Budget Panel To Review Law & Public Safety, Corrections & Parole Board

TRENTON – The Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee will continue its review of Governor Chris Christie’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal on Tuesday when the panel hears from the Department of Law & Public Safety, the Department of Corrections and the Parole Board. The committee will hear from Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino, Corrections Commissioner Gary M. Lanigan and James T. Plousis, chairman of the Parole Board.

Among the issues that will be discussed are the Legislature’s resistance to new handgun regulations, the reduction in support for Legal Services, sanctuary jurisdictions, immigration enforcement, the surge in hate crimes, bail reform, the 9-1-1 NextGen technology, the transformation of Mid-State Correctional Facility to a “drug treatment correctional facility,” prison consolidation and solitary confinement, said Senator Paul Sarlo, the chairman of the budget committee.

The discussion will focus on how county prosecutors are managing bail reform; how the State Police is prepared to respond to the national surge in hate crimes and whether the state, county or local police forces are being drawn into immigration enforcement, among other aspects of the budget, Senator Sarlo said.

The hearings will be held in Committee Room 4, 1^st Floor of the State House Annex on Tuesday, April 25^th with the Department of Law & Public Safety appearing at 10:00 a.m. and the Department of Corrections/State Parole Board at 2:00 p.m.

The session will be available via OLS’s audio link: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp