Hold Your Wallets! The Legislature's Back in Session
Posted November 16, 2007

With the elections past, now is the time to sit back, take a breather, and enjoy the extended Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holiday season, right? Not so fast.

Certainly, we should all set aside time in the upcoming weeks to enjoy family and friends, but while our thoughts turn towards Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas fruitcakes, the state legislature is preparing to convene for the lame-duck session.

Several significant pieces of legislation affecting both your family and your checkbook are on the potential “to-do” list, and with more than one-third of the legislators not returning next year – and thus not hampered by future re-election prospects – this duck may turn out to be anything but lame.

As the Star Ledger put it, “All this makes November and December the perfect time for political mischief. Issues deemed too dangerous to talk about during re-election campaigns could become ripe for quick consideration and resolution by people who won’t all be in office for long.”

So what potentially “dangerous” issues are on the table for the upcoming session? And how will they affect you? Here are several that we are keeping a close eye on.

• Paid Family Leave for Workers – This bill (S-2249), which passed the Senate Budget Committee in May, would grant workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for ill family members, newborn babies, or newly adopted children. While no one will negate the importance of caring for family, the real question at hand is, “At what cost would this be to New Jersey businesses and taxpayers?”

The measure would be funded by an additional payroll deduction of $1 per worker per week (Translated: Additional Tax). And although the Bergen Record reports that there are no estimates of what the total cost to businesses would be, the New Jersey Labor and Workforce Development Department estimates that nearly 34,000 workers would take advantage of the leave each year. According to the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), this would leave businesses faced with the prospect of finding funds to hire replacements and to offset the unavoidable losses in productivity.

The net effect could be even more businesses leaving the state in search of greener – and more business-friendly – pastures.

• Abolishment of the Death Penalty – Slated for an Assembly vote on December 13 and a Senate vote sometime before January 8, this measure would abolish the death penalty in New Jersey and reduce the maximum sentence to life-imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The US Supreme Court allowed the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and the passage of this measure would make New Jersey the first state since that year to do away with the punishment.

• Same-Sex Marriage – This dangerous initiative could be the Dark Horse of the lame-duck session. While both Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Jr. (D-Camden) have indicated that the measure will not be considered this year, some pro-gay activists speculate differently. And it wouldn’t be the first time the legislature pushed the same-sex agenda during a lame-duck session.

You will recall that it was during the 2003-2004 lame-duck session that legislators voted to recognize same-sex “domestic partnerships,” with the Assembly passing the measure in December of 2003 and the Senate giving its nod of approval on January 8, 2004. And just a year later, while families were busy preparing for Christmas, the legislature again pulled a slick one by passing the New Jersey Civil Union law on December 14, 2006. They pushed the same-sex issue through lame-duck once. We would be naïve to assume they will not do it again!

Indeed, the elections may be over, but the fight continues. We will be watching developments very closely over the next several weeks, and we strongly urge you to contact your legislators to make your voice heard on these critical issues.

 

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