HUDSON COUNTY – Hudson County legislators – with the exception of state Sen. Brian Stack – voted against changes that would strip public employees of some of their bargaining rights in what is seen as a huge victory for Republican Gov. Christopher Christie.
Christie said the changes were necessary to bring long –term fiscal stability to the state, but local Democrats said the law stripped workers of some rights to collective bargaining.
Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell, of the 31st district representing Bayonne and half of Jersey City, made an attempt to introduce floor amendments to the pending Public Employee Pension and Benefit Bills to make the legislation, he said, fairer for working families and retirees.
Despite overwhelming opposition from the Hudson County legislative delegation, the bill passed the state Assembly 46 to 32 in the assembly. The bill passed in the state Senate earlier with Stack joining State President Steve Sweeney and others Democrats from Central and Southern New Jersey in passing the bill. Christie is expected to sign the bill into law.
“I wanted to break the bill into two parts, one on the pension – which I agree needed reform and this is real reform – and one of the healthcare portion which is not reform,” O’Donnell said.
The legislation will require state employees to pay up to 35 percent of their healthcare premiums, which is well above the national average of 22 percent for public employees – and above the national average for private sector public employees.
“The fact of the matter, this is a farce on taxpayers and residents of State New Jersey does nothing to reform health care or control costs,” he said. “We should have done real reform.”
O’Donnell said the 130 page document was dropped on legislators ten day prior to the vote, leaving almost no time for debate or even thorough analysis.
“This is one of the top three issues facing the state and you would think we should have more than 10 days to evaluate and discuss it,” he said. – Al Sullivan