I observed the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today and expected fireworks in the hearing to confirm Bob Hanna to be President of the Board of Public Utilities, but instead of fireworks, we got a dud.
Hanna's confirmation was a love fest, and the committee unanimously advanced it to the full Senate for final approval. From what I can tell, although Hanna has had limited experience in the world of utilities and telecommunications, he's a well-respected lawyer and public servant, and there's no reason to deny the Governor's appointment of Mr. Hanna to the BPU.
But our state senators are not shrinking violets (more on this later), and this hearing was a golden opportunity to raise some concerns and get Hanna's response. No doubt he agrees with the Governor on the important issues facing the board, but he should have been asked about the state's withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (right after the Governor had a secret meeting with the Koch Brothers), the impact of the Governor's de-emphasis of renewable energy in the state's Energy Master Plan, and the Governor's hidden tax increase when Mr. Christie took the money from the Societal Benefit Fund (a surcharge on your utility bill) to help balance the budget instead of investing those dollars in clean energy.
In August 2010 Seton Hall Law School released a report entitled Ironbound Underground which documented that in Newark's East Ward 96% of local immigrant day laborers have been victims of wage theft, 27% assaulted by an employer, 80% not given safety equipment, and 20% hurt on the job. Then in January 2011 the Law School issued All Work and No Pay in which it expanded its research to Elizabeth, Freehold, Morristown, Orange, Flemington, Bridgeton, and Palisades Park. There it documented among day laborers 48% not paid, 54% underpaid, 26% injured, 35% abandoned and 26% assaulted.
Ironbound Underground concluded, "Our findings demonstrate a staggering degree of workplace violations and exploitation of day laborers by local employers in violation of federal and state law, resulting in a loss of dignity for the day laborer population and a loss of revenue to the public. Yet the day laborers in Newark have found few effective avenues to address the violations of their rights." The more extensive All Work No Pay concludes: "Community organizations, municipal courts, prosecutors, and state and local officials all have essential parts to play in enforcing labor standards and further safeguarding the rights of workers."
With the current tough economy the number of day laborers is increasing, and they are not only immigrants. Local officials should establish hiring halls for day laborers, as they decrease worker abuse. State legislators, in particular the Labor Committee chairs Sen. Fred Madden and Assemblyman Joseph Egan, and Judiciary Committee Chairs Sen. Nicholas Scutari and Assemblyman Peter Barnes, should draft new legislation. Bill S1588, which seeks to set up a division to investigate and address disparities and civil rights violations suffered by immigrants, could be a start. The All Work No Pay report recommends that New Jersey's Wage Theft statute be updated and include standardization of the procedure which allows workers to file complaints directly with municipal courts, criminal sanctions against employers who retaliate against employees who file complaints, and sufficient fines and damages to deter wage theft.
The New Jersey Senate, like the NJ Assembly before it, has sided with ill and suffering New Jerseyans to protect them from an ideologue governor. Today, the full Senate voted to reject Gov. Christie's unnecessarily restrictive rules on NJ's already-conservative medical marijuana law. Christie's going to have to rethink and rewrite how the state will distribute marijuana intended for sick people. He'd better get moving.
Governor Christie's wasting sick people's time. Maybe he should make one less cute video of himself and spend the time working on sensible regulations, and get this done. He's governor of all of New Jersey, not just the people who agree with him, and he is charged to do his job with all New Jersey's laws, not just the ones he likes.
"It's very frustrating,'' [State Senator Nicholas] Scutari said of [State Senator Brian] Stack's reversal, noting Stack had voted for the legislation that legalized medical marijuana earlier this year. Scutari said he suspects Stack, also the mayor of financially-strapped Union City, did not want to cross the governor.
I'm not talking about the merits of Stack's votes. I'm troubled that our New Jersey legislators think their colleagues are too conflicted to vote honestly, and are willing to say so. After all, who would know better?
I know that the particular conflict of mayor vs. legislator only exists for the "grandfathered" politicians, but the truth is that any private or public sector job could face inappropriate pressure from the governor, the boss, the CEO, you name it. State senator should be a job that pays a full salary in exchange for full-time work. Even conservative Chris Christie wants the legislature to spend more time making laws and regulations, so there's no doubt there's a need.
Below is an alphabetical list of NJ pols who voted YES on medical marijuana. If you know -- or are rep'd by -- anyone on this list, take note. Hopefully you'll get a chance to thank them one day.
