Senator Calls for Immediate Vote or Justification from Senate Leadership
“In total, these municipalities (Newark, Atlantic City, Camden, Jersey City, Trenton, South Brunswick, East Orange, Hackensack) paid more than $39 million last year to more than 700 employees who cashed in their unused sick and vacation time.”
–The Star-Ledger, 4/11/2011
Trenton—In light of new information showing eight municipalities in New Jersey paid out $39 million in terminal leave payments to departing public employees, Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth/Middlesex) called for Senate Democrats to explain their continued defense of the practice:
“I have to wonder if the cost to the taxpayers of this outrageous public employee perk is sinking in with my Democrat colleagues.”
“Even more frustrating is that some of the municipalities with the largest terminal leave debts are also recipients of huge amounts of state aid, paid for by the rest of the state’s beleaguered taxpayers.”
“Contrary to the claims of Trenton special interests defending the practice, sick leave is not a form of deferred compensation.These payments are wrong in any amount and must be ended, not just capped, by the Legislature.This is a vote the Senate needs to hold this month.”
“If the Majority party continues its crusade to preserve these payments, the taxpayers deserve an explanation as to why they should pay for a public employee perk that the majority of New Jersey workers do not receive themselves.”
Referring to “Snooki” as a “degenerate reality television star who offers neither useful advice nor any appreciable talents,” Senator Joe Kyrillos announced that he was submitting legislation that would all require New Jersey’s public universities to make student activities fees optional.
His legislation comes in response to mandatory student activities fees at Rutgers University being used to fund a $32, 000 speaking fee for Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
“Students ought not be forced to fund entertainment or events that they find objectionable,” said Kyrillos. “There were a great deal of Rutgers students who I am certain were uninterested or flat out outraged by Ms. Polizzi’s appearance on campus.”
Kyrillos’ announcement quickly made national news when Tommy DeSeno wrote about it on Ricochet.
Polizzi, 23, didn’t tell MoreMonmouthMusings that she was using the $32,000 she picked up for her Rutgers performance as a down payment on a house in Keansburg so that she could seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Kyrillos this fall.
Middletown—Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth/Middlesex) today noted the Monmouth County Freeholders swift disciplinary action against workers involved in last week’s ‘sick-out’ of SCAT bus drivers:
“The Freeholders did the right thing by immediately suspending three individuals who called out sick on Friday, February 25th- only to be caught on camera at a protest in Trenton,” Kyrillos said. “The actions of these employees and others, who organized a disruption of bus service endangered the well-being of SCAT’s developmentally disabled and elderly clients. It is my hope that county officials will summarily be able to ascertain if others were absent without proper excuse and take appropriate action.”
Kyrillos also said the incident exemplifies the urgent need for civil service reform. “The fact that the civil service system may drag out the termination process for these employees is ludicrous,” Kyrillos said. “While some personnel matters are complex, getting caught on film being involved in an organized ‘sick-out’ and lying to your employer should be grounds for immediate termination. The fact that the system protects these employees from being fired on the spot, and may cost taxpayers thousands in legal proceedings, is reason enough to reform civil service laws.”
Will Attempt to Force Senate Consideration of Governor’s Conditional Veto
Trenton— In an effort to offer relief to property tax payers and prevent public safety layoffs, Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth/Middlesex) will attempt to force consideration of the Governor’s conditional veto of S-2220, which eliminates payouts of unused sick time for public employees, at tomorrow’s Senate session.
“Rather than trying to override the Governor on bills the Majority cannot find the funds to support, the Senate should be passing unfinished toolkit legislation that will help avert public safety layoffs and property tax increases,” Kyrillos said. “Sick leave cash outs present an enormous strain on local government budgets that must be stopped. The Governor is absolutely right in requiring that these cash outs be phased out for all employees, current and future, in his veto message. Sick leave should be used when you are sick, not as a cash gift upon retirement.”
Kyrillos will motion that the conditional veto be taken up as the Senate’s “Order of the Day”. It is up to the Senate President to decide whether or not the motion is in order.
