Mostly along party lines, (Sen. Singer joined all Democrats present in voting “yes”) the State Senate today passed ACR-199 by a vote of 24-13-3. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the prime sponsors, Senators Gordon, Greenstein and Lesniak for their leadership, as well as Senate President Sweeney for posting the resolution.
The resolution seeks to reject proposed rules concerning job banding in civil service. If enacted, this regulation will take a significant step backwards in regard to ensuring that public employee promotions are based upon merit, and not political favoritism. This proposed rule also opens the door to discriminatory practices based upon race, gender or sexual orientation and will negatively impact veteran’s preference in promotions.
The Assembly passed the same resolution (sponsored by Assemblymembers Stender, Conaway, Gusciora, DeAngelo, Benson, Giblin) earlier this week along party lines, by a vote of 46-32-2. The state constitution allows the Legislature to reject an administrative rule that “is not consistent with legislative intent.” With the passage of ACR-199 by both houses, the Christie administration now has 30 days to amend or withdraw the proposal. In order to invalidate the rule, it must first be adopted by the Civil Service Commission and then both houses must pass a resolution again.