Congressman Donald Norcross today sent a letter (below) to the leaders of the New Jersey Legislature in opposition to S3607, sponsored by Senators Gopal and Corrado, a bill that would allow planned minimum wage increases to be delayed and which is slated to be considered by the Senate Labor Committee on Thursday.

“This is an irresponsible proposal that will harm both workers and businesses,” said Congressman Norcross in the letter. “This proposal should be rejected by the Senate Labor Committee on Thursday and I’m calling on all New Jerseyans to make their voices heard today. It’s good for the economy, it’s right for workers, people support it and you promised to do it: Raise the Wage.”

Gopal offered a statement in response.

“If Congressman Norcross had called me to discuss the bills before sending out a press release urging committee members to vote no, I would have been happy to tell him that these bills are for discussion only and there is no actual vote,” said the Monmouth-based senator.

“Both California and New York’s Democratic legislators passed similar bills because they thought it was responsible policy. Studying the impact of the minimum wage by industry and region is a good thing as we can see if poverty rates in certain areas go up or down and if benefits get cut in certain areas,” he added. “The testimony provided on Thursday for both bills can help us make better decisions as it relates to public policy. I have a meeting scheduled with New Jersey Policy Perspective and other stakeholders on both sides of the issue in the weeks ahead to discuss these two bills.”

The bill statement says the legislation provides two mechanisms by which the minimum wage increases scheduled in recently enacted legislation would be suspended for economic reasons based on certain decreases in employment, seasonally adjusted, and decreases in retail sales and use tax cash receipts or if total revenues received by the State in a fiscal year have decreased by at least two percent from the preceding fiscal year. For purposes of this calculation, a decrease in revenues that is the result in a change in tax policy or law would not be considered as a decrease in revenues with respect to any impact the change in minimum wage has on revenue collection.