Article
N.J. shifted up to $192.1M from fee-funded licensing boards
New Jersey moved up to $192.1 million in professional license fee balances to other uses from FY2015 to FY2026, OLS says, ahead of an Oct. 29 Assembly vote on A3390.
TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey moved up to $192.1 million out of the fee-funded accounts of its professional licensing boards and into other Department of Law and Public Safety uses from fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2026, according to the Legislature’s own nonpartisan budget office. That figure sits on page two of a fiscal estimate for a bill the full Assembly is scheduled to vote on Thursday, Oct. 29.
The bill, A3390, sponsored by Assemblymen Sterley S. Stanley (D-18) and Clinton Calabrese (D-36), would require the Division of Consumer Affairs to build an open data portal showing license application counts, processing times, exam pass rates and consumer complaint counts. It does not require the state to publish how much of licensees’ fees is moved out of the boards.
Image: Jersey Intel infographic. Photos: New Jersey Legislature (Stanley); Ken Lund / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) (State House).
- What we know: OLS says Law and Public Safety estimated up to $192.1 million was reallocated from board balances from FY2015 to FY2026.
- Why it matters: The boards are paid for by license fees, and the state’s own budget documents describe licensing backlogs.
- What’s next: A3390 is on the Assembly’s 1 p.m. voting session board on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Where the money went
The Office of Legislative Services wrote in its May 19, 2026 fiscal estimate that every annual budget act from FY2015 through FY2026, except FY2025, let the Attorney General reallocate unspent board balances “for other departmental purposes.” The same language appears in OLS’s estimate for A3577, a licensing-backlog report bill that passed the Assembly 76-0 on May 18 and has sat in the Senate Commerce Committee since.
In its written answers to OLS budget questions, the department said the FY2026 budget language once again requires the boards to offset State Police salaries, and it listed a projected $5 million transfer schedule:
- Medical Examiners: $2,000,000
- Nursing: $1,500,000
- Marriage Counselors: $500,000
- Real Estate Appraisers: $500,000
- Occupational Therapy: $400,000
- Social Work Examiners: $100,000
OLS’s FY2027 budget analysis says the governor’s budget recommended continuing the diversion of up to $5 million.
The math
The $192.1 million is more than 38 times the roughly $5 million the department told OLS a new licensing computer system will cost, a project it said will take about 24 months. The department’s figures also don’t line up neatly: it put transfers at $182 million through FY2023, reported no transfers in FY2024, said the salary-offset language was removed in FY2025, and projected $5 million for FY2026. That adds up to $187 million, about $5.1 million below the “up to” $192.1 million estimate, and the documents don’t explain the difference.
What changed in committee
The Assembly Regulated Professions Committee amended A3390 on May 4. The reprinted bill struck a requirement to publish the average number of days it takes to respond to a consumer complaint, and pushed the effective date from the ninth month to the eighteenth month after enactment.
Jersey Intel will report Thursday’s vote.
Tip: Licensed in New Jersey and waiting on an application? Email jerseyintel@gmail.com.
Jersey Intel asks: Should license fees stay with the boards that collect them?
