Allowing Ballot Selfies, Protecting School Personnel, Combating Personal ID Crimes, Clean Drinking Water & Breastfeeding Rights Also on Tap
(TRENTON) – No black bear hunts, gender pay equity, expressing the Legislature’s intent in asking voters to approve North Jersey gaming, improving services and protections for domestic violence victims, increased state budget and debt transparency and improving freight rail safety highlight Thursday’s Assembly committee hearings.
Also on tap is legislation permit a voter to take a photograph of own voted ballot and share it on Internet-based social media, upgrade assault on school personnel to a crime of the third degree in all instances, combat invasive plant species, create a crime of trafficking in personal identifying information, establish clean drinking water standards and expand civil rights protections to include breastfeeding while requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for breastfeeding mothers.
The meetings are slated to begin at 10 a.m. and will be streamed live at:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
· A3527 (Eustace/Spencer/Mukherji/Giblin) – Removes black bear from list of game species; and AR127 (Eustace/Spencer/Vainieri Huttle/Mukherji) – Opposes expansion of black bear hunting season in NJ. 2 p.m. Environment and Solid Waste.
· ACR206 (Caputo/Oliver) – Expresses Legislature’s intent in approving proposed amendment to State Constitution to authorize casino gambling in northern part of State. 10 a.m. Judiciary.
· A2685 (Pinkin/Mosquera) – Establishes Study Commission on Gender Pay Discrimination. 10 a.m. Women and Children.
· A1444 (Lampitt/Mosquera/Johnson) – “Wage Transparency Act”; requires reporting of public contractor employment information. 10 a.m. Labor.
· A3480 (Downey/Schaer/Houghtaling) – Prohibits certain employers from seeking or releasing salary history of certain employees; and A4119 (Lampitt/Benson/Singleton/Muoio/DeAngelo) – Concerns employer inquiries about wage and salary history. 10 a.m. Labor.
· A553 (Pinkin/McKeon/Sumter/Lampitt/Vainieri Huttle/Wimberly) – Establishes identical levels of domestic violence training for judges and judicial personnel; A2185 (Singleton/N. Munoz/Vainieri Huttle) – Establishes mandatory domestic violence training for municipal prosecutors; and A4040 (Singleton/Mosquera) – Requires training for law enforcement officers and assistant county prosecutors concerning handling of domestic violence cases. 10 a.m. Judiciary.
· A843 (Quijano/Gusciora/Mosquera/Jimenez/Moriarty) – Requires counseling for certain domestic violence offenders; A3367 (Vainieri Huttle/Mosquera) – Allows gross income tax deduction for 50% of contributions of $100 or more to domestic violence shelters; A4124 (Mosquera/Barclay/Jones) – Requires public employers to implement certain policies for handling and responding to reports of domestic violence; A4125 (Mosquera/Barclay/Jones) – Establishes mandatory training program for human resources officers of public employers on handling and responding to reports of domestic violence. 10 a.m. Women and Children.
· A301 (Singleton/Schaer/Benson/Eustace/Mosquera/Houghtaling) – Enhances the reporting and disclosure requirements concerning State tax expenditures and limits the duration of new State tax expenditure enactments; A316 (Singleton/Prieto/DeAngelo/Lagana/Houghtaling) – Requires an annual State debt affordability analysis be included in the State Debt Report; A1552 (Lagana/Singleton/Moriarty/Vainieri Huttle) – “Transparency in Government Act”; provides for establishment of State public finance website; A1651 (Schaer/Singleton/Eustace/Pinkin/Downey) – Establishes a joint legislative and executive branch New Jersey Revenue Advisory Board to provide consensus revenue forecasting advice for State budget purposes; A2225 (Singleton/Downey) – Requires Governor’s annual budget message to include description and fiscal analyses of recommendations to raise State revenue estimated at $1 million or more; A4164 (Houghtaling/Downey) – Requires State Auditor to annually report on unspent State account balances. 2 p.m. Budget.
· A3659 (Caride) – Upgrades assault on school personnel to crime of the third degree in all instances. 10 a.m. Judiciary.
· A4159 (Downey/Vainieri Huttle) – Concerns crime of trafficking in personal identifying information. 10 a.m. Judiciary.
· A4188 (Mukherji/Chaparro/Jimenez/McKnight) – Permits voter to take photograph of own voted ballot and share it on Internet-based social media. 10 a.m. Judiciary.
· A2294 (Vainieri Huttle/Andrzejczak) – Expands civil rights protections to include breastfeeding; requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for breastfeeding mothers. 10 a.m. Labor.
· A-2646 (Lampitt) – Concerns discrimination because of familial status. 10 a.m. Labor.
· A2463 (Eustace/Vainieri Huttle/Caride/Muoio/Lagana/Lampitt) – Requires owner or operator of certain trains to have discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain hazardous materials by rail. 10 a.m. Transportation.
· A4031 (Vainieri Huttle/Eustace) – Creates New Jersey Crude Oil by Rail Safety Task Force. 10 a.m. Transportation.
· A1949 (Coughlin/Holley/Andrzejczak) – Permits certain breweries to sell beer at community farm markets; and A4118 (Mazzeo) – Authorizes annual issuance of permit to sell alcoholic beverages at seasonal farm market. 2 p.m. Agriculture and Natural Resources.
· A3055 (Houghtaling) – Authorizes counties to issue promotional labeling for county agricultural products. 2 p.m. Agriculture and Natural Resources.
· A3057 (Andrzejczak/Taliaferro/Houghtaling) – Requires NJEDA to establish loan program for certain farming operation equipment purchases. 2 p.m. Agriculture and Natural Resources.
· A1264 (Caride/Eustace) – Prohibits knowingly selling or planting certain invasive plant species; and A-3735 (Mazzeo) – Establishes requirements for sale and planting of running bamboo. 2 p.m. Environment and Solid Waste.
· A4095 (Eustace/Singleton/Holley/Conaway/Muoio/Vainieri Huttle) – Directs DEP to adopt standards for certain drinking water contaminants as recommended by Drink Water Quality Institute. 2 p.m. Environment and Solid Waste.
· A926 (Vainieri Huttle/Benson/Tucker/Eustace) – Changes pejorative terminology referring to person with certain disabilities or substance use disorders; and A3665 (Eustace/Johnson/Vainieri Huttle) – Changes pejorative terminology referring to persons of certain ethnic backgrounds in State statutes, and requires government entities to remove pejorative language from official documents. 1 p.m. Human Services.
· A4168 (Downey) – Expands Lifeline Credit and Tenants’ Lifeline Assistance Programs to include assistance for water utility bill. 1 p.m. Human Services.
· A4006 (Downey) – Adds Monmouth County as pilot county for purposes of “Common Sense Shared Services Pilot Program Act.” 2 p.m. State and Local Government.
· A2368 (Vainieri Huttle) – Permits municipality to establish civil penalty for smoking in public places. 2 p.m. State and Local Government.
· A4130 (Singleton) – Extends senior freeze benefits to certain disabled persons. 2 p.m. State and Local Government.