News Archives
January 9, 2008
2007 Legislative Summary
Eight labor bills or resolutions were signed into law last year. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks all of our affiliates and other organizations that actively supported these initiatives. We also thank Senate President Codey and Speaker Roberts for posting these bills for consideration and for Governor Corzine’s support and final approval. We also would like to thank the sponsors of these important initiatives, as well as the legislators that voted in favor.
Misclassification of Construction Workers (1099 Independent Contractor Reform in the Construction Industry): Legislation seeking to debar certain construction contractors from public work as well as establishing criminal penalties for misclassification of construction workers as independent contractors was signed into law July 13, 2007.
S-2579 (Karcher / Codey / Sweeney) passed the Senate by a vote of 24-12, with all Democrats present voting in favor, as well as Republicans Littell, McCullough, Lance and Asselta. A-4009 (Caraballo) passed the Assembly on June 11, 2007, by a vote of 55-22. All Democrats and Republicans Baroni, Kean, Chatzidakis, Dancer and Malone voted in favor.
Clarifies that the Prevailing Wage on Construction Projects Must Be Paid When Land is Publicly Owned: A-3890 (Egan / Van Drew / Moriarty / Huttle / Greenstein) & S-2457 (Doria) clarifies that the prevailing wage must be paid on construction projects being constructed on publicly owned land. The bill passed the Assembly on February 22, 2007, by a vote of 61-13. Voting in favor were all Democrats present and 15 Republicans. The bill passed the Senate on March 12, 2007 by a vote of 31-6. Voting in favor were all Democrats present and 11 Republicans. The bill was signed into law on April 26, 2007.
Stops Debarred Construction Contractors from Using New Business Entity to Circumvent Prevailing Wage Laws: S-2458 (Madden) & A-3889 (Egan / Van Drew / Scalera / Cohen) established new penalties for debarred construction contractors from using new business entities in order to continue bidding on publicly funded projects. The Senate vote was 35-0-5 and the Assembly vote was 62-13-1-4. The bill was signed into law on April 26, 2007.
BEIP Prevailing Wage Application: S-2247 (Sweeney / Coniglio) seeks to apply Prevailing wage requirements to BEIP grant recipients. These grants are administered by the EDA. The bill passed the Senate mostly along party lines by a vote of 23-15 on January 8, 2007. All Democrats voted in favor, and Sen. Asselta was the only Republican voting in favor. The Assembly version, A-4001 (Fisher / Egan / Van Drew) passed on December 13, 2007 and passed the Senate on December 17, 2007. It was signed into law on January 4, 2008.
The “Violence Prevention in Health Care Facilities Act:” The “Violence Prevention in Health Care Facilities Act” (S-1761: Vitale & A-3027: Conaway) seeks to incorporate OSHA guidelines and requires health care facilities to establish violence prevention committees. The bill passed the Assembly in June 2007, by a vote of 76-4-0 and passed the Senate on December 17, 2007 unanimously. It was signed into law on January 3, 2008.
The “Safe Patient Handling Act:” (S-1758: Vitale & A-3028: Conaway) requires that all health care facilities adopt a safe patient handling program and was strongly supported by nursing and health care unions. The bill was signed into law on January 3, 2008.
The following bill was Conditionally Vetoed by Governor Corzine and subsequently signed into law.
WARN Act Reform: In March 2007, legislation expanding the WARN Act notification requirement from 60 days to 90 days, as well as providing severance pay for certain workers during a mass layoff and increasing employer penalties for non-compliance, passed the Senate. The vote for S-472 (Sweeney / Doria / Asselta) was 24-12-4. Voting in favor were all Democrats present and Senators Allen, Asselta and McCullough. The Assembly companion, A-1044 (Van Drew) passed the Assembly in June by a vote of 57-20-2. Voting in favor were all Democrats present and Republicans Baroni, Blee, Chatzidakis, Dancer, Kean, Malone and Munoz.
Governor Corzine conditional vetoed the bill on November 8, 2007.
Under the veto, the severance pay provision (which also serves as an increased employer penalty in cases of non-compliance) remains, but the 30 day extension was vetoed. The conditionally vetoed bill was signed into law on December 20, 2007.
The following resolution was signed and sent to members of Congress:
SJR-38 / AJR-135: Supports the Employee Free Choice Act. Signed on December 20, 2007.