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Position Papers

Summary of some of the positions of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce's Government Affairs Committee:

S-1044/A-1926--Project labor agreements: A position in opposition to project labor agreement legislation, which would permit local governments to enter into exclusive arrangements with labor unions to circumvent open bidding processes in government construction jobs, was adopted. Opposition from business and other organizations could not prevent passage into law, though the final version was substantially weaker than the original legislation.

A-1714--Anti-subcontracting: Severely restricts and all but prevents local governments, school districts and public colleges from privatizing certain non-academic work (such as catering) to save money.  Chamber opposed. It passed the Assembly and is pending in Senate

A-831/S-126--24 hours of special needs paid leave: Grants parents employed in companies with 50 or more employees the right to be paid to take off 24 hours during a year for anything the parent deems a special need.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly Labor Committee. This is one of six bills that provide some kind of paid leave.  In a previous session, the Chamber adopted a position in opposition to paid family leave, and remains in opposition to the concept in all forms.

A-1509--Wrongful death suit expansion: Greatly expands right to sue for wrongful death to anyone who had relationship with deceased, increasing possibility of frivolous lawsuits and higher insurance premiums.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly Judiciary Committee.

A-214/S-539--Extension of prevailing wages to private work: Would require any company receiving any kind of state aid, such as training grants and other kinds of economic development assistance, to pay prevailing wages. Chamber opposed. It was signed into law.

A-713, A-706/S-2664, S-2683--Anti-privatization: Would all but remove incentives for government to privatize to increase efficient use of taxpayer dollars by giving first right of refusal to employees, requiring that subcontractors guarantee employees the same wages and benefits, and that scope of work remain precisely the same.  Chamber opposed. It passed the Assembly and is in Senate Labor Committee.

A-2350/S-1489--Exploitation of unemployment fund: Would take advantage of transfer of federal funds intended to buttress unemployment program by greatly expanding benefits to areas never intended to be covered by the program, including a paid family leave provision.  Chamber opposed. It is in the Assembly and Senate Labor Committees.

A-2681/S-1820--Anti-arbitration: Would all but prevent the use of arbitration, a less expensive means of resolving workplace disputes than lawsuits, in many cases by prohibiting the inclusion of arbitration clauses in employment contracts and applications.  Would put New Jersey in conflict with federal law.  Chamber opposed. It passed in the Assembly and is in Senate Labor Committee.

A-205--Criminal Penalties for Prevailing Wage Violations: Would provide penalties currently reserved for criminal offenses for companies guilty of prevailing wage violations.  Among penalties available to Attorney General is dissolution of the company. Chamber opposed. It passed in Assembly and is in Senate.

A-2058/S-2077--Personnel Files Maintenance Reform: Would open access to personnel files to employee or representative in a manner that would hamper investigations of wrong-doing, and virtually give control of files to employee. Chamber opposed. It passed in Assembly and is in Senate Labor Committee.

A-2682--Expanding Whistleblower Protections: Would expand protections provided by the Conscientious Employee Protection Act to cover those who made public accusations of “public policy” violations by an employer on the basis of concerns or suspicions. Chamber opposed. It passed Assembly and is in Senate Labor Committee.

A-1121/S-212--Living Wage Imposition: Would impose a cost-of-living escalated  living wage and mandated benefits over and above minimum wage provisions for any company receiving benefits from or participating in a state program.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly and Senate Labor Committees.

A-2379/S-1520--Mental Health Care Mandates Expansion:  Would dramatically increase mental health care insurance mandates beyond biological-based maladies to mental or nervous conditions greatly escalating costs.  Chamber opposed. It is Assembly and Senate committees.

A-1320--Instant unionization: Would enable unions to organize a private workforce, simply by getting majority of employees to indicate an interest in having union, avoiding secret ballot protections against coercion.  Chamber opposed.  It is in Assembly Labor Committee.

A-3137/S-2275--Health Care Mandates Advisory Commission: Would create commission to assess the financial, medical and social impact of proposed health care insurance mandates to assist in legislative decisions regarding the feasibility of the mandates.  Chamber supports. It is awaiting Governor’s signature.

A-3262–Temporary employment payroll tax shift: Would make employers who use temporary employees responsible for failure of part time employee agencies to withhold payroll taxes.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly Labor Committee.

A-3393/S-2351--California car rules adoption: Would direct Department of Environmental Protection to adopt California’s unproven low emission vehicle program in 2006.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly and Senate committees.

A-2958--Union organizing assistance: Would require any non-union company accepting state grants or contracts to prove that no state funds were used in opposing unionization, effectively neutralizing management or forcing them to disclose confidential information or refuse state assistance or contracts.  Chamber opposed. It passed Assembly and is in Senate Labor Committee.

A-2938/S-2015--State taxpayer assumption of union costs: Would require any business wishing to do business with New Jersey to disclose detailed employment information that can be used by unions in organizing drives, such as the cost of health care benefits, shifting the cost of gathering that information from the labor organization to the state and taxpayers.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly and Senate Labor Committees.

S-2183/A-3142--Establishes state minimum appliance energy standards: Would give Board of Public Utilities power to set minimum appliance energy standards above national levels, putting New Jersey out-of-step with rest of the country and at competitive disadvantage.  Chamber opposed. It is in Assembly Senate committees.

Increase corporate business taxes: Chamber opposed endeavor to balance 2002-3 state budget by greatly expanding corporate business taxes. Some changes were made but the budget adoption nearly doubled taxes.

Retention of the business employment incentive program (BEIP): Chamber opposed the Administration’s plan to eliminated BEIP. A permanent funding method for an altered and improved BEIP was adopted.

A-1252 (Stanley A-1884 (Oliver, Gusciora) S-1000 (Codey) – Minimum Wage Increase: This would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.00 and adjust it annually to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Inde3x in the New York/Philadelphia area.  The chamber is concerned that this would initiate a chain reaction that would affect New Jersey’s competitiveness.

A-5269 (Roberts/Greenstein), which calls for a Property Tax Constitutional Convention.  The Morris County Chamber of Commerce opposes this and supports a special session of the Legislature to address the issue.

Air Toxics Surcharge Repeal:   By repealing the air toxics surcharge A-3667/S-2124 would help to reduce the economic and competitive hardships on New Jersey Companies struggling to prosper in, and contribute to our State’s economy.  The Morris County chamber of Commerce, representing more than 800 employers, favors passage of this bill.

Sales Tax on Services:  Having a sales tax on services provided by doctors, dentists, chiropractors, attorneys, accountants, and real estate agents would have many negative effects. Most of the cost would fall heavily on the consumers of those services who are least able to pay.  The Chamber opposes this tax.

Paid Family Leave:  Even though already approved by the Senate Labor Committee, the Chamber feels that paid family leave is best left to individual businesses, based on individual circumstances.