Platform Update

March 28, 2007

CIVICS: State Ethics Commission Chair and Seton Hall Law School Professor Paula Franzese continues her pursuit of higher ethical standards in her most recent guest editorial asking for civics lessons to be brought back into the classroom. Her full editorial is attached to this update.

CLEAN ELECTIONS LEGISLATION: Legislation to establish a public financing program for three legislative races this year finally passed both houses of the legislature and was signed into law by Governor Corzine today. Advocating for legislative initiatives that help lower the cost of running for office is an action item in the Government Reform Initiative. Congratulations to Chamber partners Citizen Action and The Eagleton Institute of Politics for their hard work and dedication on this important piece of legislation. This second pilot program builds on the last pilot program and continues to advance the issue of public financing of elections in New Jersey.

COMPTROLLER: Establishing an office of the Comptroller has been a key goal of Governor Corzine, so much so that he tied its creation to legislation cutting property tax bills. The creation of this office has also been a goal of the Government Reform Initiative. On March 15 Governor signed legislation creating an independent Office of State Comptroller and consolidating financial audit and performance reviews of State and local governments.

LAYERS OF GOVERNMENT: Determining if there are any savings associated with merging government entities has been a quest of the legislature since the property tax committees started looking into this issue last year. Limiting layers of government while maintaining the services delivered to the taxpayer has been an action item of the Government Reform Initiative. On March 15 Governor Corzine signed legislation that creates a local unit alignment, reorganization and consolidation commission. This group will investigate where possible municipal, fire district, or school mergers or consolidations should take place and will make their recommendation to the Legislature.

MISUSE OF PUBLIC RESOURCES: Legislation criminalizing the misuse of public resources passed the full Senate (3/15) and is headed to the Assembly for consideration. This bill (S-1192) creates the crime of corruption of public resources, making it a crime to knowingly misuse public grants, loans, assets or property for purposes other than the intended purpose. The bill would also impose criminal penalties.

Jim Leonard
Vice President, Government Relations
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce
216 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone: (609)989-7888 Ext. 118
Fax: (609)989-9696
Jim.Leonard@njchamber.com