Bill Text: NJ SCR201 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Overrides Governor's line-item veto reducing Fiscal Year 2012 appropriation for Payments for Cost of General Assistance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-07-11 - Lost in the Senate (24-15) [SCR201 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-SCR201-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator BRIAN P. STACK
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Overrides Governor's line-item veto reducing Fiscal Year 2012 appropriation for Payments for Cost of General Assistance.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution overriding a line-item veto of a Fiscal Year 2012 appropriation for Payments for Cost of General Assistance in the Department of Human Services.
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):
1. That the following line-item of appropriation, on page 121 of Senate Bill No. 4000 of 2011 (P.L.2011, c.85) which was the subject of objection by the Governor in the Governor's veto statement of June 30, 2011, be restored to law as follows, the objections thereto of the Governor notwithstanding:
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54 DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES 50 Economic Planning, Development, and Security 53 Economic Assistance and Security 7550 Division of Family Development STATE AID |
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15-7550 |
Income Maintenance Management .................. |
$19,572,000 |
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State Aid: |
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15 |
Payments for Cost of General Assistance ................... |
($19,572,000) |
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2. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor, the State Treasurer, and the Commissioner of Human Services.
STATEMENT
This resolution restores the $19,572,000 appropriation in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 appropriations act for Payments for Cost of General Assistance that the Governor cut by force of a line-item veto.
In the FY 2012 appropriations act, the Legislature added $31,566,000 to the $91,867,000 the Governor had recommended in the Governor's FY 2012 Budget for Payments for Cost of General Assistance. The increase was warranted as the Legislature disagreed with the Governor's recommendation that the FY 2012 monthly cash benefit level under the General Assistance program be reduced by $15 from the FY 2011 level; that no funds be expended for supplemental living support payments; and that individuals applying for benefits as an unemployable recipient prove that they are medically unable to work for six continuous months. In his line-item veto, the Governor subsequently reduced the appropriation by $19,572,000 providing no indication of the source of the lower expenditure expectation.
The General Assistance program provides financial assistance primarily to single persons and married couples without children who are not eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or whose application for federal SSI or Social Security disability benefits is pending. In December 2010, the State had 55,500 General Assistance recipients: 37,500 classified as employable and 18,000 classified as unemployable. Because of the legislative action in the FY 2012 appropriations act, the FY 2012 General Assistance payment to employable recipients will be $140 instead of $125 per month and that to unemployable recipients will be $210 instead of $195 per month. It is unclear, however, to what extent the Governor's line-item veto would adversely impact this financially vulnerable population.
