STATE OF NEW JERSEY

ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2444

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MARCH 20, 2017

The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 2444.

This bill requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to enable NJMCDirect, the Internet site through which parking and traffic tickets may be processed online, to process payments 24 hours a day.

Currently, NJMCDirect may be utilized to process parking and traffic ticket payments online Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 11:45 p.m., Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 10:45 p.m., Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.

In addition, the bill provides that if further development or enhancement of the NJMCDirect Internet site is deemed necessary in order to enable NJMCDirect to process payments 24 hours a day, the Administrative Office of the Courts is required to immediately enable NJMCDirect to process payments online 16 hours per day. The Administrative Office of the Courts would have 120 days following the effective date of the bill to design, equip, operate and maintain NJMCDirect to process payments 24 hours a day, with the exception of daily forced logoff periods.

FISCAL IMPACT: The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) states that the

Judiciary is unable to determine the magnitude or the complexity of the modifications necessitated to NJMCDirect and associated systems.

The AOC noted that NJMCDirect's current downtime permits the execution of essential systematic and processing functions enabling third-party payment processing vendors to settle transactions; allowing for the implementation of various system modifications, maintenance and updates; enabling security revisions to be implemented; and permitting batch processing applications. These batch processing applications are essential as they enable other distinct Judiciary and third-party information and processing systems to initiate calendar updates, allow for the generation of detailed statistical and financial reports, authorize the initiation of various court, motor vehicle-related and/or payment-related notices, and launch financial and case recotnciliation programs, etc. In addition, the Judiciary executes an Agency-wide quarterly mainframe initial program load (IPL), which requires all of the Agency's systems be shut down for approximately 8 hours for maintenance, updates, security patching, etc.

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To address the bill's requirements, NJMCDirect's platform and application system need to be thoroughly assessed, and appropriate programming changes identified and implemented to enhance the system's ability to capably support continuous service operation. Further, the NJMCDirect system requires substantial hardware enhancements and acquisitions to ensure the system is capable and reliable to provide continual, problem-free service.

In addition to the NJMCDirect system, each independent system that interfaces with NJMCDirect needs to be independently evaluated and reprogrammed appropriately to ensure compatibility with the system enhancements and modifications to NJMCdirect. These systems include, but are not limited to, the Municipal Court's Automatic Traffic System Automated Complaint System (ATS/ACS), Motor Vehicle Commission systems (New Jersey Surcharge Violation System and New Jersey Surcharge Billing and Collection System, etc.), and the financial settlement system of each third-party payment processing vendor.

The AOC stated that the bill would require significant alteration to NJMCDirect's existing batch cycles. Interfaces between NJMCDirect and each system with which NJMCDirect communicates needs to be revised/rewritten. Once all modifications have been addressed, significant testing is required to ensure the interaction between NJMCDirect and each of the independent interfacing systems is entirely problem-free.

Although the Judiciary was unable to determine the magnitude or the complexity of the modifications necessitated to NJMCDirect, ATS/ACS, the batch cycles or the interfaces, it anticipated that a minimum of ten to twelve months would be required to address the issues involved in enabling the NJMCDirect system to operate 24 hours a day.

While it was not possible to estimate the fiscal impact of the legislation with any certainty, the Judiciary anticipated minimum expenditures of $2 million. However, the Judiciary added that expenditures could substantially exceed the $2 million level.

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