26A — July 2024 — New Jersey — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
N ew J ersey
By Jennifer Benthin, Verdantas NJ OPRA Guideline Amended – Not so open anymore through commission, salary, or fee.”
O
and costs associated with requests and more difficulty in access to records critical to due diligence efforts. The bill includes a require- ment to certify that the in- formation received won’t be used for commercial purposes; labor organizations, political groups, non-profits, and media are exempted. Commercial purpose is de- fined as, “the direct or indirect use of any part of a govern- ment record for sale, resale, solicitation, rent, or lease of a service, or any use by which the user expects a profit either
n June 5th, 2024, NJ Governor Phil Murphy signed Sen-
maintained by government en- tities in NJ, and is a backbone of real estate due diligence evaluations and litigation. In 2023 more than 250,000 requests were submitted. The changes were initially con- sidered to reduce the overall number of requests submitted, to discourage data brokers from submitting requests for information to be sold, and to strengthen protections of con- fidential personal identifiers. The changes could have unintended consequences for the real estate sector, including increased risks
access, acted in bad faith, or willfully violated OPRA.” Another risk to requestors is the possibility of litigation. Government entities can file suit against requestors for seeking records with “the in- tent to substantially impair the performance of govern- ment function.” The legislation does not define that standard. Firms that perform a high vol- ume of transactions and their professional consultants will be at risk. The provisions in the new law that affect ease of access could also be detrimental to industry professionals. For example, records custodians can deny requests for corre- spondence including letters, emails, texts, and social media posts, when details regarding job title or account, specific subject matter, and time frame are left out. A specification within the up - dated legislation disallows the submittal of identical requests. Additionally, there are spe- cific requirements regarding OPRA submittals which are related to a legal proceeding. For example, requestors are now required to certify wheth- er a request is associated to litigation. Requests for records that are also subject to a court order or discovery requests are no longer allowed. As each of New Jersey’s 21 counties and 564 municipali- ties comes to terms with the requirements, we expect new delays and new challenges to OPRA requests. The bill is ul - timately designed to increase access to files by appropriating funds to make records avail- able online, but the change is expected to be slow. MAREJ
The bill could change costs to process OPRA requests. It presumes that fees charged to process requests are reason- able, if a requestor disagrees, they must present clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. This provision could discourage requestors from challenging fees charged. Additionally, when the new legislation becomes effective in September, attorney fees will only be awarded if “the public agency has been determined to have unreasonably denied
ate Bill No. 2930 (Sec- ond Reprint) modifying the State of New Jersey’s Open Pub - lic Records Act (OPRA) N . J . S . A . 47:1A-1 et
Jennifer Benthin
seq.; the revisions take effect in September. OPRA is the law allowing the public access to non-confidential public records
EXCLUSIVE PROPERTIES FOR SALE
Baltimore, MD 60 Residential Units Barry Waisbrod ext 272
Newark, NJ Approved Site | 40 Units Tom Scatuorchio ext 255
Dunellen, NJ Approved Site | 33 Units Max Levinston ext 308
NJPA
a section of the MARE Journal Phone: 781-740-2900 www.marej.com
Linden, NJ 2 Retail Units + Offices Above Jeff Squires ext 246
Maplewood, NJ 2 Retail Units + Single Family House Scott Davidovic ext 290
Orlando, FL 70,300 SF Retail Barry Waisbrod ext 272
S ection P ublishers Linda Christman lchristman@marejournal.com Lea Christman lea@marejournal.com
S ection E ditor Karen Vachon
The Kislak Company, Inc. | kislakrealty.com | 732 750 3000
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator