TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Senate has passed a bill requiring sharply higher contributions for pensions and health benefits from public workers while suspending unions' ability to bargain over health care.
The upper chamber moved the bill with support from Republicans and a few Democrats in a 24-15 vote.
The bill was amended earlier on Monday to remove a controversial provision to limit public workers' access to out-of-state medical care.
The bill must still be passed in an Assembly committee and then by the full Assembly.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Democratic lawmakers on Monday began trying to remove a controversial provision of their employee benefits bill that would have limited public workers' access to out-of-state medical care, the latest action in a day of protest and politics surrounding a bill to make public workers pay more for pension and health insurance.
The original provision drew swift criticism from lawmakers and others because it restricted the use of out-of-state doctors and hospitals unless similar care wasn't available in-state.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver made the announcement Monday morning in a joint statement, saying they planned to introduce a replacement bill to make the changes. By early afternoon, the Senate adopted the change in a 24-14 vote.
Under the new legislation, new health care boards would create insurance plans that include only in-state providers, and other plans that would include coverage for out-of-state providers.
Employees can choose the plan they want. Patients under the in-state plan can get a note from their primary care doctor that allows them to see out-of-state providers, and patients who already use out-of-state doctors would be allowed to keep them.
Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono said the health care provision is still too restrictive.
"I don't think there is any physician that would knowingly sign this certification," she said. "It doesn't need to be watered down. It doesn't need to be amended. It needs to be stricken."
The proposal is part of a larger bill that requires sharply higher pension and health care contributions – the result of a deal struck between Sweeney, Oliver, Republican Gov. Chris Christie and GOP legislative leaders.
The bill charges employees more to help shore up the underfunded retirement systems. A new tiered system would require teachers, police and firefighters and other public workers to pay a portion of their health insurance premiums based on income. Pension contributions would also rise by 1 percent immediately, and by an additional percent or more after a seven-year phase-in.
Public-sector unions are vehemently opposed, in part because the bill limits collective bargaining over health care. Many Democratic lawmakers agree.
Action on the legislation was scheduled in both chambers of the state Legislature. The Senate scheduled a vote and an Assembly committee was planning the first hearing for the measure in that chamber.
Bill Dressel, the head of New Jersey's League of Municipalities, told lawmakers the state's unfunded pension liability is "a ticking time bomb" that lawmakers now have a chance to diffuse.
Sweeney said the changes "will ensure that we are able to live up to our goals of keeping more of our health care dollars in New Jersey while not eliminating the choices that are so important to employees and their families."
"This change preserves our cost savings goal while making sure our workers still have access to the best care to meet their needs," Oliver added.
Protesters in Revolutionary War costumes gathered in Morrisville, Pa., early Monday and marched into Trenton in what union officials called "the second Battle of Trenton." Union members also set up more than 125 tents on a lawn behind the statehouse, along with a mock graveyard for collective bargaining rights. Public employee unions want changes in their benefits negotiated at the bargaining table, not through legislation.
"This is the defining moment for the labor movement in our generation," New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech wrote in an email to enlist support for the rally, the latest and most ambitious of several recent Capitol protests. "Only through your presence in Trenton on Monday will we make the difference."
Wowkanech was among 25 union members who were arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing on the bill Thursday. They were issued disorderly persons summonses and released.
A provision to allow collective bargaining over health care to resume after four years did little to quell objections, and state workers subsequently planned another rally outside the Statehouse on Monday.
A call to split the bill into two – one for pensions, which has wide support, and one for health care – has so far been refused by Sweeney, a Democrat. Christie also has said he wouldn't support separate measures. Nonetheless, Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell of Bayonne has introduced a bill that mirrors Sweeney's on pensions, but eliminates the health care portion.
The employee benefits bill has enough votes to pass in both the Senate and Assembly as is, even though a majority of Democrats in both houses don't support it.
The upper chamber moved the bill with support from Republicans and a few Democrats in a 24-15 vote.
The bill was amended earlier on Monday to remove a controversial provision to limit public workers' access to out-of-state medical care.
The bill must still be passed in an Assembly committee and then by the full Assembly.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Democratic lawmakers on Monday began trying to remove a controversial provision of their employee benefits bill that would have limited public workers' access to out-of-state medical care, the latest action in a day of protest and politics surrounding a bill to make public workers pay more for pension and health insurance.
The original provision drew swift criticism from lawmakers and others because it restricted the use of out-of-state doctors and hospitals unless similar care wasn't available in-state.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver made the announcement Monday morning in a joint statement, saying they planned to introduce a replacement bill to make the changes. By early afternoon, the Senate adopted the change in a 24-14 vote.
Under the new legislation, new health care boards would create insurance plans that include only in-state providers, and other plans that would include coverage for out-of-state providers.
Employees can choose the plan they want. Patients under the in-state plan can get a note from their primary care doctor that allows them to see out-of-state providers, and patients who already use out-of-state doctors would be allowed to keep them.
Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono said the health care provision is still too restrictive.
"I don't think there is any physician that would knowingly sign this certification," she said. "It doesn't need to be watered down. It doesn't need to be amended. It needs to be stricken."
The proposal is part of a larger bill that requires sharply higher pension and health care contributions – the result of a deal struck between Sweeney, Oliver, Republican Gov. Chris Christie and GOP legislative leaders.
The bill charges employees more to help shore up the underfunded retirement systems. A new tiered system would require teachers, police and firefighters and other public workers to pay a portion of their health insurance premiums based on income. Pension contributions would also rise by 1 percent immediately, and by an additional percent or more after a seven-year phase-in.
Public-sector unions are vehemently opposed, in part because the bill limits collective bargaining over health care. Many Democratic lawmakers agree.
Action on the legislation was scheduled in both chambers of the state Legislature. The Senate scheduled a vote and an Assembly committee was planning the first hearing for the measure in that chamber.
Bill Dressel, the head of New Jersey's League of Municipalities, told lawmakers the state's unfunded pension liability is "a ticking time bomb" that lawmakers now have a chance to diffuse.
Sweeney said the changes "will ensure that we are able to live up to our goals of keeping more of our health care dollars in New Jersey while not eliminating the choices that are so important to employees and their families."
"This change preserves our cost savings goal while making sure our workers still have access to the best care to meet their needs," Oliver added.
Protesters in Revolutionary War costumes gathered in Morrisville, Pa., early Monday and marched into Trenton in what union officials called "the second Battle of Trenton." Union members also set up more than 125 tents on a lawn behind the statehouse, along with a mock graveyard for collective bargaining rights. Public employee unions want changes in their benefits negotiated at the bargaining table, not through legislation.
"This is the defining moment for the labor movement in our generation," New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech wrote in an email to enlist support for the rally, the latest and most ambitious of several recent Capitol protests. "Only through your presence in Trenton on Monday will we make the difference."
Wowkanech was among 25 union members who were arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing on the bill Thursday. They were issued disorderly persons summonses and released.
A provision to allow collective bargaining over health care to resume after four years did little to quell objections, and state workers subsequently planned another rally outside the Statehouse on Monday.
A call to split the bill into two – one for pensions, which has wide support, and one for health care – has so far been refused by Sweeney, a Democrat. Christie also has said he wouldn't support separate measures. Nonetheless, Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell of Bayonne has introduced a bill that mirrors Sweeney's on pensions, but eliminates the health care portion.
The employee benefits bill has enough votes to pass in both the Senate and Assembly as is, even though a majority of Democrats in both houses don't support it.
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