Asm. Declan O'Scanlon Shares Newly Proposed Legislation

Asm. Declan O’Scanlon (R) – NJ, explains why he introduced legislation to permit minors as young as 14 to opt into the organ donor registry run by the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission.

9/30/17 #117

Excerpt:

"State of Affairs is pleased to welcome State Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Republican, 13th Legislative District, mostly Monmouth County? All of Monmouth County... it's in Monmouth County. It's contained in Monmouth County. About a third of Monmouth County. And just a little bit more than that. In the legislature since 2007? Yes. I was elected in '07, and sworn in January of '08. Technically. Best thing about the legislature is? Being right there while the policy is being made. It's been an incredible experience to, you know... I... we're New Jersey, right? I could have gone my whole career without having a governor in the statehouse, a Republican governor, that's been cool. We got a lot of really cool things done in, you know, in the last eight years that people told me we may never get done. The first rounds of pension health benefits reform, the property tax cap, arbitration award cap, things that are making a real difference. I mean we're saving billions of dollars for people right now because of those things. Most frustrating part about being in the legislature is? Not being able to get everything done that we know needs to be done. We know we need another round of... at least health benefits reform. You mean with public employees? Yes. There's no question. Though many of them say, hey we've given enough? Well... We already negotiated. You know but... We gave up all kinds of things. You want more from us? That's okay with me. They just have to figure out how we're gonna balance our budget if we don't do that. If you look at... They have to figure out? And not the legislature and the next governor? If they're gonna refuse the option that I had said is essential, and I know it's essential by the way. There's no debate. I know the budget as well as any single person in the state. By the way, the Assemblyman is, in fact, the ranking member in the Assembly when it comes to budget matters. You know this stuff? I do. I know it cold. If there was a way to balance our budget without asking public employees to work with us again, I would be happy to do it. And there's a way, by the way, to do these reforms, where we're not just dumping the costs onto public employees. In fact, by making use of exchanges, and other efficiencies, you almost can keep public employees whole, if we do it soon enough. The longer we kick the can down the road, the tougher that becomes, and the more essential it'll become to do another round of pension reform. If we wait any longer than another year, it's a real problem. Top three..."