Nicholas P. Scutari

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, who serves as co-Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform released the following statement regarding today’s meeting:

“Today we begin our discussion of health benefits for public employees, and how they figure into the larger picture of benefits reform. The health care crisis is not merely confined to the State Health Benefits Program, nor are its negative effects experienced solely by public employers. As the cost of providing quality health care has skyrocketed, all New Jerseyans, and all Americans are faced with the fear that they will not have adequate insurance coverage. Employers both private and public are straining to meet the needs of their employees, sagging under the duress of ever increasing premiums with no imaginable end in sight.

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform, read the following opening remarks this morning at the panel’s hearing on the public employee pension system.

“Good morning and welcome to today’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform. I look forward to today’s discussion because I believe it will illuminate aspects of both defined contribution and defined benefit plans that are not readily apparent or understood. There is a tendency when talking about pension reform to envision only two possible outcomes: either we embrace the existing system, or we throw it out altogether in favor of something like a 401(k).

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform, issued the following statement today after the panel’s hearing on the public employee pension system.

“There is a clear need to tighten employment requirements for participation in public retirement systems.

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform, today said significant changes in public worker benefits “moving forward” are needed to provide meaningful taxpayer savings.

Officials from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services today told the joint panel that it would be illegal to change pension benefits for public workers who have accrued five years of service because of a 1997 State law enacted by the Legislature. In addition, the OLS officials suggested there could be serious legal problems effecting pension changes for workers with less than five years.

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas P. Scutari and Assemblywoman Nellie Pou, the co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform, wrote to Governor Corzine on behalf of the entire panel today to ask that he expedite pending contract negotiations with State employee unions to allow the committee to consider New Jersey’s contract obligations as they work to reduce the cost of State employee benefits in New Jersey.

The two legislators wrote that knowledge of the contract specifics, which would take effect next July, would allow the Committee to “best be able to execute our responsibilities” in terms of looking for cost savings in State benefits to stabilize and lower the property tax burden on New Jersey families.

TRENTON – Senator Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, Somerset and Union and co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Employee Benefits Reform made the following statement today following the Committee’s first meeting:

“I’m going to be blunt with the public – our pensions and benefits system in New Jersey is broken. Costs are soaring out of control and our liabilities are skyrocketing. This committee is going to have to work hard and think creatively to rein in the system.

“Chairman, members of the Committee, good afternoon.

“I would like to open today by thanking you, Mr. Chairman, for scheduling this informational hearing on my bill, S-88, The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. This is not an issue that is bereft of controversy; medical marijuana has both passionate advocates and detractors. Therefore this hearing marks an important opportunity to better educate the public about a subject that is often obscured by the harsh rhetoric, conjecture, and misinformation that attends such heated debate.

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator Nicholas P. Scutari, to appropriating $3 million from a USDA grant to combat the spread of the Asian Longhorn Beetle, was approved today by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

“Preventing the further spread of the Asian Longhorn Beetle is of the utmost importance,” said Senator Scutari, D-Somerset and Union. “If they are not checked, these pests could present a significant threat to not only our neighborhoods and parks, but to the entire American hardwood industry.”