SWEENEY, KEAN BRINGCIVILITY TO MORRIS COUNTY

In the antithesis of today’s hyper-partisan political acrimony of Washington, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R-21) sat down together for an amicable discussion of the issues at the 2019 Legislative Luncheon hosted by the Morris County Chamber of Commerce at the Park Savoy in Florham Park. Sweeney and Kean clearly like each other and agreed as often as not during the hour-long discussion moderated by Alan Zakin of Alan Zakin Associates and chairman of the chamber’s Government Affairs Committee. Both agreed New Jersey is in fiscal trouble and cited various solutions. “We need to rescue the state from (its) financial crisis,” Sweeney said, citing unsustainable public pension and health care obligations and over-taxation of businesses. “The state has problems and if we don’t solve them quickly we’ll lose our edge…To achieve anything important, we have to work together.” Kean agreed. “People are risking a lot to stay in New Jersey,” he said. “People are working a lot of hours, sometimes working two jobs…Families are being torn apart because kids can’t afford to stay in New Jersey.” The question-and-answer format allowed members of the audience to delve into areas of concern to them. Sweeney and Kean were asked how to ease property ​taxes in New Jersey and about shared services. Both agreed the 2 percent cap was a good start and had achieved real progress.

Kean called for a restructuring of the school funding formula to create tax stability but stopped short of embracing shared services as a solution, noting regional education does not always work because people want more say in their kids’ education. Sweeney disagreed. “I think county government plays a key role in facilitating shared services,” he said, noting that small school districts pay 17 percent more for education than larger districts. The problem, he added, is resistance. “You don’t want a shared police department. You don’t want a regional school district…It’s called home rule and people like it.” However, by fixing the state’s pension plan, New Jersey could save $3 billion per year, $2 billion at the local level, and all those savings could go toward property tax relief, Sweeney added. Sweeney and Kean were asked about increased funding for New Jersey Transit and both agreed it was necessary. “We need to make it possible for people to get to work,” Kean said. Sweeney called for improved communication to commuters and better contingency plans to help them modify their plans. When asked about legalized marijuana and the impact on employers, neither senator seemed enthused with the plan even though it would bring additional revenues. Kean claimed other states with legalized marijuana showed increased cost demands on the health care and education systems and no drop in black market sales and said reducing the cost of government was better than raising revenue this way. Sweeney said employers’ rights, for example on testing, would always prevail, although legalized medical marijuana adds other issues. He also pointed to a 29 percent drop in opioid use in Colorado as a favorable outcome of legalized marijuana.

He predicted it would eventually take place in New Jersey and wanted it done statutorily to maintain control over the process. The senators parted ways on the issue of the state’s minimum wage increase and its impact on businesses. “We had some concerns and we’re going to watch it to make sure we don’t lose too many jobs,” Sweeney said, citing exemptions, a circuit breaker in the case of a recession and a rolled out approach. Kean countered the exemptions were simply delayed and that the Murphy administration had failed to consider the impact of the increase on the cost of operating state government. When asked about rising health care costs for employers, Kean said no issue had generated more calls to his office than this one and called for tort reform and continued coverage for pre-existing conditions. Sweeney lamented the approach of President Trump and the Republicans in Washington of simply attacking the Affordable Care Act rather than looking for solutions. “Rather than trying to fix what was wrong, they tried to destroy it,” he said. “And they made things worse.”