TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie vetoed part of a bill on unemployment benefits today, saying the legislation would have prevented the state from recovering millions of dollars in overpaid benefits. The bill (S1968) said people receiving unemployment checks would not be held liable by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development for overpayments due to reasons other than...
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a section of a bill that would remove liability from those who received overpayments in their unemployment by means other than fraud. TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie vetoed part of a bill on unemployment benefits today, saying the legislation would have prevented the state from recovering millions of dollars in overpaid benefits.
The bill (S1968) said people receiving unemployment checks would not be held liable by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development for overpayments due to reasons other than fraud or misrepresentation.
"With the unemployment insurance fund $1.75 billion in debt, it is our responsibility to ensure that every state dollar spent on benefits is done correctly, lawfully and that any waste — whatever the cause — is rooted," Christie said. "It would be fiscally imprudent, and possibly in conflict with federal law, to take away the department’s ability to evaluate instances where an overpayment of benefits has occurred and make a case-by-case determination of whether a hardship waiver is in order."
Christie said $28 million would have been exempted from scrutiny.
The bill had bipartisan support in the Legislature: It passed 70 to 9 in the Assembly and unanimously in the state Senate. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said Christie was overstating the problem. She said the state should not be looking to punish people who received excess unemployment benefits through no fault of their own.
"We are in an unprecedented period of unemployment," she said. "We have to be very careful about any type of punitive regulations or statutory requirements that we want to place on people."
Christie did not object to the part of the bill doubling the time, from 10 to 20 days, allowed for people to appeal decisions on benefit awards. The bill also requires registration for authorized agents representing people involved in unemployment claims.
Previous coverage:
• Gov. Christie veto limits unemployment benefits, delays business tax hike
• N.J. unemployment insurance fund lost $25M in fraudulent claims in last 2 years
• N.J. unemployment fund will not be bailed out by federal money, Menendez says
• N.J. Gov. Christie proposes cuts to unemployment benefits to lessen business tax hike