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As reported by nj.com, Governor Chris Christie told a town hall crowd in Westwood why he thinks reforming the state’s criminal justice system will save money and reduce the number of repeat offenders.

This week he said he will release details about the mandatory drug treatment program for nonviolent offenders first unveiled in his State of the State address. He’s also pushed for a constitutional amendment that would give judges at the state level the discretion to consider not only “risk of flight” but also “dangerousness to the community” when setting bail, as federal judges do today.

Violent criminals often make bail immediately, “and oftentimes they’re back out on the street before the officer who arrested them leaves their shift,” he said. “This is incredibly demoralizing to the police.” The situation also leads to witness intimidation and makes it more difficult for prosecutors to win convictions.

Christie joked that when he was U.S. Attorney, people would ask him if New Jersey was the most corrupt state, and he would say, “Thank God for Illinois and Louisiana.”

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As reported by nj.com, local governments could save more than $100 million annually by opting for the state health benefit plan instead of costlier alternatives, according to a State Comptroller’s Office report released Tuesday. The audit looked at four local governments of varying locations and sizes, Essex County, Brick Township, East Brunswick, and Haddon Township, and found that joining the State’s plan would have saved them collectively $12.5 million over a two year period starting in 2009.

Three of the local governments hired insurance brokers to assist them in securing coverage from insurance carriers and collectively paid more than $1 million in broker fees over a two-year period. Insurance brokers receive hefty commissions when they secure private insurance, but no money if the local government joins the state health plan. Thus, there is no financial incentive for brokers to select the state health plan and local governments don’t do enough to evaluate the costs and benefits themselves, the report said.

State Comptroller Matthew Boxer said, “Health coverage for public employees is an area in which substantial savings can be realized for taxpayers. Too many public entities in New Jersey are not taking basic steps to ensure that they are getting the best deal.”

The New Jersey Health Benefits plan was established in 1961 to provide health insurance coverage to all state employees, retirees, and their dependents. In 1964, it was expanded to all public employees in the state. It provided coverage for about 850,000 participants, the report said. As of April 2011, seven of the state’s 21 counties and 349 of the state’s 566 municipalities participated in the state plan.

Local government officials noted that switching into the state health plan is not easy because of existing union contracts. Often, union contracts have certain provisions like limits on co-pays and coverage that differ with the state plan. “Due to the number of collective bargaining agreements, 26 in total, all recommended changes to employee health benefits must be negotiated at the expiration of each agreement,” Essex County Administrator Ralph Ciallella said in a written response to the report’s findings. “Wholesale changes to employee health benefits must be negotiated at the expiration of each agreement.”

Hetty Rosenstein, state director for the Communications Workers of America, said the audit confirms what they have known for years. “The more cities and towns join the plan, the more taxpayers can save,” she said in a written statement.  “And the more efficient our healthcare system becomes.”

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As reported by nj.com, a Senate panel today approved a bill to give voters in New Jersey towns a stark option: either share the services the state has recommended for you and your neighbor, or lose state aid equivalent to what you would have saved. 

It was an idea born out of Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s frustration that the state’s 566 municipalities were not doing enough to share services or merge with the aim of reducing property taxes. “We collect more than enough money to run government in the state. Probably too much,” said Sweeney. “But we have too much government.”

According to the bill, the Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization, and Consolidation Commission would conduct a study as to whether towns should share services, consolidate agencies, or even merge. The commission would estimate how much the towns would save, then ask the State Treasurer to certify the figure. The town could either adopt the legislation, or put it up as referendum. If voters reject it, they’ll lose state aid equivalent to what the state estimated they would have saved.

The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee approved the bill 3-2. The bill will be heard again in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee before it heads to the full Senate.

The bill also eliminates civil service protections for workers whose jobs are made redundant by sharing services, which drew opposition from public workers unions. “S2 is a veiled attempt to remove civil service regulations and tenure rights granted through collective bargaining,” said Rex Reid, political action director for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 1.

League of Municipalities Executive Director Bill Dressel said he’s happy Sweeney worked to address his organization’s concerns, but he still opposes the bill because it punishes towns that refuse to share services. “Voters should hold elected officials accountable, not the other way around,” he said.

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As reported bynj.com, a judge ordered Billy Heisler to pay nearly $6 million to Joshua Hahn, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Officer he shot during an off-duty encounter outside a Hamilton pizzeria in 2007. The civil judgment was awarded after Hahn took the witness stand and described how his attempts to intervene in a domestic dispute between Heisler and his sister culminated in a career-ending injury to the 34-year old officer. The 32-year old Heisler, who is awaiting sentencing for attempted murder in Hahn’s shooting, had not responded to Hahn’s lawsuit.     

Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez said the shooting, and Heisler’s immediate flight from the scene, showed “particularly callous and evil conduct.” He awarded Hahn $963,871 in lost wages, $1.5 million in pain and suffering, $2.5 million in punitive damages and $1 million for losses incurred by his wife, who was also a plaintiff in the suit. Just how much of the money Hahn will recoup remains to be seen.

According to an attorney who represented Heisler after the shooting, Heisler has been living off funds from a settlement from a lawsuit he filed after being severely injured in an explosion when he was 11. 

Under oath, Hahn testified that he suffered two punctured lungs and a shattered vertebra from the single gunshot to the chest. His injuries forced him to retire on permanent disability. After court, Hahn spoke very little about the civil case. He said he prefers to keep quiet until Heisler is sentenced next month.

“The criminal case has always been my main concern,” Hahn said. “I’m confident he will be sentenced appropriately.” Two weeks ago, a jury convicted Heisler of attempted murder and weapons offenses. Jurors rejected a defense argument that the gun went off accidentally during a struggle between the two men.

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As reported by nj.com, for 14 months, Governor Chris Christie and Democratic lawmakers have been at an impasse over payouts to public workers for unused sick time when they retire, further straining the budgets of municipalities. On Tuesday, however, Senate President Stephen Sweeney introduced a measure that would end the practice for new employees and bar payouts to current workers for additional time accumulated, bringing the two sides closer than ever.

Still, neither Christie nor Sweeney’s Assembly counterpart, Speaker Sheila Oliver, were prepared to endorse the plan. In December 2010, Christie rejected a measure sponsored by Senator Paul Sarlo that would have limited the payouts for both new workers and more than 430,000 public employees to $15,000. In his conditional veto message, the Governor wrote that “sick leave is to be used when you are sick, not as a supplemental retirement fund.”

Currently, the payouts to state workers are capped at $15,000, while most local governments have no limits. Last year, The Star-Ledger reviewed eight cities that borrowed to make their payments or made layoffs that drew attention: Newark, Atlantic City, Camden, Jersey City, Trenton, South Brunswick, East Orange, and Hackensack. They paid more than $39 million to over 700 employees who cashed in unused sick days and vacation time, about $54,000 for each employee. 

Neither Christie nor the Democrats have proposed eliminating the payouts that workers have already accumulated, although Christie did seek to reduce them. Under Christie’s plan, ill workers would have to take days off from sick time already accumulated, reducing their payouts when they retire. Sweeney’s proposal has no such provision.

In addition, unlike Christie’s plan, Sweeney’s proposal does not include a one year cap on accumulating unused vacation days, does not require doctors’ notes for absences of six or more consecutive days, and would not make workers forfeit unused sick days if convicted of work-related crimes.   

Although Sarlo did not say how he felt about Sweeney’s plan, he said he was confident Democrats would work something out. “Whether it’s $15,000, $7,500, or $0 for new employees, at the end of the day we’ll get to something we all can live with,” he said, adding that he though Christie’s plan to make workers use up accumulated sick time before retirement was unconstitutional.

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As reported by nj.com, amid a rising tide of violence in Trenton, including a murder in the shadow of the Statehouse on Route 29, the State Attorney General sent officials yesterday to discuss helping Trenton’s layoff-depleted police department, Mercer County Prosecutor Joe Bocchini said today. The meeting between Bocchini, Trenton acting Police Director Dave Armitage, and officials from Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa’s office was hosted at Bocchini’s office and included the discussion of State Police help.   

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack laid off roughly one-third of the 300 member police department in September amid sweeping city budget cuts. Some police officers were rehired through grants, but the department ended the year with at least 80 less officers. “Unfortunately it goes back once again to manpower, the department is severely understaffed,” Bocchini said.

Bocchini said he believes Trenton needs at least 50 more police officers to make a dent in the violence. Armitage wrote a letter to the State Police Superintendent seeking assistance on Monday and State Senator Shirley Turner has previously offered to broker a meeting regarding State Police intervention. Turner and Attorney General Chiesa had a lengthy meeting on the topic last week, Bocchini said. 

The State Police fall under the Office of the Attorney General. Bocchini said no guarantees have been made and he cautioned that any plans were still in the discussion stage.

Trenton had three reported murders in January, following a December that saw six slayings in the city. The city’s homicide rate spiked to a four-year high for 2011. The Mercer Prosecutor’s office and Mercer County Sheriff Jack Kemler have already sent additional manpower to augment the Trenton police anti-crime unit.

Bocchini said yesterday’s meeting with Director of the Division of Criminal Justice Stephen Taylor was set up last week, prior to a drive-by shooting on Route 29 that left a 23-year old city man dead a few hundred yards from the Statehouse.

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