Steve Sweeney

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By DMUAdmin News & Releases Steve Sweeney

13 Dec: Senate Approves Sweeney Bill Creating Task Force To Ensure Property Tax Cap Works

TRENTON – Legislation Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney sponsored to create a task force to monitor the effects of the recently enacted two-percent property tax levy cap and recommend potential changes to ensure it works today passed the Senate.

“With the property tax cap now in place, our job must be to ensure it works,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). “The mistake would be to just let the cap stay the same as the world around it changes. This task force is essential to giving lawmakers the information we will need to ensure the cap stays relevant over time.”

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By DMUAdmin News & Releases Steve Sweeney

13 Dec: Landmark Arbitration Reform Heads To Governor’s Desk

TRENTON – The Senate today unanimously passed bipartisan compromise legislation championed by Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney to overhaul the method by which towns and public safety unions have their cases decided by arbitration, reforming the process to make it fair.

“Reforming the arbitration system is essential if communities are going to be able to live under the property tax cap,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). “For too long, the system has been tilted in favor of the public unions and arbitrators have enjoyed too free a hand in crafting contracts that did not even have to consider a town’s ability to pay. This compromise legislation will ensure that taxpayers are protected and that workers are treated fairly. It’s a revolutionary change for arbitration in general, and especially for New Jersey.”

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A view of the Senate Chambers from the 2010-2011 Senate Reorganization.
By DMUAdmin Donald Norcross Fred H. Madden Jr Jeff Van Drew Jim Whelan News & Releases Nia H. Gill Paul A. Sarlo Sandra Cunningham Steve Sweeney

08 Dec: Tax Cuts, Investment Incentives For N.J. Businesses Sail Through Senate Budget Panel

TRENTON – The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today released its first seven measures aimed at making New Jersey a friendlier and more competitive state for business by cutting taxes for Garden State companies and creating new incentives for businesses to stay and grow.

The bills are part of the recently unveiled “Back to Work NJ” legislative initiative to create jobs and promote the state as a better place for business.

“With unemployment stubbornly stuck above 9 percent, we need to be aggressive in our efforts to retool and reposition our economy,” said Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). “This package is about creating new economic opportunities not only for business, but for working families across the state. For their sake, we can’t act fast enough.”

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By DMUAdmin Loretta Weinberg News & Releases Steve Sweeney

02 Dec: Weinberg, Sweeney, Oliver, Other Lawmakers Object To New Adult Medical Day Care Rules

TRENTON – In a letter sent to Governor Chris Christie and State regulators, Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee Chairwoman Loretta Weinberg, Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver and a group of bicameral legislators raised issue with new regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Senior Services which would result in the denial of care for individuals receiving adult medical day care services.

“The fact that the new rules imposed on adult medical day care providers would result in loss of care for individuals in need is unacceptable,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. “The fact that these rules were crafted in secret, absent any sort of public comment or hearing, is unbelievable. This is certainly not the way to create far-reaching health policy in the Garden State, particularly when so many people depend on the services that they and their loved ones receive from adult medical day care facilities.”

“We recognize that New Jersey is facing tough economic times, but cuts to adult medical day care represent an abandonment of one of the core principles defining government – to protect the most vulnerable,” said Senate President Sweeney, D-Gloucester Cumberland and Salem. “The new Department rules would not only deny coverage for seniors and individuals living with disability, but they provide no mechanism for the public to raise concerns. This is the sort of backroom, discompassionate government that gives public service a bad name.”

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By DMUAdmin News & Releases Paul A. Sarlo Steve Sweeney

30 Nov: Sweeney & Oliver Announce Schedule For Hearings On ‘Back To Work NJ’ Jobs Package

TRENTON – Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver today announced that the respective legislative budget committees will meet five times over a 14-day span in December to take up the numerous bills that will comprise the “Back to Work NJ” jobs and economic development package.

The legislative leaders announced the job-creation and pro-business agenda at a State House press conference last Wednesday. At that time, they unveiled seven bills that would be the first wave of legislation, and said the final package would comprise upwards of 30 bills.

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By DMUAdmin News & Releases Steve Sweeney

24 Nov: Sweeney & Oliver Unveil ‘Back To Work NJ’ Bill Package To Boost Economy And Create Jobs

(TRENTON) – Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver on Wednesday announced the Legislature’s focus in the coming weeks will turn to a landmark “Back to Work NJ” bill package designed to create jobs and jumpstart economic development throughout the state.

The legislative leaders said they expect the bills to be the focus of legislative activity through December and into early January.

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By DMUAdmin Jim Whelan News & Releases Paul A. Sarlo Richard J. Codey Steve Sweeney

22 Nov: Senate Approves First Phase Of Gaming Bills

TRENTON – A package of bills sponsored by Senate Democrats to help breathe new life into New Jersey’s ailing casinos and horse race tracks was approved by the full Senate today. The bills, the result of Statewide hearings held on issues pertaining to the gaming and wagering economic sectors earlier this year, are intended to bolster economic activity and maintain competitiveness for our gaming industries, which are facing more and more competition from across State lines.

“Unless we take the necessary steps to bring our casinos and horse tracks into profitability and self-sufficiency, we’re going to lose these economic engines and all the benefits they bring to our State,” said Senator Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, the co-chair of the Legislative Gaming Summit and a sponsor on many of the bills. “This would be a devastating blow to New Jersey’s economic future, and it’s something we cannot allow to happen. Through the measures approved today, and additional bills which I expect to move shortly, we will be able to give our gaming and wagering industries a fighting chance.”

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By DMUAdmin News & Releases Steve Sweeney

15 Nov: Sweeney Bill To Create Property Tax Cap Task Force Cleared By Senate Panel

TRENTON – Legislation Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney sponsored to create a task force to monitor the effects of the recently enacted two-percent property tax levy cap and recommend potential changes to ensure it works was today released by a Senate committee.

“With the property tax cap now in place, our job must be to ensure it works,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). “The mistake would be to just let the cap stay the same as the world around it changes. This task force is essential to giving lawmakers the information we will need to ensure the cap stays relevant over time.”

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By DMUAdmin Jeff Van Drew Jim Whelan News & Releases Paul A. Sarlo Steve Sweeney

15 Nov: Senate Committees Continue To Push Gaming Bills

TRENTON – A package of bills sponsored by Senate Democrats to help reinvigorate Atlantic City’s ailing casino industry and help stabilize the State’s failing horse racing industry were approved in two separate Senate Committees today.

The bills, the result of Statewide hearings held on issues pertaining to the gaming and wagering economic sectors earlier this year, are intended to bolster economic activity and maintain competitiveness for our gaming industries, which are facing more and more competition from across State lines.

“The casino industry is the economic engine for the South Jersey region,” said Senator Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, the Chair of the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee which advanced three of the five bills which were approved today, and co-chair of the Legislative Gaming Summit which recommended the bills. “Horse-racing is a major component of our Statewide economy. Taken together, these industries are too big and too important to be allowed to fail, and we have to do our part to allow our State’s gaming and wagering facilities to compete with out-of-State gaming interests which are leaching funds away from New Jersey.”

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