State lawmakers won’t vote on a hotly debated bill to address the misclassification of workers in New Jersey before the legislative session in Trenton ends Tuesday, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney told NJ Advance Media.
Instead, Sweeney said, the measure will be taken up in the next two-year legislative session.
“Unlike what (critics) were saying, we weren’t rushing anything,” Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said Wednesday.
“We had four hours of testimony, and we want to make it right," he added. “We want to be fair to legitimate independent workers. But for the businesses that are gaming the system, we want to correct that.”
The bill (S4204) would update New Jersey labor laws by expanding the definition of who’s an employee versus who’s an independent contractor. It would also make sure employees are properly paid minimum wage, receive benefits, and are paid overtime.
Sponsors say the goal is to fight back against employers exploiting “gig” workers by misclassifying them and paying them less.
But some independent contractors — such as freelancers, truck drivers, bakers, wedding photographers, and musicians — have spoken out against the bill. They say it could keep them from finding work, reduce their income, and even force them out of state.
Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has defended the measure, arguing that lawmakers have made changes and exemptions to protect workers.
The bill has cleared multiple legislative committees, but it would have to pass the full state Senate and Assembly before Gov. Phil Murphy could decide whether to sign it into law.
If the houses don’t vote by the end of the lame-duck session — the period before new lawmakers are sworn in — on noon Tuesday, the process has to start over again.
Meanwhile, it remains uncertain whether lawmakers will vote on two other controversial issues by the end of lame duck: banning the sale of flavored vaping products in New Jersey, and eliminating a law that allows parents in the state to cite their religious beliefs to avoid having their children receive vaccinations required to attend schools here.
An Assembly committee is scheduled to consider the vaping ban and related measures on Thursday, but they would still need to be passed by the full Assembly and Senate by Tuesday to avoid the process restarting.
The Senate has scheduled voting sessions for Thursday and Monday and the Assembly for Monday before lame duck ends.
Lawmakers, however, won’t vote during lame duck on a measure that would ban menthol cigarettes in the state, according to two legislative sources. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the situation in public.
The concern is that the state may lose hundreds of millions in cigarette tax money if the ban took effect, and leaders will have to search for ways to make up that money, the sources said.
As for the religious exemption bill, the Assembly has already approved it, but the measure fell one vote short of passing the Senate last month. Hundreds of protestors have gathered in the Statehouse in Trenton multiple times in recent weeks to protest the measure.
The bill has not been slated for a vote yet in the Senate.
“We’re working on it,” Sweeney told reporters this week.
Lawmakers could take up the vaping, menthol cigarettes, and vaccine bills in the next session if they don’t pass by Tuesday.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Sophie Nieto-Munoz contributed to this report.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.
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