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ASSEMBLY TO VOTE ON JOB CREATION & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LEGISLATION

Measures to Improve Teen Driver Safety, Permit Syringe Sales to Combat Blood-borne Disease & Provide Flood Relief Also Up For Votes

(TRENTON) – The Assembly on Monday will vote on legislation to create jobs and economic development as part of its ongoing effort to help jump-start the New Jersey economy, with bills to promote job training, help avoid layoffs, keep New Jersey businesses competitive and protect against foreclosure rescue scams topping the agenda.
Bills to improve teen driver safety, permit limited pharmacy sales of syringes and needles without a prescription to combat the spread of blood-borne disease and provide flood relief are also up for consideration.
The session – coming with New Jersey’s unemployment rate at 9.1 percent – is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. It will be streamed live at:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp.
Key bills include:
· Renewed legislation Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex/Passaic) sponsored to create the Back to Work NJ program to help out-of-work residents receive on-the-job training from potential employers (A-4332). The program has proven effective in Georgia and been included in President Obama’s jobs plan, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a previous version earlier this year.
· Legislation sponsored by Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester/Camden) to help New Jersey businesses and workers avoid layoffs by permitting a full-time employee to receive unemployment benefits when the employee’s weekly work time is reduced by 10 percent or more (A-3818).
· A bill (A-359) to protect residents against foreclosure rescue scams. It’s sponsored by Gary Schaer (D-Passaic/Bergen/Essex), John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Mercer/Middlesex).
· A bill (A-921) sponsored by Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset/Middlesex) to help New Jersey businesses protect their trade secrets.
· A bill to create a loan program within the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to help small businesses expand (A-4336). It’s sponsored by Daniel R. Benson (D-Mercer/Middlesex), Albert Coutinho (D-Essex) and Troy Singleton (D-Burlington/Camden).
· Legislation to establish the New Jersey Business Action Center to help New Jersey-based companies stay competitive (A-4337). It’s sponsored by Coutinho and Singleton.
· A bill (A-4048) to provide for voluntary income tax return to donations to support NJ SHARES, which provides assistance to individuals and families who are in need of temporary help in paying their energy bills. It’s sponsored by Elease Evans (D-Passaic/Bergen), Chivukula, Charles Mainor (D-Hudson), Jason O’Donnell (D-Hudson), Annette Quijano (D-Union) and Ruben J. Ramos Jr. (D-Hudson).
· A bill to implement mobile fresh produce markets in urban areas (A-3688) It’s sponsored by Gilbert “Whip” Wilson (D-Camden/Gloucester), Celeste Riley (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland), Quijano, Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Mila Jasey (D-Essex).
The Assembly will also consider legislation to permit limited pharmacy sales of syringes and needles without a prescription (A-1088) to help curb the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other bloodborne diseases. The bill is sponsored by Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen) and Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex).
It will also consider a bill (A-3309) sponsored by John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden) to expand education and practice requirements for special learner’s and examination permits.
Also on tap is legislation sponsored by Connie Wagner (D-Bergen) and Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson/Bergen) to allow counties and municipalities to use open space money to buy flood-prone properties.