From the Senate (Republicans in bold):
Senate:
Baroni,
Bateman,
Beach,
Buono,
Ciesla,
Cunningham,
Gill,
Girgenti,
Gordon,
Kean,
Lesniak,
Pennacchio,
Ruiz,
Sacco,
Sarlo,
Scutari,
Singer,
Smith,
Stack,
Sweeney,
Turner,
Van Drew,
Vitale,
Weinberg, and
Whelan
When the NJ Senate and Assembly overwhelmingly passed a medical marijuana bill yesterday it put the Garden State in line to be the 14th state in the union to decriminalize cannabis for sick people.
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll has the QOTD in this one for sure.
I've posted so many videos on this site and elsewhere I can't hardly remember them all, but this issue is possibly the most satisfying day I've has as an activist since the Obama/Alder double victory.
So take a minute to meet the heros of this battle.
Longer terms for our elected officials? That's the concept behind SC-126, which would move Senate elections from every three years to every five years and Assembly elections from every two years to every three years, then two years. Are you confused yet?
The legislation is sponsored by Senator Scutari. There are no co-sponsors and there is no Assembly version of the bill, yet it will be up for discussion in Scutari's Senate State Government committee on Monday. Scutari made his main arguments for the bill:
"I really think that if it's passed it will be good for everyone," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the bill sponsor. "It will take more money out of contests ... it will give elected officials more time to tackle issues."
I don't see how it takes money out of contests. Officials will still raise money for their next election, regardless of when the vote is held. It seems to me you just change when the money comes in. I could however see the argument for saving money by holding less elections. The problem is, we'll still have county, local and school elections being held. Here's what would have to happen to make the change:
Changing the term structure would take a constitutional amendment, which would ultimately need voter approval. The measure will be considered in the Senate State Government Committee Monday, which is chaired by Scutari. If passed, it would need the approval of three-fifths of the Legislature before it would go to the voters. If approved, the change would take effect for legislators elected in the 2011 general election.
I don't know if now is the best time for this proposal and don't know that the bill will get any traction. It would also change the order of offices that are on the ballot together. The Assembly and Senate would be up together ever five years. The Governor, Senate and Assembly would be on the ballot together once every twenty years under the new plan. I put a chart below the fold.
If you're going to undertake an effort like this, why not make the body a full time legislature increasing salaries and banning outside employment? Otherwise, I don't see how you're not just reshuffling when the contributions come in and changing who's on the ballot together.
Christie's Christmas-tree grant investigation widens: Sen. Nicholas Scutari, Sen. Joseph Coniglio, and Assemblyman Brian Stack were subpoenaed because they had some sort of connection to recipients of state grants. Also, investigators are questioning contributions to Democratic chairman and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan's re-election fund by non-profit groups.
Senator Nicholas Scutari abstained from voting on the civil unions today. News reports say it's because the bill was a gay marriage bill but wasn't called that. His statement was actually much more powerful and deeper than they make it sound so I transcribed it:
This legislation does legislate discrimination. This is gay marriage - that is what this legislation is and to call it anything other than that is a farce.
You call it civil marriage. Marriage. It's marriage. That's what we're legislating here today. You're giving couples all of the rights and obligations...but that is exactly what this is... Let's call it what it is. This is marriage.
Are we not a tolerant society? What are the building blocks of the United States of America when people left Europe to come here and be tolerant of others? People are gay. They exist in society and they should no longer be shunned. And if they're going to have rights, let them have all rights that everyone else has. Let them call themselves what they really are in committed relationships in a marital relationship and let them have the rights and the obligations that go along with it.
[...]
To call it anything else other than marriage really is disingenuous. Regardless of what everyone else, regardless of what the polls say - that it's not popular to call it marriage. This is marriage. And that's what we're going to give today to these individuals.
The fact that we're not calling it that...we're calling it civil unions, is disingenuous. For that reason I'm going to abstain today.
Thank you for stating the obvious.
Several other Senators expressed support for marriage equality.
Bob Martin said "labels and terms and words mean a lot" and said he would prefer to amend the civil unions bill to change the word "unions" to "marriage". "Hopefully by the time it gets done or shortly thereafter it will be called marriage as it should be."
John Girgenti called it a "Step in the process. A step forward."
Nia Gill also expressed support for marriage equality.
Judiciary chair John Adler said: "I probably would have gone farther today...I suspect we'll be back on this issue again...I don't think we're getting it quite right today, but governmentally we have before us a bill which advances respect and decency to some significant degree...I think we're doing about what we're able to do governmentally and politically today, but I suspect we'll do better the next time and the time after that."
Others, not so much. Paul Sarlo said he thinks this bill goes far enough: "I don't believe we should take it to the next step."
And then there's this gem from Senator Cardinale: "This is anti-straight discrimination. Pure and simple." I didn't catch anything from Bob Smith, Raymond Lesniak, Joseph Kyrillow or Tom Kean Jr, so if you know where they stand, let us know in the comments.
