Tag: Phil Murphy

Bill Would Tighten Pension Rules for Convicted Public Workers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/finance/bill-would-tighten-pension-rules-for-convicted-public-workers

Excerpt:

New Jersey would make it harder for public employees who commit crimes to collect their pensions under a bill legislators are fast-tracking through the state Assembly.

The proposed reforms to the state’s pension law were recommended without discussion Thursday, Sept. 29, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, just one week after they were introduced. That allows the measure to move to the Assembly floor for a vote expected on Monday.

The legislation would tighten the criteria under which pension boards decide whether former government workers convicted of on-the-job misconduct should lose some or all of their pensions. It would also expand the list of offenses that automatically disqualify public employees from receiving those benefits.

….

That change would take more pension decisions out of the hands of the state’s retirement boards, which are often reluctant to strip officials of their full pensions, under a process in which they weigh offenders’ misconduct against the good they did throughout their careers. The proposal would also revamp how boards consider those factors, making it easier for them to refuse to grant benefits.

To become law, the bill would have to pass the Assembly and Senate and be signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. So far, no Senate version has been introduced, and its potential fate in the upper chamber remains unclear.

Author(s): Riley Yates, NJ.com

Publication Date: 30 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Governing

Most New Jerseyans Are Fiscal Dullards

Mary Pat Campbell
Most New Jerseyans Are Fiscal Dullards

Excerpt:

That is what the Murphy administration has to believe for them to send out this piece of gripka:

….

treating $10.19 billion in Biden relief money as if it will never have to be repaid (one way or another).

Keep in mind when reading just this one excerpt below that $6.9 billion represents about six months worth of payments out of a pension system that is still accruing benefits at record levels and as of June 30, 2020 reported unfunded liabilities under GASB of $128 billion.

Author(s): John Bury

Publication Date: 2 July 2021

Publication Site: Burypensions

Treasury Rescue Won’t Bail Out Chicago, New Jersey From Debt

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://news.yahoo.com/treasury-lifeline-won-t-bail-190632365.html

Excerpt:

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department is sending a message to states and cities that the billions in aid from the American Rescue Plan should provide relief to residents, not their governments’ debt burdens.

The department on Monday released guidance on how state and local governments can use $350 billion in funding from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package. The funds are intended to help states and local governments make up for lost revenue, curb the pandemic, bolster economic recoveries, and support industries hit by Covid-19 restrictions. In a surprise to some, these funds can’t be used for debt payments, a potential complication for fiscally stressed governments that had already etched out plans to pay off loans.

…..

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker had suggested using some of the state’s $8.1 billion in aid to repay the outstanding $3.2 billion in debt from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facility and to reduce unpaid bills. Illinois was the only state to borrow from the Fed last year, tapping it twice. On Tuesday, Jordan Abudayyeh, a Pritzker spokesperson, said the administration is “seeking clarification” from the Treasury on whether Illinois can use the aid to pay back the loan from the Fed.

…..

The rule could also affect New Jersey, which sold nearly $3.7 billion of bonds last year to cover its shortfall during the pandemic. Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick, a Republican, in April had called for Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, to use some of the federal aid to pay down the state’s debt.

Author(s): Shruti Date Singh, Amanda Albright

Publication Date: 11 May 2021

Publication Site: Yahoo Finance

Nursing Home ‘Patients Will Die’: Staff Warned NJ Commissioner About COVID-19 Order

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/03/15/nursing-home-patients-will-die-staff-warned-nj-commissioner-about-covid-19-order-n1432596

Excerpt:

“Patients will die,” an unidentified administrator declared, according to a recording of the March 21, 2020 meeting first reported by NJ Advance Media. “You understand that by asking us to take COVID patients, by demanding we take COVID patients, that patients will die in nursing homes that wouldn’t have otherwise died had we screened them out.”

About 8,000 COVID-19 deaths — roughly 40 percent of New Jersey’s 21,000 COVID-19 deaths — trace back to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. On March 31, Murphy’s administration directed nursing homes to re-admit residents who had been discharged from hospitals while recovering from COVID-19.

While Persichilli’s guidance also directed nursing homes to house these residents in a separate wing, in order to avoid infecting other patients, many nursing home administrators warned that such separation would be incomplete and would fail to prevent the spread of the virus.

Author(s): Tyler O’Neil

Publication Date: 15 March 2021

Publication Site: PJ Media

Murphy administration has blocked some information from the public during COVID pandemic, AP finds

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/03/murphy-administration-has-blocked-some-information-from-the-public-during-covid-pandemic-ap-finds.html

Excerpt:

Associated Press requests last year for written and electronic communications among officials about the coronavirus were denied as “overbroad,” a kind of catch-all under the state’s Open Public Records Act that permits officials to shield certain information.

The administration also cited emails among the governor’s staff as privileged under the law because they were “inter-agency” and “consultative or deliberative,” additional carve-outs that prevent the release of documents under the law.

The administration also denied public records requests seeking payment vouchers for personal protective equipment it bought, saying it would be disruptive. Asked about it late last year, Murphy said he wasn’t sure why the information was withheld and soon afterward, the state divulged a list of expenditures showing about $220 million in expenses.

Author(s): Associated Press

Publication Date: 14 March 2021

Publication Site: nj.com

Murphy’s promise of full public-worker pension payment breaks 25 years of underfunding

Mary Pat Campbell
Murphy’s promise of full public-worker pension payment breaks 25 years of underfunding

Excerpt:

In addition to helping improve the long-term health of the pension system, Treasury officials are also projecting some significant budget savings can be generated by getting to full funding a year ahead of schedule.

Those savings, which will total an estimated $860 million over the next three decades, are based on the way the state’s unfunded liability accrues over the long term, the officials said.

Murphy’s administration should also be in a good position to manage the initial step up to full pension funding, thanks to a combination of factors, including money the state borrowed last year when it was expecting significant revenue losses would be triggered by the pandemic.

Author(s): John Reitmeyer

Publication Date: 15 March 2021

Publication Site: NJ Spotlight News

Murphy will think about extending retirement age for judges

Mary Pat Campbell
Murphy will think about extending retirement age for judges

Excerpt:

Gov. Phil Murphy said he will think about increasing the mandatory retirement age of New Jersey judges beyond the age of 70.

“You do have the reality.  You’ve got a 78-year-old president who succeeded a 74-year-old president, so this is not a blip anymore,” Murphy said in response to an inquiry from the New Jersey Globe on Friday.

When New Jersey approved a new State Constitution in 1947 that forced judges to retire at 70, the average life expectancy of men in the United States – there was only one woman on the bench at the time, Libby Bernstein Sachar in Union County – was 62.

Author(s): David Wildstein

Publication Date: 26 February 2021

Publication Site: New Jersey Globe

A look at NJ’s budget proposal: Taxes, schools, pension

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.inquirer.com/wires/ap/look-njs-budget-proposal-taxes-schools-pension-20210301.html

Excerpt:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s $44.8 billion budget proposal, unveiled last week, is a boon for labor and public sector pensioners, thousands of middle class residents and schools across the state.

….

New Jersey’s public worker pension plan has been underfunded for decades, but lawmakers and former Gov. Chris Christie began a ramped-up payment plan. Murphy wants to supercharge that plan and reach full payment a year early under the budget.

The payment would climb by $1.6 billion over the current fiscal year. The payment doesn’t translate to a boost in pensions for retirees. But it meets what actuaries have determined is the amount the state must pay to carry its share of the cost of pension payments to hundreds of thousands of retirees.

Author(s): Mike Catalini

Publication Date: 1 March 2021

Publication Site: Philadelphia Inquirer

Murphy’s full pension payment revives debate over New Jersey overhaul

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/fi/FINewsArticle?id=202102241328SM______BNDBUYER_00000177-cf67-de3f-a9f7-ffef66580001_110.1

Excerpt:

Gov. Phil Murphy?s call for New Jersey to make its first full pension contribution in 25 years is generating questions about retirement-system overhaul in one of the nation’s lowest-rated states, and how might the capital markets respond.

Murphy on Tuesday revealed the proposal to pay toward pensions roughly $6.4 billion, or about 14% of his $44.8 billion fiscal 2022 budget proposal to lawmakers. Overall spending would rise 10%. Democrat Murphy’s election-year budget would increase aid to schools and provide income-tax rebates to low- and middle-income families.

Making the full actuarially required contribution will need an additional $1.6 billion expense, according to Murphy. New Jersey was initially scheduled to earmark 90% of its full contribution this year under a ramp-up plan.

Author(s): Paul Burton

Publication Date: 24 February 2021

Publication Site: Fidelity Fixed Income

New Jersey Governor to Propose Full Pension Payment for First Time Since 1996

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-jersey-governor-to-propose-first-full-pension-payment-since-1996-11614028204

Excerpt:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to propose making a full payment to the state’s chronically underfunded pension system for the first time since 1996, a sign that the blow from the pandemic to all states’ finances isn’t as brutal as officials originally feared.

Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, will call for a $6.4 billion payment to the pension system in his budget address Tuesday, senior members of his administration said. The Murphy administration has been ramping up pension payments and originally intended on making a payment of $5.76 billion for the fiscal year that begins in July.

In New Jersey, as in many other states, tax revenues have outperformed earlier projections. When the pandemic hit, states projected revenue would drop off significantly. State revenues ended up falling 1.6% in fiscal year 2020 and were 3.4% lower than projected before the pandemic, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. While states expect revenues to fall 4.4% in fiscal 2021, which ends on June 30 for most, 18 states are seeing revenues come in above forecasts.

Author(s): Joseph De Avila

Publication Date: 22 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal