Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon criticized the addition of 14 bills to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee agenda, saying the move was made with little notice or transparency. O’Scanlon stated, “Late last night, around 7:30 p.m., Democrats dumped 14 additional bills onto today’s Budget agenda, with virtually no notice, no transparency, and no respect for the legislative process. This is not how responsible government is supposed to work. Ramming through major policy changes under the cover of darkness denies lawmakers and the public the opportunity to fully review and understand what’s being proposed.”
O’Scanlon expressed concern about a “superfund” bill that he said would significantly increase fuel costs for residents. He warned that combined with other proposed legislation, these measures could result in one of the largest tax increases in New Jersey history. “The ‘superfund’ bill will add $ billions to the cost of all the fuels we all pay for every day. That bill, coupled with the other outrageous bills the Democrats intend to pass today will, outrageously, potentially amount to the highest tax increase on NJ residents in the history of a single legislative day. That’s an amazing, and horrendous, accomplishment!”
He also raised issues regarding potential reversals of pension reforms enacted in 2011. According to O’Scanlon: “Even more alarming, several of the bills scheduled for consideration would roll back the critical and fair pension reforms enacted in 2011—reforms that were absolutely necessary to prevent the collapse of our pension system. Undoing them would put New Jersey right back on the path that led to massive unfunded liabilities and crushing tax increases on both state and property taxpayers, potentially costing tens of billions of dollars. These kinds of reckless giveaways are exactly what created the pension crisis in the first place. To make matters worse, some of these bills still haven’t even been made available to review. This is outrageous, irresponsible, and taxpayers deserve far better than this broken process.”
State Senator Anthony M. Bucco serves as Senate Republican Leader representing New Jersey’s 25th Legislative District and participates as a member of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Bucco’s legislative responsibilities include sponsoring bills addressing key state issues such as those discussed at budget hearings.
Bucco represents communities including Bernardsville Borough, Boonton Town and Denville Township according to his official profile, where he provides constituent services through his district office.
