The New Jersey Assembly passed legislation Thursday requiring sharp increases in public employee contributions to pension and health care benefit plans, according to the Associated Press. The bill, which passed 46-32, not only increases health care contributions for over half a million state employees, but also suspends collective bargaining rights over health care benefits for the next four fiscal years. Introduced into the legislature only ten days ago, the bill inspired three ardent protests in front of the Statehouse in Trenton before its passage, which Governor Chris Christie hailed as "a national model [that] will be hailed across the country as an example of
bipartisanship that the president and the Congress can only aspire to," referring to the fourteen Assembly Democrats who parted ways with their party to vote the bill into law.
The heated debate leading up to the bill's passage harkens back to similar fights in Wisconsin and Ohio earlier this year, in which state Republicans sought to increase public employee pension and health care contributions, and limit or eliminate collective bargaining rights in efforts to close state budget shortfalls. But whereas Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker sought to fill a $37 million hole, New Jersey's public retirement funds are quite famously underfunded to the tune of $110 billion... with a "b."
Proponents of the bill say the increases bring public employee contributions more in line with contribution rates in the private sector, but critics protest the expedience with which the bill was pushed through the Assembly, especially since most state employees will now have to pay 200-300% of their current contribution rates for health care. What the consequences to state or personal finances will be remain to be seen, but the bill signifies a fundamental split between some state Democrats and organized labor, long a reliable party ally. With state elections in 2012 expected to be particularly contentious, it will be curious to see what effects the perceived slight will have.