“I hope that the Senate President will hear, as I have, the call of police and firemen who are concerned about the impact of layoffs on our communities,” said Kyrillos. “We need to make tax dollars go farther by giving towns and counties the tools they need to reign in unnecessary costs and fund priorities that matter. Unused sick leave is a perfect example of a cost to local government that no longer needs to exist.”
Middletown- In response to an apparent ‘sick-out’ staged by Monmouth County SCAT bus drivers, Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth/Middlesex) called for the immediate firing of the 17 CWA workers involved:
“It is outrageous that 174 disabled and elderly clients who depend on SCAT were stranded by what appears to be a coordinated effort by employees to disrupt service without notice,” said Kyrillos. “The actions of these workers is completely unbecoming of any public servant, and should make every taxpayer in Monmouth County furious. CWA, the union representing these employees, needs to denounce their members for putting the well-being of these vulnerable individuals at risk, and the employees in question should be fired.”
Seventeen SCAT workers, including fourteen bus drivers for the developmentally disabled and senior citizens, took sick leave with no notice on Friday, February 25th- the same day as a coordinated demonstration organized by labor leaders at the State Capitol. Service was disrupted for 174 clients who take SCAT buses to medical appointments or work.
“The rights of workers to demonstrate, protest, and take appropriate leave from work for personal purposes are not disputed,” Kyrillos stated. “However, it is not their right to abuse sick leave and disrupt a system many people have come to rely on. In fact, it is a breach of contract and should be punished to the fullest extent possible. This type of behavior not only hurts the people SCAT serves, it harms the reputation of all public workers.”
Governor Chris Christie will be Chris Wallace’s guest on FoxNews Sunday
At noon on local Fox station, Channel 9, Senator Joe Kyrillos faces off with Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the NJ Democratic chairman regarding Governor Christie’s State of the State message. Later on the same show, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre goes toe to toe with Bryan Miller of Cease fire NJ regarding political rhetoric and gun control.
More than 50 nominations awaiting action in state Senate
By Senator Joe Kyrillos
The failure of the Democratic majority in the state Senate to even consider, much less vote on, many of Gov. Chris Christie’s nominees started as ridiculous and is now verging on a constitutionally dangerous level of dysfunction. The state constitution states clearly that the governor is to make appointments to the courts and various agencies, and the Senate is to consider them and render its approval or disapproval.There are about 53 nominations ready to be heard by the Senate, including the director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, who regulates doctors, nurses and pharmacists; four members of the state Board of Education; and most importantly, a nominee for the state Supreme Court.
In addition, millions of dollars are being appropriated by important bodies such as the Turnpike Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Sports and Exposition Authority by members whose terms have expired despite new appointments to these posts having been submitted long ago.
When I brought this subject up on the floor of the Senate, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee responded that the current situation with regard to gubernatorial appointments pending before the Senate is completely normal. With all due respect to my colleague, that is not true.
The Democrats’ inaction on appointments is unprecedented. Roughly 68 percent of the nominations submitted to the Senate this year have been stalled. In 2009, just 18 percent of Gov. Jon Corzine’s nominations were held up. In 2002, under Gov. James McGreevey, only 8 percent were delayed.
The blatant partisanship on display by Senate Democrats is more than irresponsible, especially with regard to the appointment of Anne Patterson to the state Supreme Court. That nomination has languished in the Senate since May, all because the Democratic Senate president wanted someone else for the job.
Refusing to even consider an extremely well-qualified nominee is a reprehensible dereliction of duty that will allow the chief justice of the Supreme Court to appoint an interim justice himself.
Allowing the court to choose its own members sets a dangerous precedent. Doing so circumvents the separation of powers between the branches of government and weakens checks and balances on an unelected judiciary. The chief justice will be able to appoint a member who is accountable to nobody but himself, with no check on his or her power by the public or the Legislature.
Unfortunately, should the Senate not act on these nominations before the middle of January, the nominations will expire. This will cause an additional delay in filling these vital offices. The clock is ticking on nominations to courts, boards, commissions and agencies that affect the daily lives of New Jersey residents.
Playing politics with the appointment process is more than a blemish on the institution of the Senate; it is a finger in the eye of the public that elected us to go to Trenton and get to work.
(Trenton)— Declaring that parents must be given tools to force changes in failing schools, Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth) today announced that he has submitted groundbreaking education reform legislation to the Senate for consideration. The Parent Empowerment and Choice Act, known informally as the “parent trigger”, allows parents in chronically underperforming school districts to compel a variety of reforms be undertaken via petition.
“Children in dramatically underperforming school districts, many of which are in the poorest neighborhoods in New Jersey, report to class every day as unwilling actors in a modern tragedy,” said Senator Kyrillos. “These children are not afforded the education they need to make a better life for themselves, and are placed at a substantial disadvantage to their peers by government and the education establishment. Parents are given little choice but to look on as their children are failed in the most formative years of their lives. It is a moral imperative and an economic imperative that we not allow this to continue in New Jersey.”
Under the proposal, parents of children in a low performing school may petition to force the following reform measures at a particular school: (1) reopening as a charter school, (2) changes in school administrators including but not limited to the principal, (3) establishment of a tuition voucher program. The board of education or State district superintendent must grant the change if a majority of parents in the school in question sign the petition.
“The Parent Empowerment and Choice Act allows parents to take matters into their own hands when the system will not change on its own,” continued Kyrillos. “It allows for swift intervention to give children the educational opportunity state law requires, but all too often is not provided. While the refrain from defenders of the status quo is always to declare that change is difficult and takes time, that excuse does nothing for the children advancing through a troubled system. We cannot make time stand still in districts with severe shortcomings. Either we provide options to parents to effect rapid and wide ranging reforms, or children will continue to progress through an educational system that is not meeting their needs.”
The legislation is modeled after a grassroots initiative that originated in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was adopted statewide by the California Legislature in January 2010. It now moves to the Senate for a first reading and referral to the Senate Education Committee. For more information on parent-based school reforms, visit www.parentrevolution.org.
Senator Joe Kyrillos told the Wall Street Jounral’s David Feith that he will introduce legislation this month that will legally empower parents to force administrative changes in failing schools.
“Parent Trigger” became law in California in January of this year. Under the California law, if 51% of parents in a failing school sign a petition they can force administrative changes in the school, convert the school to charter status or shut down the school entirely.
The idea was first proposed by the “liberal activists group,” Parent Revolution. Liberal or not, the idea enjoys bi-partisan support in California but is being proposed mostly by Republicans elsewhere in the country, according to the WSJ article.
Kyrillos is confident is bill will become law. He told Feith:
“If it can pass in California, it can pass anywhere,” says New Jersey State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, who plans to introduce his parent-trigger bill as soon as this month. Mr. Kyrillos is confident his bill will pass, especially since Gov. Chris Christie, a fellow Republican, committed in September to supporting the kind of parent-empowering reform that “was recently done in California.”
Legislation proposed by Governor Christie and sponsored by Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) and Senator Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) to expand financial assistance grants for current and prospective New Jersey employers has advanced in the Assembly. “An Act concerning the Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grant Program” (BRRAG), S-2370, would broaden the availability of state financial assistance for those employers who wish to expand operations in or relocate to the State of New Jersey. The bill’s Assembly companions (A-3389, A-3391) were heard today in that chamber’s Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
“With New Jersey’s unemployment rate at 9.4%, state government must use all tools at its disposal to create and retain jobs,” said Senator Kyrillos. “I am proud to join Governor Christie’s efforts to make New Jersey more affordable for job creators by sponsoring this bi-partisan piece of legislation with Senator Madden. Our proposal increases the tax credits available to employers who wish to invest in our great state and expands eligibility for the program. By reducing the corporate and insurance tax burden on job creators, we can change the business climate in New Jersey and put people back to work. Far too many of our friends and neighbors are in search of meaningful employment, and we must do everything possible to motivate job opportunities and the state’s economy.”
BRRAG provides credits against corporate taxes levied on businesses for those employers that retain jobs scheduled for elimination, expand operations, or relocate from another state to New Jersey. Senator Kyrillos’s bill eliminates various caps and restrictions on BRRAG grants in an effort to expand eligibility and participation under the program. In addition, the proposed changes would allow participating businesses to utilize credits for capital purchases under certain circumstances. The plan is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on November 15, 2010.
