A bill that would see members of public boards, commissions and committees paid stipends narrowly cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday in a 6-5 vote.
Two Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and State Sen. Bob Smith (D-Piscataway) voted against the bill with three of the panel’s Republicans, State Sens. Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa), Michael Doherty (Washington) and Kip Bateman (R-Branchburg).
State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Vineland) voted yes.
The measure would provide between members of the public bodies with payments of between $300 and $1,500 for each month during which the body holds a meeting. The bill is a bid to bump up recruiting for public bodies.
“We have had a difficult time filling boards,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden), the bill’s sponsor. “One of the complaints is first of all we put people through the wringer to get on the boards, to fill out these extensive questionnaires.”
“Sometimes they have to come down here, then they have to go down to the meetings,” he said. “They’ve got to pay to park. They’ve got to pay for lunch. They’ve got to lose a day of work, and all of this is volunteerism, and volunteerism isn’t what it was.”
But Weinberg questioned whether such payments were needed at all, pointing to existing reimbursements for some boards and questioning the cause of recruiting difficulties.
“There are a lot of people who want to serve on these, and the people who are currently there agreed to this without stipends, so I find this kind of an unnecessary expenditure,” she said. “I don’t expect that people have to pay out of their own pocket to be a volunteer, but I think that’s covered.”
Others worried over the effect the bill would have on the state’s finances.
“I used to be appointments counsel to Gov. Kean. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of boards and commissions out there,” Bateman said. “If we start paying them $1,500 or $1,800 a month, it’s going to add up, and who’s going to pay for that? The taxpayers are going to pay for that.”
Under the bill, stipends would be paid using fees collected by the public bodies.
Members who are already paid above the stipend amount would receive no additional money. Those receiving less than the stipend amount would be paid the difference.
“What ends up happening to the money is it goes to the general fund and it goes into la-la land,” Scutari said. “At least at this point the boards would be self-sustaining and they’d pay for their own stipend.”
The bill would require stipend payments be reported annually to the governor and legislature.
Though the proposal cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, it’s not yet headed for the Senate floor. It’ll go the chamber’s appropriation committee first, and Senate lawmakers will need to find a sponsor in the lower chamber, where an identical bill has not been introduced.
Scutari briefly held the bill after Weinberg and Bateman voiced their concerns, though he brought it back for a vote minutes later.
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