N.J. Senate sets vote on public employee residency

Most future public employees in New Jersey would be required to live in the state under a bill scheduled for a vote in the full Senate on Thursday.

The original legislation also would have covered current public employees, but its sponsor, Sen. Donald Norcross (D., Camden), amended the proposal to exempt them after meeting with workers' representatives.

Gov. Christie has said he supports the concept of the bill, which has bipartisan support in the Legislature.

Under the bill, all newly hired public employees would be required to move to New Jersey within one year. Current employees who change jobs among agencies would also have to comply.

"This bill makes the simple and reasonable request that anyone wishing to accept a job as a public employee in New Jersey live in the state," Norcross said. "New Jersey's taxpayers pay their salaries and subsidize their very generous health and pension benefits. It's only fair to ask public workers to live by the rules they enforce, and to pay into the tax system that pays their salaries."

The bill covers all state, county, and municipal employees, and employees of public authorities, boards, agencies, and commissions, as well as all employees working in public education, including the state colleges and universities. Among the future employees who would be covered are teachers, police, firefighters, and other government employees. The bill covers full- and part-time employees.

The amended bill would create a three-member committee to review applications for exemptions. One member would be appointed by the governor, another by the Senate president, and the third by the Assembly speaker.

The bill exempts temporary employees serving as visiting professors at public colleges and those who are required by their jobs to spend the majority of their working hours outside New Jersey.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker whose district includes many New Jersey public workers and who was concerned about the original bill said the amendments were an improvement, although he is still concerned about the provision to include current public employees who change jobs.

"We applaud the committee for hearing the voices of thousands of Pennsylvania residents and the impact the original legislation would have on families and communities on this side of the Delaware River," State Rep. Steve Santarsiero (D., Bucks) said of the Senate Committee on State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation, which voted in favor of the amended bill earlier this month.

Santarsiero wrote letters to New Jersey legislators on behalf of Pennsylvanians who work at public jobs in New Jersey and he collected nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition opposing the residency requirement.

Bob Master, regional political director of the Communications Workers of America, said that although the amendments made the bill significantly better, "there are some things that we remain somewhat concerned about," including how hardship exemptions would be implemented and under what circumstances current employees who change jobs would be required to comply.

Norcross, who leads the 85,000-member South Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, estimated 10,000 public employees live out of state, costing New Jersey about $22 million in income taxes.

Philadelphia has a residency rule for city workers, and Pennsylvania requires civil service employees, including most government workers, to live in-state.