WHAT THE HELL IS THE RESPONSIBLE COLLECTIVE NEGOTIATIONS ACT?

FOLLOW THE MONEY! FOLLOW WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IN TRENTON!

SUNLIGHT POLICY CENTER OF NEW JERSEY

SHINES A LIGHT ON OUR 2022 LAME DUCK SESSION

After each election, many interesting things happen in Trenton during a lame duck session…

Sunlight Policy Center JUST found an eleventh-hour, backroom deal that occurred right before Governor Murphy was sworn in to a second term gives New Jersey politics a bad name.

Early in January 2022 both houses of the New Jersey legislature passed the “Responsible Collective Negotiations Act” (RCNA) – which would be signed a short time later by Governor Murphy.

When it passed, there was just silence.  No press release from any of the bills sponsors.  No victory lap.  Not even one press report on passage.

Hmmmm……

…What is in the legislation?

In 2018, there was an expectation that in the Janus case the US Supreme Court would allow union members to opt out of mandatory union fees and union participation.

Prior to that decision, the NJEA pushed for the 2018 Workplace Democracy Enhancement Act, which got around the Supreme Court decision by creating a series of rules that made it difficult for a union member to opt out of their union.

RCNA, the new law passed this year, builds on this idea – further impeding members from opting out.

…So, what is the big deal?

Well New Jersey, the process by which the RCNA passed the legislation reveals even more.  Every one of the 25 sponsors and co-sponsors of the RCNA was supported by NJEA money, as was the governor who signed it into law.

Want to learn more about the piece of legislation?

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Please read our latest report by clicking here. As always, every assertion is factual, researched, and footnoted.