New Jersey – Major Campaign Finance and Pay-to-Play Changes Enacted

The New Jersey “Election Transparency Act,” P.L. 2023, c.30, has been signed into law.  The legislation’s measures represent sweeping changes to the State’s campaign finance and pay-to-play laws.  Most significantly, most contribution limits have been raised and will now be mandatorily pegged to inflation.  Additionally, all local pay-to-play laws have been superseded by new State law that exempts political parties from any contribution restrictions and extends the “fair and open process” exemption to all executive and independent agency contracts.  While many provisions of the law take immediate effect, most of the campaign finance changes will become effective after the June 6, 2023 Primary election.