NJ State PBA President Pat Colligan (center) testifies for SB3040 to
the Senate Appropriations Committee alongside NJ FMBA President
Ed Donnelly (right) and NJ FOP President Bob Fox (left).
Good Bill Hunting
Following two years of research and due diligence, the PBA brought the
pension bill to the NJ State Senate and received unanimous approval
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
The financial analysts who are part of the NJ State Senate Appro-
priations Committee offered enough expert commentary during
the review of SB3040 on March 10 to give the chamber a feel of a
Wall Street boardroom. The bill that is moving closer to becoming
the law to give public safety unions control of the Police and Fire
Retirement System (PFRS) pension generated talk from senators
about how this was long-overdue, responsible fiscal management.
When NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney, a primary sponsor of
the bill, noted that there is nothing more important than giving the
people who put their money into the pension the power to man-
age it, and Senator Steven Oroho, a certified financial planner from
Sussex County, called it fiduciarily responsible, SB3040 was well on
the way to becoming a legislative home run. FMBA President Ed
Donnelly, who has been taking the lead on the pension bill with the
support of NJ State PBA President Pat Colligan, called the Senate
Appropriations review and vote “Game 1 of the World Series.”
Game 1 went to the unions with a 10-1 vote (with two absten-
tions) to send SB340 to a Senate vote. Game 2 was the Senate con-
sideration on March 13, when the bill was passed by a 37-0 land-
slide.
Game 3 initially appeared to be a tougher challenge with the
State Assembly vote on March 23, so the PBA and FMBA put out
a call for members to come to Trenton for a show of a support, de-
termination and accountability to legislators, and to emphasize
just what the bill means to them. When NJ State PBA Executive
Vice-President Marc Kovar arrived in Trenton at 10 a.m., he was
joined by more than 300 members, who showed up on less than 24
hours’ notice.
Kovar expressed: “It was great to see so many members show up
on such short notice. It shows that they continue to be engaged in
the process, and how much their presence makes a difference.”
The bill passed the Assembly by a 61-4 count with 10 abstentions.
Following the vote, Kovar thanked the members of the NJ State As-
sembly for their support, leadership and understanding of how im-
portant the bill is to the police and fire community and the taxpay-
ers of New Jersey.
So that just leaves Game 4, the governor signing the bill into law.
Now, teams tha t have taken a 3-0 lead in the World Series have
gone on to win 97 percent of the time, but this is the game of NJ pol-
itics, and Colligan points out that anything can happen. Still, even
the PBA President confided following the Senate Appropriations
Committee vote that raising the big “W” flag is more than a distinct
possibility.
“We’re extremely pleased that we got here this quickly,” Presi-
dent Colligan stated outside of the committee meeting room at the
State House in Trenton. “I think the vote is a confirmation that we
assembled a responsible bill, that we did our homework, that we
addressed every concern that was brought up regardless of union
affiliation and that we answered everybody’s questions.”
The Senate Appropriation votes of confidence validated the de-
tailed research, review and writing NJ State PBA Director of Govern-
ment Affairs Rob Nixon led with the help of FMBA pension consul-
tant Fred Beaver, the director of the New Jersey Division of Pensions
and Benefits from 2002 to 2010. Two days before the vote, Nixon
presented the latest details of the bill to delegates at the NJ State
PBA Mini-Convention, and it was more than apparent then that the
PBA/FMBA consortium had “dotted all the I’s and crossed all the
T’s,” Donnelly noted.
The biggest affirmation of the sweat and cheers that went into
bringing this bill forward might have come from Sweeney in his
statement at the start of the Appropriations Committee review.
“It’s leadership,” exclaimed the senator from Gloucester County
who knows a thing or two about union pensions as the Vice-Pres-
ident of the International Association of Iron Workers. “It doesn’t
happen that often, so I really appreciate your willingness to step
up to the plate for your members. You are really doing a service (for
them).”
Top of the bill
Because Game 1 often dictates the outcome of a series – or per-
haps because many signs point in favor of SB3040 and accompany-
ing bill A99 in the Assembly, where a vote has not been scheduled
as of this printing – it’s worth noting just how much support came
from review and analysis in Senate Appropriations. Much of this
was generated by the brief, direct, sincere testimony from Colligan,
Donnelly and Nixon that echoed the PBA president’s ongoing man-
tra verifying this endeavor:
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