Trash these lame duck bills

The election and the holidays are behind us and the members of the New Jersey Legislature today repopulate the halls of Trenton.  Now we face the realities of the passing of the gavel from Governor Corzine to Governor Elect Chris Christie.  Free from political consequences it is a time when the outgoing Corzine can sign some dangerous and unpopular ‘lame duck’ bills.  Also, many of our New Jersey Legislators have no immediate fear of reelection as the voters decided in November who would ‘represent’ them.

The new legislative term begins on January 12.  Any bills in the works would need to clear the legislature before then to reach Governor Corzine for signature, or they expire.

There are a number of bills that have been lingering in the NJ Assembly and NJ Senate and now there is a giant push to get them passed.  Four of the bills concern prevailing wages and are quickly moving through the legislature.  The residents and businesses in NJ will be hit with increased costs if these bills pass.  Whether it is the form of increased property taxes, utility rates, purchasing power, or other taxation; it will cost us more.

A-4293/S-3028 has passed in the Assembly.  It would require that prevailing wage be paid on select construction projects that receive Board of Public Utilities (BPU) financial assistance.

A-4268/S-3095 also passed in the Assembly, unfortunately with the help of two District 2 Republican votes.  Assemblymen Amodeo and Polistina crossed the party line from all other Republicans by voting for this bill.  The bill would extend prevailing wages to out-sourced bids from any public entity for maintenance work valued at more than $50,000 that cannot be preformed in-house.  The successful bidder would need to pay the prevailing rate to all of the workers hired by the contractor.  The dollar amount dictates that these jobs would be for larger projects such as sewer pipes, plumbing, heat or air conditioning systems, and other major repairs and maintenance.

S-2850/A-4151 requires that contracted and subcontracted workers employed at any public entity shall be paid prevailing wage.  This includes food service employees and an array of cleaning and building maintenance workers.  The commissioner would have authority to withhold 25% or up to $100,000 from the contracted employer if a request for records employee information is not satisfied.   This is very bad for business because the onus of innocence is placed on the employer while the money is held by the state.

The state fiscal analysis lists the cost to the state as “indeterminate” and the local cost (translation, property taxes) as “indeterminate, potentially significant”.

The best data gathered in the analysis exampled school food service workers.  School district food service employment data provided to the state by Rutgers University “indicates that school boards could experience an increase of $34.2 million in food service costs”.  According to the fiscal analysis, school food service workers average five hours a day and now earn $9.75 hourly.  Instituting prevailing wage would increase their compensation, which includes two to four weeks of vacation and at least eleven paid holidays, bringing the prevailing wage for their part time job to $15.50 an hour.

S-3096/A-4291 applies to those who receive a loan from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJ-HMFA) either directly from the agency or indirectly from an institutional lender.   It would apply to new construction, improvements or rehabilitation of buildings containing five or more for-sale units.  Each worker employed on the job would be paid not less than the prevailing wage rate.

The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development would determine prevailing wage rates for the above bills.

”The Prevailing Wage Rate Determinations list the wage and fringe benefit rates based on collective bargaining agreements [unions] established for a particular craft or trade on the locality in which the public work is performed. In New Jersey, rates vary by county and statewide and by the type of work performed.”

The prospects for fiscal recovery in NJ will look even grimmer it these bills pass.  Even those who would appear to benefit will be hit in the form of increased costs, essentially wiping out any differential wage increases.  Other residents, taxpayers, and businesses will be bearing the brunt of the burden.  Businesses will be even less able and willing to compete in NJ and more desiring to jump ship to another state where it is less difficult to compete and business costs are less.

It is hard to believe that with NJ facing an $8 billion-$10 billion budget shortage, horrid business climate, and the highest property taxes in the country that the Legislature didn’t put these bills where they belong, in the trash.

But we know how symbiotic the relationship is between unions and Democrats, and the occasional pirate Republican.  Since the prevailing wages are linked to unions and they in turn endorse mostly Democrats there is a continuous cycle of indebtedness.

We need to defeat these bills.  Here is the index to look up the contact information for your legislator by municipality.