Special Session Bills Expected Mid-December

The state’s non-partisan Office of Legislative Services is currently reviewing the 98 recommendations posed earlier this month by the four joint committees that conducted the Legislature’s special session on property tax reform. (See “NJSBA Greets Reports with Caution,” page 4.) The office may condense the recommendations into bills that lawmakers could consider as soon as Dec. 11 or 14.

On Monday, legislative leaders indicated that any bills developed as a result of the special session would go back to the joint committees for review before being released to the Senate and Assembly.

Funding Formula: Next Year The Senate and Assembly received the joint committees’ reports on Nov. 15. They focused on four areas: school funding reform, governmental consolidation and shared services, public employee benefits reform, and constitutional reform/citizens tax convention.

By the end of December, the Legislature is expected to consider bills on all of these subjects, except school funding reform. Legislation to create a new formula will be delayed until after the New Year.

Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy last week told a meeting of the state’s major education organizations that she plans to conduct public hearings in December on her department’s research into the cost of a “Thorough and Efficient” education. This data is expected to serve as a foundation for a proposed school funding formula.

The hearings are based on a recommendation of the joint committee on school funding reform.

NJSBA Study To prepare for the legislative debate on school finance, NJSBA President Kevin E. Ciak has appointed a special committee that will study the Association’s current beliefs on school funding in light of issues that are expected to come before the Legislature. The 9-member panel is chaired by Roger Butler of the Burlington Township Board of Education. Membership is geographically and economically representative of the state.