NEW JERSEY:
State Of “The State Of The State”
With Just 60 Days Remaining Before The Budget Deadline, The Legislature Is On The Clock
“These are the big things I’d like us to focus on in 2012. … Now is not the time to stop, now is the time to double down. Now is not the time to put the brakes on New Jersey’s growth. Now it is the time to put the foot down harder on the accelerator. Now is not the time to turn back. Now is the time to make New Jersey greatness a reality again. That is what the next two years of my governorship will be dedicated to every day. We have climbed out of the hole that was left to us – together. Now it is time to raise the great flag of the State of New Jersey as high as we can – together.”
– Governor Chris Christie, State Of The State Address, January 17, 2012
TAX CUTS
Governor Christie Proposes Cutting Taxes For Every New Jerseyan:
“So in my budget, I will fulfill a promise I made to all the people of New Jersey in 2009. Real relief from the heavy income tax burden that has strangled our families and forced many to move away. I propose to reduce income tax rates for each and every New Jerseyan. In every tax bracket. By 10% across the board.”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
Governor Christie Proposes Increasing The Earned Income Tax Credit:
“I also propose to fully restore the earned income tax credit for New Jersey’s working poor, which we were forced to cut during the dark days of 2010, when growth was gone and we had no money.”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
EDUCATION REFORM
“Over the course of the last year, since outlining my proposals from this podium, I have worked with this legislature – on a bipartisan basis – to put in front of you a package of bills that will address the biggest challenges facing public education in New Jersey. We have had a year to debate, discuss and deliberate. Now, in 2012, it is time to act. … Here is what I propose:
· Tenure Reform: “First, reform tenure – by measuring teacher effectiveness, both with professional observation, and objective, quantifiable measures of student achievement – and then by giving tenure to those with strong evaluations, and taking it away from those whose ratings are unacceptably weak. We cannot ask parents to accept failure in teachers when their children’s lives hang in the balance;”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
· Ending Last In, First Out: “Second, if layoffs are necessary remove the least effective teachers instead of just the most junior ones. It is time to end the system of “last in, first out,” which protects some of the worst and penalizes some of the best;”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
· Teacher Pay Based On Need: “Third, pay teachers more when they are assigned to a failing school or to teach a difficult subject. Compensation should be designed to attract and retain effective teachers where we need them most;”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
· End Forced Placements: “Fourth, end forced placements. Teachers should not be assigned to schools without the mutual consent of the teacher and the principal. If an acceptable placement can’t be found in 12 months, the school district should have the right to place the teacher on permanent unpaid leave;”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
BAIL AND DRUG COURT REFORM
Governor Christie Proposes Constitutional Amendment To Keep Violent Offenders Off The Street:
“[W]e can only improve our quality of life by keeping the most violent criminals off the streets. So, I ask you to approve my bail reform package, which would mirror the federal system. It would keep offenders with a history of violence who are a danger to our communities in jail until the time of their trial, instead of releasing them into society to prey on the public. … Let us amend our bail laws to allow judges to consider the factor of dangerousness to our communities before we release a violent person back on to the street to maim or kill while they await trial. This, too, is just simple common sense.”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
Governor Christie Proposes Expansion Of Drug Courts To All Non-Violent Offenders:
“[T]oday I ask this Legislature and the Chief Justice to join me in this commitment that no life is disposable. I propose mandatory treatment for every non-violent offender with a drug abuse problem in New Jersey, not just a select few. It will send a clear message to those who have fallen victim to the disease of drug abuse – we want to help you, not throw you away. We will require you to get treatment. Your life has value. Every one of God’s creations can be redeemed. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Ø 60 Days Left To Act
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