O’Scanlon forces Assembly vote on property tax cap effectiveness

Democrats punt on property tax reform

Trenton, NJ- Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Jr. invoked a parliamentary rule on the floor of the Assembly on Thursday to force a vote on his bill that would remove the sunset provision on the arbitration cap of police and fireman salaries.

The arbitration cap was institution as part of the 2010 landmark property tax reform legislation that capped New Jersey property tax growth at 2% per year. The initial cap expired in 2014 and was renewed in 2014 with a sunset provision for the end of this year.  O’Scanlon’s bill, A-2123,would make the 2% arbitration cap permanent.

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O’Scanlon Testifies Against “Use Our Kids as Pawns to Enrich Corrupt Companies” Legislation

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) testified before the Assembly Education Committee and the Assembly Transportation Committee this morning, imploring his colleagues on the committees to kill legislation that, if passed, would rip off motorists for the benefit of corrupt companies and greedy municipal official.

At the Education Committee, O’Scanlon, the Republican nominee to replace Senator Joe Kyrillos in the Senate next year, testified against bill A3798, a bill that would let the same companies that ran New Jersey’s now defunct Red Light Camera Program monitor school bus cameras and share the revenue generated by tickets with the municipalites.  O’Scanlon said the bill would allow for-profit traffic enforcement at the expense of innocent drivers.

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Clifton Calls For First Responders’ Protection In Opioid Crisis

Assemblyman Rob Clifton

Assemblyman Rob Clifton (R-12 Monmouth, Middlesex, Ocean and Burlington) renewed his call for legislative action today on his bill (A3104) that would protect the lives and well-being on police officers and EMS personnel who administer NARCAN or similar opioid antidotes. The bill would require drug users who are treated for overdoses to undergo blood testing for infectious disease if an officer or first responder was exposed to bodily fluid.

“Every day, our police and EMS workers risk their health responding to drug-related emergencies,” said Clifton. “Narcan has been administered more than 18,000 times in this state since 2014. When the drug is administered, and during the resuscitation of the endangered user, contact with blood or digestive liquids is a common occurrence.”

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FDU Public Mind Poll: New Jersey’s Government Is Inept

Voters Give Christie, Legislature low marks. No confidence in government impacting addiction crisis, State is on the wrong track

State of the State 2017(Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen)

The vast majority of New Jersey voters, 74%, think individuals and families should be most responsible for ensuring that those seeking treatment for alcohol and drug treatment find what they need, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind Poll released this morning. 22% think government should be most responsible for getting addicts help.

Those who favor personal and family responsibility over government intervention include 64% of Democrats, 82% of Independents and 87% of Republicans.  60% said the know someone personally who is or was addicted to alcohol or drugs.  70% said they know someone who has died as a result of addiction.

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O’Scanlon Raises $100K for Senate Race

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) announced this morning that he has raised over $100,000 for his campaign for NJ State Senate.  O’Scanlon is seeking the Republican nomination to replace Senator Joe Kyrillos in the Senate.  So far, O’Scanlon’s competition for the nomination is his running mate for the last three legislative elections, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.

“The job of a State Senator is so much more than going to Trenton and voting on bills,” O’Scanlon said. “The job includes being a leader in the community and the Party.  That means having the resources to support your own campaign, the campaigns of other great candidates and most importantly, civic and charitable organizations in the district.  Senator Kyrillos filled that role as well if not better than anyone.  I am prepared to continue in Joe’s footsteps.”

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O’Scanlon’s Prescription Cost Savings Bill Becomes Law

A bill sponsored by Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon that will save an estimated $200 million per year on government employees’ prescription drugs was passed by the State Assembly  and signed into law by Governor Chris Christie today.

S2749/A4328 expedites the process in which the state selects contracts and controls costs for state worker prescription drugs.

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Houghtaling votes to ban cat declawing

photo courtesy of Freya’s Cat Resuce

Freshman Assemlyman Eric Houghtaling wants to ban New Jersey veterinarians from declawing cats.

The assemblyman from Neptune Township is a member of the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.  The committee passed bill A3899, a bill that prohibits the surgical declawing of cats and other animals, 3-1 with one abstention, on Monday. Houghtaling voted in favor of the bill, which if passed in the full Assembly and Senate and signed by the Governor, would make New Jersey the only state that bans the procedure.

The proposed law exempts declawing cats for therapeutic and medically necessary procedures.  Violators, both veterinarians and pet owners seeking the procedure will be subject to a fine of $1000 or six months in jail in the bill becomes law.

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How Monmouth’s Legislators voted on the gas tax

The New Jersey Legislature approved a $.23 per gallon sales tax increase today, accompanied by a phase out of the estate tax, a gradual fractional reduction in the sale tax and tax breaks for veterans and the working poor.  The Senate vote was 28-14.  The vote in the Assembly was 44-27.

Monmouth County’s Legislators voted as follows:

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Republican Assembly Members Should Vote Against Gas Tax Hike

By Art Gallagher

This column is for my Republican friends in the Assembly, especially those from Monmouth County.

Dave Rible, Rob Clifton, Sean Kean, Monmouth Republican Assembly Members who voted for gas tax in June, and Declan O’Scanlon who didn’t vote, should join Amy Handlin and Ronald Dancer, Republicans who represent parts of Monmouth and voted NO in June, in voting NO on Wednesday or whenever the bill that Governor Christie, Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto agreed to on Friday comes up for a vote.

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O’Scanlon addresses his critics regarding his declining to vote on the Assembly gas tax bill

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, the Republican Budget Officer in the Assembly and a representative of northern Monmouth County in the lower house of the legislature has taken some criticism here in the MMM comments and on facebook for not voting on the Transportation Trust Fund bill that was sprung on the Assembly by Speaker Vincent Prieto and Governor Chris Christie in the middle of the night on June 30.  The bill, which would have increased the gas tax by $.23 per gallon and lowered the state sales tax from 7% to 6% passed in the Assembly and was never voted on by the Senate.

Now almost six weeks later with the TTF still not renewed and road projects stalled throughout the state, O’Scanlon said that he believes “even more strongly that my decision was exactly the right one.”

O’Scanlon issued the following statement to MMM to explain his decision not to vote on the Assembly TTF bill:

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