53:2-10 Additional powers, duties of division.

5. In addition to the powers and duties elsewhere prescribed in law, the division shall have the power:

a. To determine the location, size, and suitability of accommodations necessary and desirable for the establishment and maintenance of the employment information centers provided in section 16 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-21)and for administrative offices for the division;

b. To administer and enforce the provisions of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.);

c. Consistent with the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to adopt and enforce rules and regulations as the division may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) or to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof;

d. By its members and its properly designated officers, agents, and employees, with respect to the implementation and enforcement of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.), to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the giving of testimony and the production of other evidence;

e. To have for its properly designated officers, agents and employees, full and free access, ingress, and egress to and from all vessels, piers, and other waterfront terminals or other places in the port of New York district within this State, for the purposes of making inspection or enforcing the provisions of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.); and no person shall obstruct or in any way interfere with any officer, employee, or agent of the division in the making of an inspection, or in the enforcement of the provisions of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) or in the performance of any other power or duty under P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.);

f. To recover possession of any suspended or revoked license issued pursuant to sections 6, 7, and 13 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-11, C.53:2-12, and C.53:2-18) within the port of New York district in this State;

g. To make investigations and collect and compile information concerning waterfront practices generally within the port of New York district in this State and upon all matters relating to the accomplishment of the objectives of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.);

h. To advise and consult with representatives of labor and industry and with public officials and agencies concerned with the effectuation of the purposes of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.), upon all matters which the division may desire, including but not limited to, the form and substance of rules and regulations, the administration of the provisions of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.), maintenance of the longshoremen's register, and issuance and revocation of licenses;

i. To make annual and other reports to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature containing recommendations for the improvement of the conditions of waterfront labor within the port of New York district in this State and for the effectuation of the purposes of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.). The annual reports shall state the division's findings and determinations as to whether the public necessity still exists for: (1) the continued registration of longshoremen; (2) the continued licensing of any occupation or employment required to be licensed hereunder; and (3) the continued public operation of the employment information centers provided for in section 16 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-21);

j. To co-operate with and receive from any department, division, bureau, board, commission, authority, or agency of this State, or of any county or municipality thereof, any assistance and data as will enable the division to properly to carry out its powers and duties hereunder; and to request a department, division, bureau, board, commission, authority, or agency, with the consent thereof, to execute the division's functions and powers, as the public interest may require; and

k. To exercise the powers and duties of the division as provided in P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) to its officers, employees, and agents designated by the division;

l. To issue temporary permits and permit temporary registrations under such terms and conditions as the division may prescribe which shall be valid for a period to be fixed by the division not in excess of six months;

m. To require any applicant for a license or registration or any prospective licensee to furnish facts and evidence as the division may deem appropriate to enable it to ascertain whether the license or registration should be granted;

n. In any case in which the division has the power to revoke, cancel or suspend any license, the division shall also have the power to impose as an alternative to that revocation, cancellation, or suspension, a penalty, which the licensee may elect to pay the division in lieu of the revocation, cancellation, or suspension. The maximum penalty shall be $5,000 for each separate offense. The division may, for good cause shown, abate all or part of the penalty;

o. To designate any officer, agent, or employee of the division to be an investigator who shall be vested with all the powers of a peace or police officer of the State of New Jersey;

p. To confer immunity, in the following manner prescribed by section 20 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-25);

q. To require any applicant or renewal applicant for registration as a longshoreman, any applicant or renewal applicant for registration as a checker, or any applicant or renewal applicant for registration as a telecommunications system controller and any person who is sponsored for a license as a pier superintendent or hiring agent, any person who is an individual owner of an applicant or renewal applicant stevedore, or any persons who are individual partners of an applicant or renewal applicant stevedore, or any officers, directors, or stockholders owning five percent or more of any of the stock of an applicant or renewal applicant corporate stevedore or any applicant or renewal applicant for a license as a port watchman or any other category of applicant or renewal applicant for registration or licensing within the division's jurisdiction to be fingerprinted by the division at the cost and expense of the applicant or renewal applicant;

r. To exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Bureau of Identification for use in making the determinations required by this section; and

s. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, to require any applicant for employment or employee of the division engaged in the implementation or enforcement of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) to be fingerprinted at the cost and expense of the applicant or employee and to exchange fingerprint data with and receive criminal history record information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Bureau of Identification for use in the hiring or retention of those persons.

L.2017, c.324, s.5.