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IT'S ALL ABOUT GETTING THE STATE BUDGET PUT TO BED, this includes potential revisions of the pension process and how to handle school construction funding for Abbott districts which could also impact regular operating districts - GSCS is watching how process is developing...At the same time, bills are moving through education committees that will impact school districts. One such is giving emergrency powers to the Commissioner to put accountability regulations in place immediately. These regulations will impct all districts right away, and include much on budgeting process and executive county superintendent roles & requirements of the job. Click on More below to see Assembly Education Committee agenda for June 12 & read relevant article and editorial........................................................................................................................................................................ Pension reform's moment - Sunday Star Ledger, June 08, 2008
Sunday 6-8-08, N.J. budget talks hit home stretch- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ... 'New Jersey legislators trying to keep hopes for a mid-June budget agreement alive also plan action in the coming weeks on several other key issues, including measures meant to address housing costs, school construction and economic worries...'
'Proposed: Voters to OK all borrowing'
Amendment to rein in state debt advances, the Ledger,
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JOSEPH CRYAN Chairman JOAN M. VOSS Vice-Chair PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR. MILA M. JASEY PAUL D. MORIARTY NELLIE POU RUBEN J. RAMOS, JR. JOSEPH VAS AMY H. HANDLIN JOSEPH R. MALONE, III SCOTT T. RUMANA DAVID W. WOLFE
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KATHLEEN FAZZARI ALLEN T. DUPREE Office of Legislative Services Committee Aides (609) 984-6843 (609) 984-9808 fax |
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N e w J e r s e y S t a t e L e g i s l a t u r e STATE HOUSE ANNEX |
C O M M I T T E E N O T I C E
TO: MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
FROM: ASSEMBLYMAN JOSEPH CRYAN, CHAIRMAN
SUBJECT: COMMITTEE MEETING - JUNE 12, 2008
The public may address comments and questions to Kathleen Fazzari, Allen T. Dupree, Committee Aides, or make bill status and scheduling inquiries to Bernadette Lecato, Secretary, at (609)984-6843, fax (609)984-9808, or e-mail: OLSAideAED@njleg.org. Written and electronic comments, questions and testimony submitted to the committee by the public, as well as recordings and transcripts, if any, of oral testimony, are government records and will be available to the public upon request.
The Assembly Education Committee will meet on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM in Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex,
The committee will receive testimony from Scott A. Weiner,
The following bills will be considered:
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A-267 Vandervalk/Conners/Voss/Cohen |
Requires training in diabetes care for certain school employees and use of medical management plans in schools for students with diabetes. |
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A-347 Diegnan |
Abigail's Law; requires that newly-manufactured school buses be equipped with sensors. |
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A-414 Handlin/Greenstein |
Requires school bus drivers to have annual physical. |
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A-416 Handlin/Greenstein (pending referral) |
Requires establishment of prequalification process for prospective bidders on school district transportation contracts; authorizes debarment of bidders convicted of certain crimes; authorizes disqualification of bidder or termination of contract for certain crimes by an employee. |
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A-467 Malone/Cryan/Voss |
Establishes Task Force to study the benefits of student recess and make recommendations on advisability of mandatory recess in school districts. |
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A-1262 Moriarty |
Requires DOE to post information on website concerning incidents in which a pupil is left on a school bus at the end of a driver's route; permits commissioner to fine busing providers for such incidents. |
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A-1537 Greenstein/Handlin |
Authorizes a board of education to reject the lowest bid for a school transportation contract based on the school bus safety inspection record of the bidder. |
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A-2895 Cryan |
Provides DOE statutory authority for State-issued high school diplomas and rulemaking authority in regard to not for profit third parties that administer General Educational Development (GED) testing. |
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A-2965 Moriarty (pending intro. & referral) |
Establishes Commissioner of Education as the rule-making authority under several school district accountability statutes. |
Issued 6/6/2008
June 8, 2008
N.J. budget talks hit home stretch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Jersey legislators trying to keep hopes for a mid-June budget agreement alive also plan action in the coming weeks on several other key issues, including measures meant to address housing costs, school construction and economic worries.
But with the state's July 1 constitutional deadline to adopt a new budget looming,
legislators and Gov. Corzine are trying to reach agreement on his cost-cutting $32.8 billion spending plan.
Lawmakers have missed the deadline four times since 2002, but only during 2006 did the dispute close government, when it took until July 8 to adopt a state budget.
