Sept 2024

CAI-NJ Challenge to Department of Community Affairs (DCA)

Radburn Regulations By J. David Ramsey, Esq., CCAL, Becker

“As is often the case in complex litigation, CAI-NJ was successful on several of its claims, but not all. “

I n 2017, the New Jersey legislature adopted, and the governor signed, what is commonly known as the Radburn Election Law. That law provided common sense requirements to be followed by community associations when carrying out elections. The New Jersey Legislative Action Committee (NJ-LAC) worked with then Senator Robert Gordon to ensure that the statute would create open and transparent elections of the members of a governing board without unduly burdening the association. The law was well accepted and worked as intended until May of 2020 when, in the midst of the pandemic, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) pub lished regulations under the Radburn Election Law that went well beyond the confines of that law. In August of 2019, the LAC had commented extensively on the DCA regula

tions, pointing out where they were unduly burdensome or unauthorized by the law previously adopted. When the DCA published the final regulations, it ignored virtually all the comments offered by the LAC. In 2021, CAI-NJ authorized the filing of suit against the DCA seeking to invalidate or force a modification of a number of the regulations. After several procedural litigation hurdles were resolved the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court published its decision on February 23, 2024. As is often the case in complex litigation, CAI NJ was successful on several of its claims, but not all. The main issues resolved by the court are as follows: • The challenge to counting votes publicly, which can result in sacrificing anonymity when the count occurs in person, was rejected. The Court found that since one CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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SEPTEMBER 2024