(TRENTON) — Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex/Passaic) issued the following statement on Monday on legislation (A-3393) to reform arbitration rules:
“The Assembly’s goal in advancing this bill was to at the very least begin an intelligent debate on this key policy issue, and that clearly has happened.
“The Assembly Democrats had a thorough discussion of this bill today as we continue our efforts to combat property taxes. We have broad support for our reform legislation, but the bottom line is our hopes to build a consensus have so far been rejected by the governor’s office.
“We are postponing our vote on this bill, but we are not going to give up our efforts to find progress on this important issue. We are committed to getting this done for the benefit of New Jersey taxpayers.
“The governor must be open to legislation that does not, as his current plan would do, guarantee annual property tax increases.
“After all, bipartisanship is much more than a handshake on a stage, and our caucus wants this to be bipartisan.”