"We're getting there, but not yet,'' Senate Budget Chairwoman Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, said last week after private meetings between the governor and lawmakers failed to produce an agreement.
Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, is confident an agreement is near.
"We'll certainly meet our June 30 constitutional deadline to have our budget passed,'' he said.
Legislators still question Corzine's plans to save $136 million by offering retirement
incentives to 3,000 workers, though they've also proposed cutting taxpayer-paid benefits for newly hired government workers to try to balance the retirement costs.
Corzine contends the move would save money and reshape state government, but legislators note it would also increase taxpayer-paid retirement benefits for state workers. One possible move involves increasing the eligibility age for retirement incentives from 50 to closer to 60.
Corzine's budget plan calls for $2.9 billion in cuts amid economic woes.
It proposes cutting state funding for property tax rebates, municipalities, hospitals,
colleges and nursing homes and seeks new Medicaid copays and higher copays for a prescription drug program for the elderly and disabled.
"It is not easy,'' Corzine said. "We've had to make horrific choices, things that break
your heart.''
Legislators are looking to restore aid for hospitals and municipalities and eliminate the proposed copays, but they haven't unveiled alternatives with Corzine insisting the state spend no more than $32.8 billion.
Meanwhile, the Senate budget committee will hold a Monday public hearing on a plan to ask voters to amend the state Constitution to require public approval for state borrowing.
The state has about $32 billion in debt, making it the nation's fourth-most indebted state.
Since 1990, voters have approved $3 billion in borrowing while the state has borrowed $24 billion without voter approval. This includes borrowing for school construction, public worker pensions and to balance annual spending.
The hearing comes as Corzine tries to get legislators to approve $2.5 billion for more Supreme Court-ordered school construction. Legislators haven't taken action on that plan, though Corzine has told the court he would push legislators to approve it by June 30. Some lawmakers want voters to decide the borrowing.
"It should be put before the public this November, and hopefully we're moving in that direction,'' Buono said.
But Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, said waiting until November would risk increased construction costs.
"We need to get it down now,'' Rice said.
Other measures on tap include:
Reforming state affordable housing laws, most notably by abolishing the state law that allows suburban municipalities to avoid state-mandated affordable housing obligations by paying poorer cities to provide the housing.
Combating mortgage foreclosures. New Jersey has the nation's 13th highest foreclosure rate. One measure would impose a $2,000 fee on subprime loans issued by lenders to raise up to $33 million to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Legislation to extend all state and local government construction permits through 2012. Sponsors said many permits are scheduled to expire because of the inability of banking, real estate and construction companies to obtain financing in the economic downturn, but the bill is opposed by environmentalists.
Pension reform's moment
Sunday, June 08, 2008
After wasting a prime opportunity 17 months ago to substantially re vise the state's pension system, a group of lawmakers now wants to have another go at it. Wisely, they plan to use the looming July 1 budget deadline as leverage.
Sen. Barbara Buono, who chairs the Senate budget committee, and Sen. Stephen Sweeney, a champion of scaling back state employee benefits, want the $33 billion budget considered in tandem with a revision of the pension system. It's a smart strategy.
Buono and Sweeney realize that the pressure to get the budget passed by the end of the month offers a unique opportunity to get a long-sought, controversial overhaul of the pension system through the Legislature.
The last time there was seri ous discussion among legislators about reducing the state's pension obligations, Gov. Jon Corzine silenced the talks.
The governor said he alone would address the problem and that would occur at the bargaining table. He did have some success -- moving the retirement age from 55 to 60 for future workers and getting employee pension contributions hiked from 5 percent to 5.5 percent. Fine, but not close to what lawmakers had in mind.
Now Buono, Sweeney and others want to pick up where they left off in December 2006. Specifically, they want to eliminate defined-benefit pensions for part-time employees -- state workers who put in less than 35 hours a week and local government workers who log less than 30 hours a week. They also would have to earn $5,000 -- currently $1,500 -- before being eligible for a 401(k)-type pension program. Employees could amass pension credits for just one government job, and their pensions would be based on an average of the five highest earning years rather than the current three. All changes would apply to future government hires.
Revival of the pension changes comes as Corzine is pushing a reluctant Legislature to approve an early retirement plan that he touts as a way to save the state about $117.5 million next year. Many lawmakers are justifiably concerned that the governor's plan, which aims to pare 3,000 workers from the payroll, would cost too much by prematurely increasing pension obligations. The pension revisions that they want considered would be a way of partially offsetting the cost of the early retirement plan.
