio said after the hearing that his association was also looking at “legislative remedies” to their issues with the new system. Donnadio said the counties don’t oppose the overhaul as long as the state covers the costs.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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