For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The NJ Sierra Club is calling on Governor Murphy to veto A4810 (Pinkin) / S441 (Oroho), a bill on his desk that could weaken environmental and labor regulations. The bill creates the Government Efficiency and Regulatory Review Commission, which would recommend amendments to rules, regulations, or Executive Orders that “unduly burden the State’s businesses, workers, and local governments” according to the bill description. Senator Oroho, the Senate sponsor of the bill, used to be the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) representative for the NJ Legislature.
“Governor Murphy needs to veto this bill because it will weaken environmental, health, and worker safety regulations. It creates a Commission that could weaken or get rid of regulations based entirely on economic cost. They won’t be looking at societal costs like public health issues from toxic sites or climate impacts like flooding or storm damage. They might weaken air pollution regulations, leading to more asthma attacks and more trips to the ER. Weakening worker protections means more accidents and injuries on the job,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Red Tape is a buzzword used by polluters and developers to weaken environmental standards. This bill will be used to rollback regulations for clean air, clean water, and toxic site cleanups. It will affect workers and communities, especially overburdened and Environmental Justice communities.”
The Commission would be made up of nine members and would review all proposed and adopted rules and regulations and operative Executive Orders issued by the Governor. The purpose would be to assess their effects on New Jersey’s economy, determine whether their costs and other burdens outweigh the intended benefits, and establish a basis for providing recommendations to the Governor to amend any that are unduly burdensome.
“This legislation could actually be used to delay or sabotage Governor Murphy’s agenda. The Commission could end up slowing down or even derail the administration’s work on Environmental Justice, climate change, resiliency, chronic flooding, coastal protections, and many other important issues. The Commission calls for regulatory flexibility, which is really code for letting polluters and corporations get around DEP rules and standards,” said Jeff Tittel. “This bill is based on Governor Christie’s Red Tape Review Commission. It comes from ALEC, a Koch brothers founded organization that is a right-wing corporate front. We’d expect to see legislation like this from a Republican Legislature.”
In 2010, Chris Christie signed an Executive Order establishing the Red Tape Review Commission. The commission made many environmental policy revisions, including changing how contests cases involving the DEP were resolved. It also recommended that previously approved by stalled development permits be extended.
“Governor Murphy needs to veto this bill immediately to protect our environment and worker protections. This is like deja vú all over again with Christie’s Red Tape Review Commission, which was designed to stop and slow down environmental reviews. Christie used the commission as a way to block DEP from regulating toxic chemicals in drinking water like PFAS and perchlorate. He also used it as an excuse to roll back protections on clean air, clean water, and pull out of RGGI,” said Tittel. “It is shameful that the Legislature has pushed this bill through. The criteria for determining which rules should be amended is arbitrary, which means that the recommendations could be more about politics than real data.”
The Government Efficiency and Regulatory Review Commission would be located in the Office of the Governor and would include representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Governor’s Office, the New Jersey Business Action Center, the Office of Innovation, and the State Legislature.
“This bill is about taking care of corporate interests over public interests. It goes against Environmental Justice and will mean more pollution in areas that are already overburdened by pollution. This is even more concerning now that multiple studies have linked air pollution exposure to coronavirus risk. It will also weaken health protections and worker safety regulations, which are more important than ever as people go back to work during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Tittel. “We’ve stopped bills similar to this numerous times since 2010. We’re really surprised that it was able to get through under a Democratic administration and Legislature.”
The bill requires that the Commission provide an annual report to the Governor that must provide recommendations to repeal, rescind, or amend any rules and regulations or Executive Orders that burden New Jersey’s businesses, workers, and local governments.
“This bill is designed to help business lobbyists while weakening protections. It will result in weaker environmental review standards, which means more pollution and more development. This bill will also mean weaker health and worker safety protections, which are even more important than ever during the coronavirus pandemic. We are afraid that this commission could come out with recommendations that lead to the privatization of parks, public-private partnerships, or streamlining permits by making them general permits. It could also be used to weaken site remediation standards and cleanups,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Governor Murphy needs to veto this bill to prevent our environmental, health, and worker protection regulations from being weakened. This bill is something you’d expect from a Republican Legislature.”
NJ Sierra Club letter urging Governor Murphy to veto this legislation attached.