Below is a letter that a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net sent to several NJ elected reps including Governor Chris Christie recommending the rejection of a bill (A2478/S1730) introduced by State Senator Donald Norcross (D., Camden) that would require all public employees in New Jersey to live in the state. The proposal would cover all state, county & municipal workers as well as authorities, boards, agencies & commissions, & colleges. Although the referenced bill is limited to NJ those of you living outside NJ could see the same sort of trickery that is certainly not based on any economic principle but rather is pure politics of the worst kind because it limits free market competition @ the expense of the people it proclaims to benefit - the NJ taxpayer.
"If you want a paycheck from NJ taxpayers, you should live here and pay your taxes here," Norcross said in a news release that shows that protectionism is not limited just to restricting imported goods but also human capital - our most valuable resource.
---Letter To Governor et. al.---
In this time of unprecedented budget issues, A2478/S1730, requiring public officers and employees to reside In state, is an excursion in folly based more on misdirected passion than on logic or common sense. It must be stopped.
There is no benefit to the state by artificially limiting the pool of labor from which it can draw. The very contrary is true. This bill excludes a universe of valuable workers for no demonstrably sound reason. Our state capital, Trenton, which has the largest concentration of state jobs, happens to be in a border area to Eastern Pennsylvania. This bill will deter highly qualified applicants from that area from considering New Jersey state employment. Even worse, current employees, who never lived in New Jersey, are told by this bill to move in two and a half years or be terminated. Many will elect to take unemployment benefits, causing further pressure on an already unfunded state obligation.
I personally have no stake in this bill except as a concerned taxpayer. But I know several highly qualified, dedicated and loyal state employees who would be affected by it. There is no empirical study that shows a nexus between state residency and job performance. These economic times are not moments to indulge in this sort of whimsy. The Legislature and Governor would do well to focus on more substantive issues and abandon A2478/S1730.
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