New Jersey § 52:14-7

§ 52:14-7.

a. Every person holding an office, employment, or position (1) in the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial Branch of this State, or (2) with an authority, board, body, agency, commission, or instrumentality of the

State including any State college, university, or other higher educational institution,

and, to the extent consistent with law, any interstate agency to which New Jersey

is a party, or (3) with a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State or an

authority, board, body, agency, district, commission, or instrumentality of the county,

municipality, or subdivision, or (4) with a school district or an authority, board, body, agency, commission, or instrumentality

of the district, shall have his or her principal residence in this State and shall execute such office,

employment, or position. This residency requirement shall not apply to any person: (a) who is employed on

a temporary or per-semester basis as a visiting professor, teacher, lecturer, or researcher

by any State college, university, or other higher educational institution, or county

or community college, or in a full or part-time position as a member of the faculty,

the research staff, or the administrative staff by any State college, university,

or other higher educational institution, or county or community college, that the

college, university, or institution has included in the report required to be filed

pursuant to this subsection; (b) who is employed full-time by the State who serves

in an office, employment, or position that requires the person to spend the majority

of the person's working hours in a location outside of this State; or (c) an officer

of the waterfront commission of New York harbor, employed by the commission on the

effective date of P.L.2017, c.234 c.324 ( C.32:23-229 et al.), who seeks to be transferred to the Division of State Police in the Department

of Law and Public Safety pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2017, c.234 c.324 ( C.53:2-9 ). This residency requirement shall not apply to any person who is hired by the New Jersey

Transit Corporation as an engineer or mechanic, or any other position certified by

the board of directors as a position of critical need. For the purposes of this subsection, a person may have at most one principal residence,

and the state of a person's principal residence means the state (1) where the person

spends the majority of the person's nonworking time, and (2) which is most clearly

the center of the person's domestic life, and (3) which is designated as the person's

legal address and legal residence for voting. The fact that a person is domiciled in this State shall not by itself satisfy the

requirement of principal residency hereunder. A person, regardless of the office, employment, or position, who holds an office,

employment, or position in this State on the effective date of P.L.2011, c. 70 1 but does not have principal residence in this State on that effective date shall

not be subject to the residency requirement of this subsection while the person continues

to hold office, employment, or position without a break in public service of greater

than seven days. Any person may request an exemption from the provisions of this subsection on the

basis of critical need or hardship from a five-member committee hereby established

to consider applications for exemptions. The committee shall be composed of three persons appointed by the Governor, a person

appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, and a person appointed by the President

of the Senate, each of whom shall serve at the pleasure of the person making the appointment

and shall have a term not to exceed five years. A vacancy on the committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment

was made. The Governor shall make provision to provide such clerical, secretarial, and administrative

support to the committee as may be necessary for it to conduct its responsibilities

pursuant to this subsection. The decision on whether to approve an application from any person shall be made by

a majority vote of the members of the committee, and those voting in the affirmative

shall so sign the approved application. If the committee fails to act on an application within 30 days after the receipt

thereof, no exemption shall be granted and the residency requirement of this subsection

shall be operative. The head of a principal department of the Executive Branch of the State government,

a Justice of the Supreme Court, judge of the Superior Court, and judge of any inferior

court established under the laws of this State shall not be eligible to request from

the committee an exemption from the provisions of this subsection. The exemption provided in this subsection for certain persons employed by a State

college, university, or other higher educational institution, or a county or community

college, other than those employed on a temporary or per-semester basis as a visiting

professor, teacher, lecturer, or researcher, shall apply only to those persons holding

positions that the college, university, or institution has included in a report of

those full or part-time positions as a member of the faculty, the research staff,

or the administrative staff requiring special expertise or extraordinary qualifications

in an academic, scientific, technical, professional, or medical field or in administration,

that, if not exempt from the residency requirement, would seriously impede the ability

of the college, university, or institution to compete successfully with similar colleges,

universities, or institutions in other states. The report shall be compiled annually and shall also contain the reasons why the

positions were selected for inclusion in the report. The report shall be compiled and filed within 60 days following the effective date

of P.L.2011, c. 70 . The report shall be reviewed, revised as necessary, and filed by January 1 of each

year thereafter. Each report shall be filed with the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c. 164 ( C.52:14-19.1 ), with the Legislature, and a report may be revised at any time by filing an amendment

to the report with the Governor and Legislature. As used in this section, “ school district ” means any local or regional school district established pursuant to chapter 8 or

chapter 13 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes 2 and any jointure commission, county vocational school, county special services district,

educational services commission, educational research and demonstration center, environmental

education center, and educational information and resource center. b. If any person holding any office, employment, or other position in this State shall

attempt to let, farm out, or transfer office, employment, or position or any part

thereof to any person, the person shall forfeit the sum of $1,500, to be recovered

with costs by any person who shall sue for the same, one-half to the prosecutor and

the other half to the State Treasurer for the use of the State. c. No person shall be appointed to or hold any position in this State who has not

the requisite qualifications for personally performing the duties of such position

in cases where scientific engineering skill is necessary to the performance of the

duties thereof. d. Any person holding or attempting to hold an office, employment, or position in

violation of this section shall be considered as illegally holding or attempting to

hold the same; provided that a person holding an office, employment, or position

in this State shall have one year from the time of taking the office, employment,

or position to satisfy the requirement of principal residency, and if thereafter the

person fails to satisfy the requirement of principal residency as defined herein with

respect to any 365-day period, that person shall be deemed unqualified for holding

the office, employment, or position. The Superior Court shall, in a civil action in lieu of prerogative writ, give judgment

of ouster against the person, upon the complaint of any officer or citizen of the

State, provided that any complaint shall be brought within one year of the alleged

365-day period of failure to have the person's principal residence in this State. 1

L.2011, c. 70, eff. Sept. 1, 2011. 2

N.J.S.A. § 18A:8-1 et seq. and § 18A:13-1 et seq.