In pushing for pension revisions, Buono, Sweeney and oth ers realize that if it's not done now, the opportunity may be lost for years. All 80 Assembly members and the governor will be running for re-election next year, making consideration of anything even slightly controversial unthinkable. That means the generous pension program will continue to strain the treasury at least until 2011. The state can't wait that long.
Proposed: Voters to OK all borrowing Amendment to rein in state debt advances Sunday, June 08, 2008 BY CLAIRE HEININGER Star-Ledger Staff After maxing out their credit card to one of the heaviest debt loads in the nation, state lawmakers may soon need voters' permission before they can borrow again. A constitutional amendment that would require voters to greenlight future state borrowing is gaining steam in Trenton, reflecting public frustration over a perceived addiction to spending and the state's fiscal crisis. The idea was embraced in January by Gov. Jon Corzine, who made it part of his broad financial restructuring plan. While that plan's centerpiece -- drastically cutting debt through dramatic toll hikes -- collapsed, the borrowing amendment quietly advanced in the Legislature and has a decent chance to make the November ballot, lawmakers say. "I think our debt is so overwhelming that people are realizing it's a threat to the state," said Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon), who pushed the amendment for years. "I'm pleased, although we're not home yet." New Jersey is struggling with more than $32 billion in state debt, the third-highest in the country. All but $3 billion was issued without voter backing. Through the years, lawmakers and governors borrowed without voter approval for schools, highways, open space -- even balancing the state budget, a practice now banned by the state Supreme Court. In the budget year that begins next month, taxpayers will shell out $2.7 billion to pay off these debts. The state constitution already says voters must approve borrowing, but lawmakers routinely have dodged the requirement by authorizing quasi-state agencies to issue billions in debt, and promising to repay it through the state budget. That strategy would be prohibited under the amendment, which cleared an Assembly committee last week and is scheduled for a public hearing before a Senate committee tomorrow. It has the support of Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), but Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) hasn't made up his mind. Codey said he needs to take "a long, hard look" to make sure it's "not tying a future governor's and Legislature's hands" should a need for emergency borrowing arise. "There are times when you'd need to do it and do it right away and not necessarily wait for an election," he said. Critics of the amendment say it would sap power from legislators elected to make intricate decisions, and turn complex borrowing schemes into yes-or-no issues vulnerable to voters' snap judgments. "Simple bumper-sticker politics do not lend themselves to (that) kind of decision-making," said Steve Wollmer, spokesman for the powerful New Jersey Education Association teachers union. "It would really limit or potentially cripple the state's ability to make timely investments for the public good." But supporters of the amendment say lawmakers have proven incapable of putting on the brakes. "You always have to borrow, but you need to slow down the pace," said Hyman Grossman, retired managing director of Standard & Poor's Ratings Group and an observer of New Jersey budgets. Corzine touted it as part of his financial reforms, but it got a fraction of the attention paid to the aggressive toll hike plan he pitched in town hall meetings. He acknowledges that part of his plan is dead, but says the amendment -- along with freezing spending and trying to match spending to revenues -- helps keep his promise of getting the state's fiscal house in order. Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), a primary sponsor of the amendment, said the aborted toll plan did highlight the state's fiscal woes. "The public is demanding that we make reforms like this or else they're not going to support anything we do to solve our debt problem," he said. Corzine has drawn cries of hypocrisy for backing the amendment while pushing $2.5 billion in new nonvoter-approved borrowing for school construction. He says the short-term schools borrowing is a "constitutional responsibility" mandated by a state Supreme Court order to repair or replace hundreds of schools. The court has also "been guilty" in enabling the creative borrowing, said Joseph Marbach, political scientist at Seton Hall University. In 2003, a sharply divided court ruled the state could continue to issue bonds through its authorities without asking voters first. The justices in the minority said the decision essentially killed the clause in the constitution giving voters control. "The fact that we need a constitutional amendment to tell the court what the constitution says is also a little bit troubling," Marbach said. Lance agreed, rejecting the idea of relaxing regulations for school construction or anything else. "Those who wish to borrow always give a reason why this borrowing is different from all other borrowing, why we don't need to go to the people," Lance said. "And that's gotten us where we are." Staff writer Kasi Addison contributed to this report.
