{"id":116,"date":"2017-01-11T16:46:41","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T20:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/?p=116"},"modified":"2017-01-20T16:54:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T20:54:29","slug":"groups-sue-over-nj-div-of-fish-and-wildlifes-17-year-failure-to-timely-provide-annual-reports-to-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/?p=116","title":{"rendered":"Groups sue over NJ Div. of Fish and Wildlife\u2019s 17 year failure to timely provide annual reports to the public"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dantelawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Image-Government-Transparency-US-Capitol.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-117\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dantelawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Image-Government-Transparency-US-Capitol.jpg?resize=300%2C110\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"110\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dantelawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Image-Government-Transparency-Good-Govt.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-118 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dantelawyer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Image-Government-Transparency-Good-Govt.jpg?resize=300%2C160\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>January 11, 2017.\u00a0 Today, Dante DiPirro, an environmental and animal lawyer, asked the NJ Appellate Division at oral argument to rule that the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife had failed to timely provide annual reports to the public for the past 17 years.\u00a0 On behalf of a coalition of grassroots groups who sued, he further asked the Court to compel the Division to complete each annual report by the statutory deadline of November 30<sup>th<\/sup>, and simultaneously post the report on the internet and provide copies to the New Jersey State Library for permanent public access and use, as required by Title 52.<\/p>\n<p>In 1895, the Legislature enacted legislation in Title 23 that requires the Division (then Commissioners) to report to the Legislature annually, \u201cat the annual meeting thereof,\u201d on all of its operations for the fiscal year.\u00a0 Simultaneously, the Legislature enacted legislation in Title 52 that imposes a duty on all commissions that are required to present annuals report to the Governor or Legislature to present a copy of the report to the Governor on or before November 30<sup>th<\/sup> , and establishes a penalty for a failure to timely complete and present (officer responsible forfeits half of his or her salary from November 30<sup>th<\/sup> until the report is presented).\u00a0 Title 52 also mandates that all commissions provide public access by: (1)posting a copy of the annual report on the internet, and (2)filing one electronic copy and at least one hard copy with the New Jersey State Library \u201cfor permanent public access and use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the past 17 years, the Division has failed to issue timely annual reports and make them available to the public by November 30<sup>th<\/sup> (for the fiscal year ending June 30<sup>th<\/sup>):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For ten years in a row \u2013 from Fiscal Year 2000 through FY 2009 \u2013 the Division failed to even create an annual report.<\/li>\n<li>In 2010, when the Division missed the November 30<sup>th<\/sup> deadline, and Appellant was compelled to file a law suit.\u00a0 In response to the suit, the Division completed and posted a FY2010 annual report on the web.\u00a0 The posting, although 31.7 months late, allowed the suit to be settled.<\/li>\n<li>In FYs 2011 \u2013 2014, despite the Division\u2019s acknowledgement in the settlement that it had an annual reporting obligation, the Division failed to timely issue and make available annual reports to the public (i.e. FY2011 report was posted on the web 19.6 months late, FY2012 report posted 7.4 months late, FY2013 report posted 10.8 months late, and FY2014 report posted 6.4 months late).<\/li>\n<li>In 2014, Appellants were compelled to file this lawsuit.<\/li>\n<li>In 2015, while this lawsuit was still pending, the Division failed to issue and post the FY2015 annual report by the November 30<sup>th<\/sup> deadline, and Appellants amended the Notice of Appeal to add that failure.<\/li>\n<li>In 2016, while this suit was awaiting oral argument, the Division failed to file and post the FY2016 annual report by the November 30<sup>th<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Division\u2019s repeated and on-going failure to complete and make annual reports available to the public by the November 30<sup>th<\/sup> deadline not only violates the NJ statutes, \u00a0but causes real and significant harm to the public in terms of government transparency, participatory democracy, and the protection of wildlife which is a public resource.\u00a0 Without timely annual reports, the public cannot know what the Division is doing and planning and where its tax dollars are being spent, cannot meaningfully participate in wildlife policy decision-making, and cannot advocate for humane treatment of wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Before and throughout this lawsuit, the Division has adamantly refused to acknowledge that it has any deadline to complete an annual report or make it available to the public. It contends as a legal matter that it can get to it when it gets to it. \u00a0The Division\u2019s position violates the express requirements and Legislative intent of Titles 23 and 52, which require that all agencies timely issue annual reports and make them available to the public on the web and in the NJ State Library for \u201cpermanent public access and use.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 11, 2017.\u00a0 Today, Dante DiPirro, an environmental and animal lawyer, asked the NJ Appellate Division at oral argument to rule that the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife had failed to timely provide annual reports to the public for the past 17 years.\u00a0 On behalf of a coalition of grassroots groups who sued, he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Groups sue over NJ Div. of Fish and Wildlife\u2019s 17 year failure to timely provide annual reports to the public","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[45,62,18,64,63,61,49],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal","category-environmental","tag-animal-lawyer","tag-annual-report","tag-environmental-lawyer","tag-government-failure-to-act","tag-government-transparency","tag-new-jersey-division-of-fish-and-wildlife","tag-wildlife"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p51aGD-1S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dantelawyer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}