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Legislature approves bill to let voters decide whether judges should pay more for benefits
Tim Farrell/The StarLedgerThe state Senate voted today in a special session to allow voters to amend the constitution to give lawmakers the right to change judges' salaries.
TRENTON In a stern rebuke of a state Supreme Court decision protecting Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices from paying more into their pension and health benefits plans, the Senate and Assembly this morning passed a resolution that would allow lawmakers to bypass the ruling.
In a rare bipartisan show of support, the Senate,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in a special session, voted 280 to ask voters to amend the state constitution to give lawmakers the power to enact laws that reduce judicial salaries.
The Assembly voted 623 in favor.
With a threefifths majority of both houses, the measure now goes onto the election ballot this November for voters to decide.
Gov,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]. Legislature for rebuking Supreme Court on judge pay issue
Sen. Shirley Turner (DMercer),[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a sponsor,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], said the judicial pension system is the most underfunded of all the state's pension plans, yet judges and justices get some of the highest payouts.
She called that a "sure recipe for disaster."
"This measure simply ensures that judges share responsibility for restoring the integrity of their pension system and confronting the escalating cost of health care just as we all have been asked to do along with every other public employee in this state,'' she said.
Sen. Ray Lesniak, DUnion, said the resolution's threat to judicial independence is "minimal," but the threat to the solvency of the pension plan is "great."
Assemblyman Joe Cryan (DUnion) said that although he believes judges and justices should pay more toward the health care and pension plans like other state employees, he voted against the measure because he feels it threatens judicial independence.
Sen,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]. Gerald Cardinale (RBergen) called the Supreme Court "a runaway court impressed with its own vision of itself" and said it would be "smacked down,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]."
The Senate and Assembly were not scheduled to hold voting sessions before Labor Day, but called the special session after the Supreme Court last week said a new state law requiring the additional pension and health care contributions from state employees is unconstitutional as it applies to the judges and justices. The divided court, in a highly anticipated decision, said the extra contributions amount to salary reductions, violating a provision of the state constitution that says the salaries of sitting Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices can't be diminished.
The clause was added when the constitution was adopted in 1947 to protect jurists from retribution from the other two branches of government for unpopular decisions.
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