32:23-118 - Temporary suspension of permits, licenses and registrations for indictment or other charge of crime
32:23-118 Temporary suspension of permits, licenses and registrations for indictment or other charge of crime.
1. 5-q. (1) The commission may temporarily suspend a temporary permit or a permanent license or a temporary or permanent registration pursuant to the provisions of section 4 of Article XI of this act until further order of the commission or final disposition of the underlying case, only where the permittee, licensee or registrant has been indicted for, or otherwise charged with, a crime which is equivalent to a felony in the State of New York or to a crime of the third, second, or first degree in the State of New Jersey or only where the permittee or licensee is a port watchman who is charged by the commission pursuant to Article XI of this act with misappropriating any other person's property at or on a pier or other waterfront terminal.
(2)In the case of a permittee, licensee or registrant who has been indicted for, or otherwise charged with, a crime, the temporary suspension shall terminate immediately upon acquittal or upon dismissal of the criminal charge. A person whose permit, license or registration has been temporarily suspended may, at any time, demand that the commission conduct a hearing as provided for in Article XI of this act. Within 60 days of such demand, the commission shall commence the hearing and, within 30 days of receipt of the administrative law judge's report and recommendation, the commission shall render a final determination thereon; provided, however, that these time requirements, shall not apply for any period of delay caused or requested by the permittee, licensee or registrant. Upon failure of the commission to commence a hearing or render a determination within the time limits prescribed herein, the temporary suspension of the permittee, licensee or registrant shall immediately terminate. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, if a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or prosecutor's office shall request the suspension or deferment of any hearing on the ground that such a hearing would obstruct or prejudice an investigation or prosecution, the commission may in its discretion, postpone or defer such hearing for a time certain or indefinitely. Any action by the commission to postpone a hearing shall be subject to immediate judicial review as provided in section 7 of Article XI of this act.
(3)The commission may, within its discretion, bar any permittee, licensee or registrant who has been suspended pursuant to the provisions of subsection (1) above, from any employment by a licensed stevedore or a carrier of freight by water, if that individual has been indicted or otherwise charged in any federal, state or territorial proceeding with any crime involving the possession with intent to distribute, sale or distribution of a controlled dangerous substance or controlled dangerous substance analog, racketeering or theft from a pier or waterfront terminal.
L.1976, c.102, s.1; amended 2005, c.313, s.9; 2007, c.333, s.3.