The Legislative Affairs Department
The Legislative Affairs Department provides an important voice to New Jersey's working families in the halls of government at every level. The success of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO COPE program has led to the election of countless pro-working family lawmakers who, with the help of our affiliated unions, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO has lobbied successfully in support of many bills that have been signed into law.
2008 Legislative Summary To Date (July 2008):
Six months into the 2008 / 2009 Legislative Session, Governor Corzine and the Legislature have taken action on several significant labor issues. With elections quickly approaching next year, we are providing you with the votes of our elected officials on important labor issues that have passed both houses of the Legislature. Below is a brief summary of each. The roll call votes on each of the following three issues can be found by visiting: www.njaflcio.org
School Construction:
A-2873 / S-1457 (Coutinho/Rice), supported by the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, which allocates $3.9 billion for school construction, passed the Senate narrowly by a vote of 21-18, mostly along party lines. All Democrats voted yes, except Senators Jeff Van Drew (D-1) and John Adler (D-3), who voted against the bill. All Republicans present voted against the bill. The bill passed the Assembly 42-36, also mostly along party lines, with all Democrats voting yes, except Assembly members Albano (D-1), Barnes (D-17), Diegnan (D-18), Milam (D-1), Stender (D-22) and Wisniewski (D-19) who voted no. All Republicans voted against the bill, except Assemblymen John Amodeo (R-2) and Vince Polistine (R-2), who abstained. It is anticipated that Governor Corzine will soon sign the bill into law.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks those legislators that supported this important legislation that will allow for the construction of modern educational facilities for our children, as well as providing an important economic stimulus for our state in regard to job creation.
Public Employee Benefits:
The legislature acted on S-1962 / A-2818 (Buono / Sweeney / Roberts), opposed by the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, which makes various changes to public employee health insurance and pension plans, including increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 and eliminating Lincoln’s Holiday and changing eligibility thresholds for pension and health insurance for part-time workers. The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 31-8-1, with mixed support from Democrats and with all Republicans supporting, except Sen. Bill Baroni (R-14) who voted no. The bill also passed the Assembly by a vote of 52-13-14-1, also with Democrats split on the issue, and with all Republicans present voting yes, except Assemblymen Amodeo (R-2), Polistina (R-2), Merkt (R-25) and Rooney (R-39) who voted no.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO would like to thank legislators that voted against this bill because we believe that a reduction of benefits should only be negotiated in the context of the collective bargaining process, which ended nearly a year ago.
Paid Family Leave:
We are proud that New Jersey has become the third state in the nation to pass Paid Family Leave Legislation. This is a much needed and long overdue policy for New Jersey’s working families and we hope that other state’s, and eventually the federal government, will pursue and enact this pro-family policy.
In the Senate, all Democrats voted in support of the bill, except Senators Turner and Gill, who voted against it, and Sen. Rice, who did not vote. All Republicans present voted against the bill, except Sen. Baroni, who voted in support.
In the Assembly, the bill was also passed mostly along party lines. All Democrats present voted yes, except Assemblyman Milam who voted no, and Assemblywoman Joan Voss, who abstained. All Republicans voted no, except Assemblyman John Amodeo and Assemblyman Ron Dancer, who voted in favor, and Assemblyman Malone, who abstained.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO would like to thank Governor Corzine who signed the bill into law on May 2, 2008, for his long time advocacy, as well as Senate President Codey and Speaker Roberts for posting this legislation. We also would like to thank all the legislators that voted in favor of this bill, as well as the lead sponsors, Senators Steve Sweeney and Barbara Buono, Assemblyman Nelson Albano, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo.
Other Labor Issues:
Workers’ Compensation Administrative Reform Legislation:
Due to a series of articles run in the Star-Ledger in April criticizing the efficiency of the state’s workers’ compensation system, a Senate Labor Committee hearing was held on the subject. Senator Sarlo introduced a package of six bills – all focused on administrative reforms, which passed both houses of the Legislature with broad bi-partisan support. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO supported the legislative package. A brief description of the more significant bills can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.
Early Retirement Legislation:
On June 24, 2008, Governor Corzine signed an Early Retirement Incentive (ERI) program into law for certain full-time employees of State government. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO was neutral on this legislation and did not lobby for or against it. Employees of Local Government or Local Educational employers are not eligible. The ERI requires that an eligible employees must retire as of August 1, 2008 and submit an Application no later than July 15, 2008 and meet additional criteria. For details on the law, please visit:
Universal Health Care:
Senator Joe Vitale is seeking to achieve universal health care for all residents via a two phase legislative process. The first phase (S-1557), which has passed both houses with broad bi-partisan support, seeks to extend health care coverage by expanding the NJ Family Care Program to more low income parents, mandating that all children in the State have health care coverage either through public programs or private coverage; and adopting various reform measures to the individual and small employer insurance markets to increase the affordability of, and stabilize enrollment in, health benefit plans for individuals and small businesses.
Although the New Jersey State AFL-CIO strongly supports the concept of this legislation, we remained neutral because the “phase 1” legislation establishes the groundwork for the “phase 2” legislation, which we have concerns with and for which details have not been provided. The main concern with the “phase 2” legislation is two fold. First and foremost, there is no shared responsibility – in regard to employees and employers, to pay for mandated health insurance. Even the Massachusetts version of Universal Health Care, which required all residents to be insured by July 2007, required some employer responsibility - businesses with 11 or more full-time employees that do not offer health insurance must pay an annual "fair share" assessment of $295 per employee. And businesses must arrange to allow workers to pay health insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars.
The current New Jersey proposal has no requirements on employers, but allows the “pre-tax” payment. Second, due to the failure to have any employer requirements, there is a concern that employers that currently provide coverage will stop doing so to reduce costs, and simply shed this obligation to the state program. An initial study of the Massachusetts program, released in June 2008, shows that this hasn’t occurred, although health care experts believe the single year assessment does not rely on enough data to be accurate and continues to have concerns of the likelihood of employers dropping coverage. The Massachusetts law also isn’t yet fully implemented, and several factors may affect employer coverage in the future. The “phase 2” legislation has not yet been introduced.
For more information about the Legislative Affairs Department or to speak with us regarding a legislative matter, please contact Eric Richard at 609-989-8730.