MADDEN & EGAN SEEK COMPROMISE ON UNEMPLOYMENT TO STAVE OFF LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDS
Current Proposal Would Breach Federal Agreement, Lead to Loss of Additional $25 Per Week for Current Beneficiaries

TRENTON - Senator Fred Madden and Assemblyman Joseph Egan, chairmen of the Senate and Assembly labor committees, respectively, today said they are committed to seeking a compromise that would protect the state's jobless from seeing any cut to their current unemployment benefits while also insulating businesses from a scheduled increase in their unemployment insurance taxes.

Madden and Egan said such an agreement is necessary after they received notice from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services that a proposed cut in state benefits would negate a 2009 agreement with the federal government and would lead to an immediate loss of $25-per-week in federal funds to all current and future beneficiaries.

OLIVER & CRYAN STATEMENT ON CHRISTIE PLAN TO CUT BENEFITS FOR UNEMPLOYED WORKERS

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union) released the following joint statement Thursday on Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to decrease benefits for unemployed workers:

"Gov. Christie's ill-advised plan puts the burden onto unemployed workers already struggling to make ends meet. It is insensitive and unsound and raises serious concerns about whether Gov. Christie understands the plight of the working-class and poor in this state.

SWEENEY: PROPOSED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS CUT 'A TOTAL NONSTARTER'

TRENTON -- Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney today said he would not consider any legislation to decrease benefits to the unemployed.

"The dead of winter is no time to leave New Jersey's unemployed out in the cold," said Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem). "This is not a plan to trim costs, it is a hit on families who right now depend on their unemployment checks to make ends meet. This is money that pays the monthly heating bill, puts food on the table or gets the gas in the car to go job-hunting. This idea is a total nonstarter that will not even find its way through the Senate doors."

Senator Sean Kean, R-Monmouth, said he was glad to see that Senators Raymond Lesniak and Kip Bateman are moving forward boldly with hearings on Senate Bill 1, which seeks to abolish the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and create a fair plan to meet affordable housing goals. Kean noted the move comes after New Jersey's unemployment rose to 10.1 percent in December – higher than the national average and the highest level in 33 years.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

BURZICHELLI, EGAN ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROTECT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUNDS

Resolution Would Ask Voters to Dedicate Funds Raised for Unemployment Insurance Solely for that Purpose

(TRENTON) - Assemblymen John J. Burzichelli and Joseph V. Egan today issued a multimedia package on a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the state from diverting funds meant to provide unemployment and other benefits to New Jersey residents.

The proposed amendment to the New Jersey Constitution would seek voter approval to prevent money in the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Temporary Disability Fund and the Paid Family Leave Fund from being spent for any other purpose.

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean's bill calling for a constitutional amendment to end raids on the state unemployment insurance fund advanced today in the Assembly Labor Committee. The bill calls for a statewide referendum on whether the state should be able to balance its budget or finance unrelated spending by raiding funds collected solely by taxes taken from employers or employees' paychecks.

SWEENEY-SARLO BILL TO CUT EMPLOYER TAXES AND DISCOURAGE RAIDING OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUND SIGNED INTO LAW

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman, Senator Paul A. Sarlo, which would reduce employer taxes paid to the unemployment insurance (UI) fund when the fund’s reserves exceed a certain cap was signed into law last week by Governor Corzine.

“New Jersey’s UI fund has been tapped in good times and bad to pay for a variety of unrelated programs, and over the last few years, the tab has come due,” said Senator Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem. “It’s only through massive cash infusions by the State Legislature and a tax increase on employers this fiscal year that we’ve kept the fund solvent. This cycle of diversion and emergency infusion is bad public policy, jeopardizing the fund’s long-term fiscal integrity and costing taxpayers billions.”

No neighboring state is suffering as much in this recession as New Jersey. There are no excuses that Governor Corzine can give that will make New Jersey feel better about the suffering of so many of our friends and neighbors.

In light of Jon Corzine’s insensitive, arrogant and insulting comments that “If you want a low unemployment rate, move to North Dakota”, Jon Corzine has proved that he is completely undeserving of a second term and that the best thing that he could to help New Jersey would be for him to resign immediately and move to North Dakota.  

Will rising joblessness increase the $3.6 billion deficit in the New Jersey fund that pays unemployment benefits? It's time the governor update the public on the state's worsening economic fortunes.