TRENTON – Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver today issued the following statements regarding Governor Christie’s conditional veto of civil service reform legislation.
“The Governor’s action today is certainly disappointing. The Legislature made clear that we would be willing partners on this issue and we did our part to move forward on civil service reform. This was legislation that would continue to safeguard against nepotism and political corruption while modernizing and streamlining the civil service system. It would have implemented policies into the public sector that have been effective in the private sector and it was supported by such groups as the New Jersey Association of Counties,” said Sweeney. “Reform means more than just catchy political sound bites that look good on YouTube. It requires action, though certainly not the kind we saw by the Governor today. His decision has simply placed a roadblock to real reform.”
“Much like with his recent veto of legislation to reform our affordable housing system, the Governor prefers to forego consensus building and defy the broad agreement we have reached with nearly all of the invested stakeholders,” said Oliver. “While many of our largest cities are struggling to try and avert massive layoffs, the Governor is withholding a valuable tool from them. What our civil service legislation would do is preserve a fair hiring system, while also giving local governments the tools they need to achieve cost-savings and root out waste and abuse.”