Paid sick leave, Cooper takeover of EMS advance in Trenton

TRENTON - In addition to passing a budget before the fiscal year ends June 30, lawmakers are pushing an array of bills, including one that would require employers to provide paid sick leave to workers and another that seeks to improve voter turnout.

The legislation passed committees Monday, but must still go to the full Senate and Assembly.

Over stiff opposition from business groups, the Senate Labor Committee advanced legislation that would require every employer in the state to provide paid leave for employees who are ill or caring for family members who are sick. The bill says paid leave could be used for time needed for diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Employers would have to pay workers what they normally earn. Government employees already receive the benefit.

Also Monday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee advanced legislation that would allow Cooper University Hospital to operate and maintain paramedic services in Camden currently provided by Virtua Health System.

The bill would also enable Cooper to take over basic life services in the city, currently provided by state-owned University Hospital in Newark.

Cooper's backers assert it could run a more efficient EMS operation, while critics have said lawmakers are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist and should take a more deliberate approach before racing to vote.

"This pending legislation . . . would undermine a well-established regional EMS system and does not represent a movement toward a better-coordinated system. It does not ensure higher quality or better patient outcomes," top officials of Virtua, the Lourdes Health System, Capital Health System, and St. Francis Medical Center said Monday in a letter to state lawmakers.

The bill, introduced this month, is expected to reach the floors of both houses Thursday.

Backers of the sick leave measure point to a 2013 study by the Rutgers Center for Women and Work, which found that 1.2 million employees, or 38 percent of the state's private-sector workforce, do not have access to paid sick leave.

Employees would automatically accrue one hour of earned sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than 10 workers would be able to cap earned leave at 40 hours a year, and those who employ 10 or more could set the cap at 72 hours.

The policy would set a minimum statewide standard but would not intervene with collective bargaining agreements that set higher ones.

"Workers who need time off to care for themselves or a family member should not be forced to make the unfair choice between their health and a paycheck," said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D., Bergen), who sponsored the bill.

Erica Klemens, state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, said the bill would result in layoffs or fewer hours for workers.

"It will also mean fewer opportunities for those who are already out of work or underemployed," she said.

Also advancing amid a flurry of legislative activity was a bill that would establish early in-person voting at designated polling places for a two-week period before elections and expand voter registration options.

The "Democracy Act," backed by top Democrats, would also eliminate special elections to fill vacancies. Last year, Gov. Christie called an October special election to fill the late Frank R. Lautenberg's U.S. Senate seat, costing an estimated $24 million.

The bill - which spans 76 pages online - also proposes measures to increase voter registration, including by automatically registering people who receive driver's licenses or state IDs from the Motor Vehicle Commission.

New Jersey has a vote-by-mail program. Christie - who recently said residents had enough opportunity to vote and that he did not want to "increase the opportunities for fraud" - vetoed a bill in 2013 that would have established early in-person voting. He cited the cost, which was projected at $23 million in the first year and $2 million annually after that.

In other legislative action, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved a resolution to amend the constitution so that all money the state obtains in legal settlements related to environmental contamination is dedicated to environmental purposes. Currently, some money won in such settlements goes to the general fund.

Democrats proposed the amendment after the Christie administration agreed to a $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil Corp. over decades of pollution. Democrats and environmentalists have protested the deal, accusing Christie of selling out to polluters.

Christie has proposed including some of the money in the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The settlement must be approved by a state judge.

"This money must not go toward plugging holes in the budget or tax cuts for the wealthy," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

The amendment would require voter approval. To make the ballot in November, lawmakers would need to vote with a three-fifths majority in both houses by Aug. 3.

Also Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would limit how long high-ranking state officials can serve in an "acting" capacity.

The legislation would require the governor to nominate such officials to the Senate for confirmation within six months, or else they would be forced to resign.

It would also require the governor to file nominations for any cabinet members or county prosecutors working in an acting capacity within 30 days of enactment or by the next Senate session, whichever is sooner.

The bill, sponsored by Democrats, seeks to ensure Christie complies with language in the constitution that requires his top appointees to be confirmed by the Senate.

One high-ranking official, acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman, has held that post for two years without being nominated.

There was also action Monday outside the Statehouse, where Planned Parenthood and others called on Christie to support the restoration of the $7.5 million for family-planning services he has repeatedly vetoed.

"Is this about the budget, or is it about appealing to the most right-wing of the Republican Party?" Weinberg said, referring to Christie's comments last week at a conservative conference in Washington, where he said he was the "first governor to ever veto Planned Parenthood funding" from the state's budget.

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@AndrewSeidman