Tuesday, June 29, 2010

NJ'S "HURRY UP AND WAIT" BUDGET BATTLE

By law, the New Jersey State Senate cannot vote on revenue-raising bills until they are passed by the General Assembly. According to several members of the Upper House an understanding was reached prior to the start of yesterday's voting sessions in both houses. The Assembly would consider revenue-raising bills quickly and send them over to the Senate which would then pass them paving the way for the members to get home at a reasonable hour.

Things didn't work out that way and the signs were there early for anyone to realize that nobody was going home early. The Assembly debated for over an hour about a bill to allow professional sports teams' logos to be on New Jersey license plates.

The Assembly began considering the overall $29.4 billion State Budget bill while two more revenue-raising measures were still on the agenda.

Senators were milling about the hallways of the State House wondering how long they'd have to wait around just to vote on the last two revenue-raisers that everyone knew were going to be approved.

The Assembly debated the budget bill for almost three hours. During the argument, some Senators entered the Assembly chambers to glare at the lawmakers in the People's House. Others walked up to Assembly members and implored them directly to wrap it up.

None of this really matters other than for reporters and the public to understand we all have at least one thing in common with politicians.....We all just want to do our jobs and go home.

1 comment:

patnj said...

the difference between us rushing though our jobs to go home and thiers is our decisions do not effect millions of people