New Jersey Public Pension Reform

The New Jersey State Constitution is not an Excel spreadsheet.  To treat it as such is to cheapen its value by turning it into a pedestrian legislative tool.  Yet, that is precisely what the New Jersey Legislature will accomplish if voters go along with its proposal to constitutionally mandate pension payments each year.

There is a reason why the Federal Government and all of the 50 United States of America govern under the principle of the separation of powers:  That system  charges legislatures with the responsibility to enact law, and not to evade seemingly intractable problems by codifying them into their constitutions.

The apparently overwhelming problem of New Jersey's public pension plans that are  grossly underfunded by from $50 to $95 billion, depending upon how the math is calculated, is the  joint responsibility of the State Legislature and of the Executive branch.  It is not one to be evaded.

The New Jersey Legislature's end-run around its law-making responsibilities by kicking the pension-shortfall-can down the road to voters in the form of a referendum is an admission of its gross inability to govern through negotiated comprise with the current governor of this state.  Tough!

Furthermore, since the power of our next governor is very likely to be handed over to a Democrat at the end of next year, that person will rue the day that this constitutional amendment ever passed, if it does, because it will force that executive's hand into unthinkable budget-making cuts in essential services and infrastructure needs while  pushing  for sky-high tax increases.

Would the last person please put the lights out in New Jersey?

Thanks for checking in, and stay safe.