‘This is legislation devised with the Assembly sitting at the table’
23 Pages of Amendments to Initial Legislation
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson/Bergen) released the following statement Monday after the Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced economic recovery legislation (A-2569 and A-2570) for Atlantic City:
“I’m clearly pleased we’ve been able to come together to advance this legislation and its 23 total pages of amendments.
“This is legislation devised with the Assembly sitting at the table, with Assembly priorities reflected.
“Unlike the initial bill, this pertains only to Atlantic City and is not an immediate state takeover. Instead, Atlantic City’s locally elected officials will get the chance to right the ship. They will have 150 days to devise a plan to balance next year’s budget and prepare a five-year plan to get their finances in order.
“That’s far different from the unreasonable and unworkable demand to cut a per capita budget statistic in half in 130 days.
“Unlike the initial bill, collective bargaining is not immediately on the chopping block.
“Unlike the initial bill, the casinos will not be able to opt-out of payments in lieu of taxes, and these two bills must be signed together or neither can take effect.
“This bill includes a new bridge loan to help Atlantic City through this year, and includes a guaranteed level of state aid to provide predictable support for the city to balance its budgets. Also, the early retirement incentives have been expanded to all full-time employees to help save money.
“This is the type of compromise legislation the Assembly was seeking – one that respects that city’s right to self-governance and worker rights while providing reasonable benchmarks to resolve this crisis.”