By John Reitmeyer
Deadline nears for putting new pension payments on November ballot, but impasse between Christie and Sweeney on transportation funding gets in the way
A statewide ballot question that would require increasing payments into New Jersey’s grossly underfunded public-employee pension system has now been dragged into the debate over renewing the state Transportation Trust Fund.…
Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — The state Assembly took its final step Monday toward placing a referendum on the fall ballot asking voters to commit to spending billions of dollars to repair the public worker pension system.
With the governor cut out of the ballot question process, it is now up to the Democratic-controlled Senate to see the referendum onto this fall’s general election ballot.…
Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON â With two major government worker pension court battles concluded, the next front in public workers’ fight for retirement benefits is a ballot question considering a constitutional amendment forcing the state to make annual contributions in the pension system.
[…]The Legislature approved the ballot question last year and must pass it again this year with a simple majority in order to qualify for the fall election.…
Read MoreBy The Auditor, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The Auditor always loves a good fact-check, so when Gov. Chris Christie took aim at 2017 candidate for governor Phil Murphy over pensions, it was clear that merriment would soon abound.
Addressing the Morris County Chamber of Commerce on Monday, the governor disparaged Murphy as “another multimillionaire Goldman-Sachs executive,” and, in a clear reference to defeated Democratic Gov.…
Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — More than 70 percent of New Jerseyans say they would vote in favor of a constitutional amendment this fall forcing the state to contribute to the public pension fund, but far fewer support that amendment if it jeopardizes funding for schools, roads or safety net programs, according to a new poll.…
Read MoreThere are troubling parallels between Trump and Icahn, who used his charity to turn a profit while enjoying massive tax savings.
By George Joseph, AlterNet
Most people know Carl Icahn as a real-life Gordon Gekko—the investor who helped drive Trans World Airlines to bankruptcy, selling the company’s prime routes and saddling it with debt, while pocketing millions for himself.…
Read MoreUnion members were out in force Wednesday in Trenton supporting the labor State Investment Council (SIC) members and advocating for a reduction of the state’s extremely heavy investment in hedge funds. “Reducing our investment in hedge funds starts the process of keeping more pension contributions in the system, moving toward returning the neglected fund to good fiscal health,” AFTNJ president Donna M.…
Read MoreTell the State Investment Council: Public Worker pension funds shouldn’t be a piggy bank for Wall Street financiers. Stop the overuse of high-priced hedge funds now.
… Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
EAST BRUNSWICK — Senate President Stephen Sweeney defended his proposal to constitutionally mandate billions of dollars in public-sector pension contributions on Friday from a Republican budget officer who argued that without union concessions New Jersey would go bust.
The debate at the Public Employment Conference, hosted by the state bar, was a replay of the debate in the Legislature last session and a telegraph of disagreements to come as the summer deadline for putting constitutional amendments on the ballot approaches.…
Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — New Jersey’s public pension shortfall, already one of the worst in the country, got even bigger in 2015, according to new actuarial reports.
Unfunded liabilities in the state retirement system for government workers grew to $43.8 billion, as of July 2015. The state system had $85.2 billion in liabilities but just $41.4 billion in assets, 48.6 percent of the money needed to pay for promised benefits.…
Read MoreThe labor movement is counting on you to ensure that we pass the Constitutional Amendment to guarantee that the state makes quarterly payments into the Pension Fund. All unions working with the Coordinated Table are strongly encouraged to provide volunteers for labor walks between 9:00 am – 12:00 pm each Saturday in April and May at the staging locations listed below.…
Read MoreBy Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
TRENTON — State Democrats on Monday pushed through a proposed constitutional amendment requiring the state contribute each year to the pension plan for government workers.
The 23-16 vote in the state Senate and 43-27-1 in the state Assembly fulfill the first in a two-part plan to place a referendum on the fall ballot asking voters to approve the amendment.…
Read MoreWrite a letter to tell your state representatives to Support Pension Funding.
Requiring the state to live up to its obligation to fund pensions will restore New Jersey’s retirement system to fiscal health for the 800,000 active and retired workers who are counting on receiving the modest pensions they earned. Please send a message to your legislators in the state Senate and Assembly to convey the importance of passing resolution S-184/ACR-3 to place a ballot question for fully funded pensions before voters.…
Read MoreSweeney’s tweak of proposed constitutional amendment may make plan more viable politically, but GOP leaders say it would just result in higher taxes
By John Reitmeyer
A subtle change has been made to the original draft of a proposed constitutional amendment on public-employee pension funding that legislative leaders want to put before voters next year.
The difference isn’t a substantial one when it comes to the already ugly numbers for the grossly underfunded pension system, but it could play a big role in how the pension-funding issue plays out politically, both in the short-term during the push for approval of the ballot question and in the long-term as state policymakers would work to fund it.…
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