Morris Lawmaker Wants Constitutional Amendment For Church Repairs

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A state assemblyman from Morris County is proposing a state constitutional amendment that would make the county's practice of giving historical preservation grants to local churches legal.

Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, a Republican, has introduced a bill to propose amending the New Jersey State Constitution to allow historic preservation trust fund money to be allocated to religious buildings. Morris County's practice of giving historic preservation grants to local churches was deemed unconstitutional in an April 2018 New Jersey State Supreme Court ruling.

"The proud places of worship that dot the state landscape have great historic significance to our towns and residents," said Bucco. "Some of these structures played significant roles in our history. It is critically important to provide a mechanism for the counties to continue to provide funding from our historic preservation trust funds to preserve these historic structures. Without the ability to fund necessary repairs, we run the risk of losing these historic buildings forever, causing a negative impact on our communities."

The bill, ACR235, is just the first step in a possible constitutional amendment. The final step would be approval from voters during a general election.

Between 2012 and 2015, $11 million worth of grant money was awarded through the Morris County Historic Preservation Grant programs to local churches for various structural repairs, including work done on buildings, towers, windows, and more. All of the benefiting religious buildings were Christian churches.

The Board of Chosen Freeholders, who run the grant program, was sued by the Wisconsin based non-profit Freedom From Religion Foundation and David Steketee, a member of the group and a Morris County resident. The Somerset County court first ruled in favor of the Freeholders in 2017 before the state Supreme Court took up the case. After the State Supreme Court found that the program violated the state constitution's establishment clause, the county appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case, leaving the lower courts's ruling to stand.

"The use of public funds to pay for those repairs violated the plain language of the Religious Aid Clause," New Jersey Supreme Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote.

"The [Religious Aid] clause does not ask about the governing body's intent— that is, whether the authorities meant to fund repairs to churches, to preserve history and promote tourism, or both," Rabner said.

The Religious Aid Clause of the New Jersey Constitution reads: "[no] person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right or has deliberately and voluntarily engaged to perform."

Amending the State's constitution is the only avenue to legalize awarding grants to religious institutions.