New Jersey Administrative Code
Title - EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Title 55 - CHRIS CHRISTIE
Section - Executive Order No. 169 (2020)

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 2024

Governor Philip D. Murphy

Executive Order No. 169 (2020)

An Order Which Clarifies Executive Order No. 164 (2020) and States the Postponement of Annual Municipal and County Party Committee Reorganization Meetings is Only Applicable to Municipal Party Committees and County Party Committees that Held Elections During the July Primary Elections

Issued: July 20, 2020.

Effective: July 20, 2020.

WHEREAS, in light of the dangers posed by Coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19"), I issued Executive Order No. 103 (2020) on March 9, 2020, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, which declared both a Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency; and

WHEREAS, through Executive Order Nos. 119, 138, 151, and 162, issued on April 7, 2020, May 6, 2020, June 4, 2020, and July 2, 2020, respectively, the facts and circumstances of which are adopted by reference herein, I declared that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency continued to exist and declared that all Executive Orders and Administrative Orders adopted in whole or in part in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency remained in full force and effect; and

WHEREAS, in accordance with N.J.S.A. App. A:9-34 and -51, I reserve the right to utilize and employ all available resources of State government to protect against the emergency created by COVID-19; and

WHEREAS, as COVID-19 continued to spread across New Jersey and an increasing number of individuals required medical care or hospitalization, I issued a series of Executive Orders pursuant to my authority under the New Jersey Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act and the Emergency Health Powers Act, to protect the public health, safety, and welfare against the emergency created by COVID-19, including Executive Order Nos. 104-133, Nos. 135-138, Nos. 140-166, and No. 168 (2020), the facts and circumstances of which are all adopted by reference herein; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Executive Order No. 120 (2020), the primary elections set to take place on June 2, 2020, were postponed until July 7, 2020 ("July primary elections"), because preparing for elections to take place in June during the potential height of the COVID-19 emergency would have negatively impacted election officials' preparation efforts; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 144 (2020) extended the deadline to certify election results under N.J.S.A. 19:23-55by five (5) days in order to account for the revised timeframe that Boards of Elections had to receive vote-by-mail ballots for the July 7 primary elections, thereby extending the certification deadline to July 24, 2020; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 164 (2020) postponed the annual meetings in 2020 for municipal party committees to the first Monday after the July primary election results are certified, and postponed the annual meetings in 2020 for county party committees to the first Tuesday after the July primary election results are certified; and

WHEREAS, the annual municipal party committee meetings and the annual county party committee meetings were postponed for 2020 to allow newly elected and re-elected municipal party committee members and county party committee members to be properly seated during their parties' reorganization meetings; and

WHEREAS, not every county held elections for municipal party committees and county party committees during the July primary elections; and

WHEREAS, for those municipal party committees and county party committees that did not have an election to determine their memberships, there is no need for them to postpone their annual meetings in order to [page=1592] properly seat newly elected and re-elected municipal party committee members and county party committee members; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution and statutes of the State of New Jersey, particularly the provisions of N.J.S.A. 26:13-1et seq., N.J.S.A. App. A:9-33 et seq., N.J.S.A. 38A:3-6.1, and N.J.S.A. 38A:2-4 and all amendments and supplements thereto, confer upon the Governor of the State of New Jersey certain emergency powers, which I have invoked;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, PHILIP D. MURPHY, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and by the Statutes of this State, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT: