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11-7-07 Legislative leaders talk about school funding formula in lame duck?
| State Senate President: Only Two Ways to Go in Lame Duck Session Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - Millennium Radio | ||||
Many unpopular, controversial and possibly costly bills were left on the legislative table last spring and if history repeats itself, these measures could get hasty consideration during the lame duck session to come. Over two dozen of the lawmakers who will return to the State House after next month's election will not be coming back when the new legislature begins work in January 2008. This means a lot of legislators who don't need to worry about their political futures could be considering bills that are sure to impact your financial future. What lies ahead? Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts says, "Front and center is developing a new school funding formula. That is really at the heart of equity and property tax reform." He adds, "I think you're also going to see a very healthy debate about health care." Roberts says he's not sure when Governor Jon Corzine will introduce his scheme to monetize state assets, most notably the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. The Speaker says whether the plan is unveiled in lame duck or after the start of the new year, "I think it is a key that his proposal or some variation of it be considered because it's going to be one of the linchpins of the budget." Codey says, "You take your medicine now, or you take it later, but you take it and he's (Corzine) got to do what's right for the people of New Jersey." Cynics claim that Corzine is intentionally delaying the unveiling of his state asset monetization plan until after November's elections because polls show voters oppose the very concept. Generating cash for the state by monetizing the toll roads has been the most critiqued possibility and surveys reveal voters fear huge toll increases. Those same cynics say by withholding the scheme, Corzine is protecting his fellow Democrats from backlash at the polls. Corzine says the plan simply isn't ready yet. Corzine continues to say people should wait until after the plan is unveiled before criticizing it. "We're going to have a real plan on recapitalizing this state," says Corzine, "we have to." He points out, "We now have more studies that tell us we're dangerously under-invested in our bridges, our roads, our dams, our sewers, I didn't write those reports up." Roberts says he'd like to see ethics issues be tackled in lame duck as well. "We've made a lot of progress, but I'd like to take another look at pay-to-play reform and see if we need to do more in that area and I believe we probably do…..we've passed strong laws regarding public corruption including jail time and pension forfeiture, but frankly some of what we've seen lately suggests that maybe the penalties need to be even more severe." In the past year, two State Senators and two Assemblymen have been indicted on federal corruption charges. Roberts says affordable housing and devising a new energy master plan are two more priorities, but he's not sure if they'll be addressed in lame duck or after January. Asked if the public is justified in fearing that expensive and unpopular bills will be jammed through in lame duck, Roberts responds, "I think that can always happen and we have to guard against that……we also need to give our new members who will be coming in the opportunity to have a say in many of these important issues." By: Kevin McArdle (Copyright 2007 by Millennium Radio Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.) |
