Earlier this week, NJAC testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee concerning Governor Murphy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2024 State Budget where the Association noted its support for full funding of the State’s retirement systems along with monies to offset health benefit premium increases imposed on local governments participating in the State Health Benefit Program (SHBP) and 911 funding for all 21 counties. HEALTH BENEFITS The Association contends that the $200.0 million in federal pandemic relief funds included in the Governor’s proposed budget and intended to mitigate t...

PFRS BENEFIT ENHANCEMENT On March 20th, NJAC, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM), and the Government Finance Officers Association of New Jersey (GFOA) testified in opposition to S- 3090/A-4498 (Gopal D-11/Lagana D-38)(DeAngelo D014) before the Senate Budget and Appropriations and Assembly State and Local Government committees. In summary, this legislation would provide for a retirement allowance after 20 years of service regardless of age for members of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS). NJAC is primarily concerned with the facts that this legislation would ...

HEALTH BENEFIT INCREASES In light of the fact that the Administration and State Legislature have yet to agree on providing any immediate financial relief or long-term structural reforms to address the 24% increase in health benefit expenses imposed by the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP), NJAC is exploring the possibility of establishing county health insurance funds in the northern, central, and southern regions of the State as permitted under current law. According to information shared by PERMA Risk Management Services, the advantages of health insurance funds include: the ownership a...

HEALTH BENEFIT INCREASES Earlier this month, NJAC, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM), the New Jersey Conference of Mayors (NJCM), the AFL-CIO, the CWA, the PBA, and more, joined forces in an unprecedented coalition of management and labor to make fair and equitable recommendations that would have mitigated the staggering health benefit rate increases approved by the State Health Benefits Commission (SHBC). In addition to providing immediate financial relief to property taxpayers, local governments, and public employees already struggling to make ends meet, the reasonable an...

CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS NJAC and county officials from across the State certainly appreciate the original intent of the protections afforded public sector workers under the State’s civil service system; however, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) has transformed into an overly burdensome and outdated bureaucracy that prevents the effective and efficient operation of government. With additional details to follow shortly, the rules, regulations, and directives imposed on local governments as employers by CSC present enormous challenges in the hiring, promoting, transferring, and disciplining of p...

HEALTH BENEFIT INCREASES Earlier this month, NJAC and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM) met with Administration officials to discuss the September 13th decision of the State Health Benefits Committee (SHBC) to approve unprecedented health benefit insurance rate hikes of up to 24% for local governments participating in the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP). Although we appreciate the meeting, NJAC is urging the Administration to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies or other unrestricted reserve or surplus funds to temporarily offset the extraordinary increases as t...

HEALTH BENEFIT INCREASES On September 14th by telephone conference, the State Health Benefits Committee (SHBC) summarily approved unprecedented health benefit insurance rate hikes for local governments participating in the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) by a vote of 3-1-1 with an overview of the outrageous increases summarized below. The recommended rate change for Local Government Actives is a 0% increase for medical and a 3.7% increase for the prescription drug premium rates, for a total increase of 21.6%. The recommend rate change for Local Government Early Retirees is a 6%...

ELECTION BILLS On July 28th, Governor Murphy signed into law a series of election reform measures of which NJAC is in the process of reviewing with our county election officials. VOTE-BY-MAIL STATUS A-3819/S-2868 (Mukherji D-33/Dunn R-25)(Cryan D-20/Gopal D-11) as P.L. 2022, c.68, which specifies the circumstances when voters will be removed from permanent vote-by-mail status and when ballots will be sent to primary addresses. In summary, this new law removes a voter from a permanent vote-by-mail status after a voter opted-in to voting by mail if the voter does not vote-by-mail for four co...

Governor Phil Murphy recently signed into law the following legislation concerning county government. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM & GRAVES ACT OFFENSES On June 30th, the Governor signed into law A-2426/S-513 (Wimberly D-35/Reynolds- Jackson D-15)(Cryan D-20/Turner D-15) as P.L. 2022, c.43, which establishes a rebuttable presumption of pretrial detention for a defendant who commits certain firearm offenses under the Graves Act. In general, the new law requires the pretrial detention for a defendant charged with a fire-arms related crime under the Graves Act, which includes the possession o...

MAYBE SOME PROGRESS ON THE DIVERSION OF 911 FEES On May 27th, senators Michael Testa (R-1), Anthony Bucco (R-25), and Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) along with Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-23) introduced budget resolutions in both houses that would partially end the State’s long-standing diversion of 911 fees and provide $21.0 in funding to County 911 Centers in the Fiscal Year 2023 State Budget with a $1.0 million grant made available for each county to maintain, upgrade, or regionalize its 911 system. NJAC commends the sponsors for their support and leadership in introducing the budget resolutions t...