Dear Members of the Municipal Clerks’ Association of New Jersey:

As you are aware the last few weeks have been very busy as the OPRA Reform Bill has been moving forward. Senator Sarlo and Assemblyman Danielson have been working tirelessly on S-2930/A-4045. On Monday, the Assembly State and Local Government Committee and the Senate Budget Appropriations Committee moved the bill forward with amendments. The bill is scheduled for consideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee this Thursday, March 14^th with the hope that it will be considered by the full State and Assembly on Monday, March 18^th.

Please reach out to your Senator and Assembly Representatives to tell them how your office has been impacted by OPRA, any OPRA requests you received that were cumbersome, resulted in a lawsuit to your municipality, staff you may have needed to handle your OPRA requests, fines you as the Municipal Clerk were imposed because of an OPRA you handled,  or to offer your support to the proposed changes. Any and all support for this monumental bill is going to be appreciated by the sponsors who have taken the time to listen.

As Municipal Clerks, we are on the front lines dealing with OPRA on a day to day basis, who else is better than lending our experiences to our Senator and Assembly Representatives. As Municipal Clerks, we all know how OPRA impacts our offices, there is no doubt about it. With this bill, we have the opportunity before us to see the change that has been needed for years. The bill is not impeding one from filing an OPRA or preventing one from getting the records they are requesting. The bill delivers much needed reform to allow OPRA to continue the way it was properly intended.

If you have any questions on this bill, please reach out to any of us on the Executive Board.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day today to reach out to your Senator and Assembly Representatives on this important matter before them.

Michele Bobrowski, MMC, CMC, RMC, CMR, CPM

President, MCANJ