Bills to Remove Insulting Language Toward the Disabled, Improve Authority Ethics, Help Vets Find Housing, Assist Veterans Groups, Allow Community Service in lieu of Court Fines & Mobile Horse Racing Also on Tap
(TRENTON) – Final legislative approval for Assembly Democratic legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage and bills to combat the state’s foreclosure crisis, increase Port Authority of New York and New Jersey oversight and bar employers from demanding social media information from employees and potential new hires top Monday’s Assembly agenda.
Also on tap are bills to remove from state law insulting language toward disabled residents, allow lottery winners to remain anonymous for a year, improve authority ethics, help veterans find affordable housing, help protect the rights of soldiers in child custody cases and allow Municipal Courts to order community service in lieu of fines.
The session scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. It will be streamed live at:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp.
The board list is attached. Highlights include:
· Final legislative approval for a bill (A-2162) to increase New Jersey’s hourly minimum wage to $8.50 and require the rate to then be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The bill is sponsored by Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex/Passaic), Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Essex), Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), Speaker Pro Tem Jerry Green (D-Union/Middlesex/Somerset), Majority Conference Leader Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen), Budget Chairman Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson/Bergen) and Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex).
· Legislation (A-3413) sponsored by Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Green (D- Middlesex/Somerset/Union) to create a temporary program that would allow the state to purchase foreclosed properties for use as affordable housing, while protecting municipalities from having to forfeit funds appropriated for affordable housing.
· A bill (A-2166) to require the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to transmit the minutes of its meetings to the Legislatures of New York and New Jersey for review and approval. It’s sponsored by John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Charles Mainor (D-Hudson).
· Legislation (A-3396) Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) sponsored to ensure the state’s foreclosure mediation program continues.
· Final legislative approval for a bill (A-2878) to prohibit an employer from requiring a current or prospective employee social media passwords and other information. It’s sponsored by John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland), Lou Greenwald (D-Camden/Burlington), Ruben J. Ramos Jr. (D-Hudson), Herb Conaway M.D. (D-Burlington) and Marlene Caride (D-Passaic/Bergen).
· A bill (A-3357) sponsored by Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) to rid state statutes of archaic and derogatory language used to describe people with developmental, cognitive or psychiatric disabilities.
· Legislation (A-2982) sponsored by John Burzichelli (D-Cumberland/Gloucester/Salem) and Annette Quijano (D-Union) that would allow lottery winners in New Jersey to stay out of the public eye for a year.
· Legislation (A-2610) John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland) and Connie Wagner and Tim Eustace (both D-Bergen/Passaic) to allow the use of mobile gaming devices at in-state racetracks to wager on in-state and out-of-state races being transmitted via simulcasting and live races taking place at that racetrack.
· Legislation sponsored by Peter J. Barnes III (D-Middlesex) to improve ethics disclosure at independent state authorities. The bill (A-759) requires that members of independent state authorities make disclosures concerning relationships between the members’ relatives and the authorities upon which the members serve.
· Legislation sponsored by Upendra J. Chivukula (D-Middlesex/Somerset) and Vincent Prieto (D-Bergen/Hudson) that would make affordable housing more accessible to New Jersey veterans (A-1744).
· Legislation (A-2164) sponsored by Herb Conaway, Jr. M.D. and Troy Singleton (both D-Burlington) that would ensure parents serving in the Armed Forces who are involved in custody cases are not disadvantaged by certain military absences.
· Legislation Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex) sponsored to allow New Jersey courts to assign community service penalties for certain crimes in lieu of monetary fines.