1. a. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall establish a regional municipal court pilot program in no fewer than two qualified counties and no fewer than five municipalities in each county. The pilot program shall take place only in municipalities and counties that apply to the Administrative Office of the Courts to participate. The Administrative Director of the Courts in consultation with the assignment judges shall select appropriate counties and municipalities from a list of those counties and municipalities that have applied for the program for the implementation of the program.

b. Any qualified county that has considered municipal court consolidation on a county-wide basis prior to the enactment of P.L.2021, c.191 (C. 2B:12-34 et seq.) may submit that information to the Administrative Director of the Courts and that county shall be included in the pilot program.

c. To qualify for selection under this section, a county shall have a population of less than 300,000 and a population density of less than 500 people per square mile according to the 2010 decennial census. If one county in a multi-county vicinage qualifies, all the counties in the vicinage qualify. The population and population density figures set forth in subsection e. of N.J.S. 2B:12-1 shall not apply to any regional municipal court in any county participating in this pilot program, including any county included pursuant to subsection b. of this section.

L.2021, c.191, s.1.