TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph V. Doria which will guarantee workers involved in any contract on public land a fair living wage was signed into law today by Acting Governor Richard J. Codey.
“New Jersey has a strong history of standing by our working men and women, and ensuring fair treatment for our State’s skilled laborers,” said Senator Doria, D-Hudson, a member of the Senate Labor Committee. “With this new law in place, we’re once again making good on our commitment to provide fair wage and benefits to those workers who perform needed infrastructure upgrades on our public facilities. This law will serve to close loopholes in our State’s guarantee of honest pay for honest work on public projects.”
TRENTON – State Senator Joseph F. Vitale, the Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement regarding today’s budget panel hearing on the FY 2008 Department of Human Services budget:
“The Department of Human Services is possibly the largest department in State government administering such diverse programs as group housing for the mentally ill, early intervention for the developmentally disabled, and rental and heating assistance for the working poor.
TRENTON – Citing reports that say more children and families live below the federal poverty line this year than last year, Senator Shirley K. Turner today called for greater assistance for children and working families struggling to make ends meet.
“Fewer people may be on welfare, but it’s plain to see that we’re not helping them get out of poverty,” said Senator Turner, D-Mercer. “Between the sad fact that federal TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) grants have stayed the same for the last twenty years and the unfortunate truth that the federal poverty line is in no way representative of the minimal cost of living in New Jersey, we are failing these families.”
FREEHOLD – State Senator Ellen Karcher, Vice Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, said today that massive waste and fraud in our State’s charity care subsidy for hospitals providing health care access to the uninsured need to be addressed, and announced that she will be introducing legislation when the Senate reconvenes in May to provide necessary oversight and require greater accountability.
“Charity care is an integral part of our State’s health care safety net for the uninsured, and we cannot allow those dollars to go to waste,” said Senator Karcher, D-Marlboro. “After reading the SCI (State Commission of Investigation) report on the problems within our charity care system, I was shocked at the lack of oversight and review New Jersey provides for this multi-million dollar investment of public dollars. We need to ensure the integrity of our charity care program, and protect public funds from massive levels of institutional waste and abuse.”
TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement regarding today’s budget panel hearing on the State Department of Health and Senior Services, in which the need to overhaul New Jersey’s charity care subsidy for hospitals serving the uninsured was discussed:
“Charity care is a necessary part of our State’s safety net to provide health care access to the uninsured. However, relying too heavily on charity care, without proper oversight of the system, is a backwards way to meet our obligation to uninsured New Jerseyans.
TRENTON – Senator Joseph Doria today urged the Corzine administration to provide hospitals with “at least as much money as they got this year” in charity care aid.
“With so many of New Jersey’s hospitals facing dire financial straits in the upcoming year, this year’s budget can have long-lasting effects on the State’s ability to provide adequate health care to our residents,” said Senator Doria, D-Hudson.
TRENTON – In the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee meeting, Senator Ronald L. Rice today said that the number residents who are losing their homes because of higher mortgage payments has reached an epidemic proportion and he is drafting a measure to re-finance sub prime mortgages for borrowers who can no longer afford their rising interest rates.
The most immediate thing we in government can do in the midst of this crisis is to provide re-financing assistance,” said Senator Rice, D-Essex.
TRENTON – Senator Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer, the leading advocate for ethics reform in the State Senate, issued the following statement regarding the decision of the Clean Elections panel in selecting the 14th Legislative District, as opposed to her 12th District base, to participate in this year’s Clean Elections program:
“I am disappointed that my running mates and I will not have the opportunity to show New Jersey that the Clean Elections program works, and that we can remove the influence of money on the political process.
TRENTON – The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee will continue their hearings on Governor Corzine’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2008 with a pair of meetings on Monday to discuss funding for the Department of Education and the State’s higher education programs.
At 10:00 a.m. in Committee Room 4, the Committee will meet with Education Commissioner Lucille Davy to review the Governor’s proposed $10.877 billion in public education funding. The budget includes approximately $310 million in increased operating aid to schools, of which $124 million would be allocated for Abbott districts and $185 million would be distributed to non-Abbott schools in the form of both formula and supplemental aid.
TRENTON – Senate President Pro Tem Shirley K. Turner, today urged national African-American leaders and corporate America to condemn rap music performers who use sexist lyrics in their songs as “degrading to women, demeaning to the positions men should be filling in family life and disappointing as role models for young people.”
Senator Turner, D-Mercer, who is an African American, said the professional demise of talk radio host Don Imus for sexist and racist remarks about players on the Rutgers Women Basketball Team “must lead to a wholesale purge from popular culture of references to women as ‘ho’s’ and ‘bitches.’”
TRENTON – Following today’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing on the State Pension Fund and its accounting and investment practices, Senator Shirley K. Turner announced that she will introduce legislation to constitutionally require the State to fully pay its annual pension fund commitments.
“We’re dealing with people’s livelihoods here,” said Senator Turner, D-Mercer. “Our state employees work hard and deserve to know that their pensions will be there for them when they retire.”
TRENTON – Senator Stephen M. Sweeney, D-Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem and member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, made the following statement today rebutting claims by Republican Senator Nicholas Asselta that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 had a major and lasting effect on the unfunded liability facing the State’s pension system:
“To say that the tragic events of 9/11 were a major cause of the unfunded liability in the pension system is absurd.
TRENTON – Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today announced that they have selected the 14th and 37th legislative districts for inclusion in the Clean Elections public financing program for the 2007 elections.
Codey (D-Essex) and Roberts (D-Camden) said they selected the District 14 as their “split district” designee primarily because its two resident Assembly members – Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) – have tremendous familiarity and appreciation of the Clean Elections process. Greenstein and Baroni both served on the New Jersey Citizens’ Clean Elections Commission, both were part of the four-member bipartisan working group that crafted the Clean Elections reauthorization legislation, and both were sponsors of the resulting bill.
TRENTON – The Coalition Against Hate and Bigotry today called on radio talk host Don Imus to do community service to atone for his racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team.
“Mr. Imus’ apology is a good start, but it’s not enough,” said Coalition member, New Jersey State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak. “He should also give some of his personal time to meet the players and do some good for the community. Working with the team on a project of their choosing will help him discover for himself the outstanding character, sensitivity and humanness of these fine young women whom he so unfairly maligned.”
EWING – Senate President Pro Tempore Shirley K. Turner, the sponsor of the resolution to honor the Rutger’s Women’s Basketball team for their inspiring run to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Finals, today called on CBS Radio and MSNBC to suspend radio shock jock Don Imus for a month following his racist remarks on Friday about the Lady Scarlet Knights.
Senator Turner made the following statement:
“CBS Radio and MSNBC should suspend Don Imus and his show for a month to show that there are real consequences to such deplorable acts. And if they don’t take action, it is up to the companies that advertise on his show to pull their ads and show America that they do not condone racism or hate speech.