TRENTON – The Statehouse’s regular routine is slowly but surely coming back into focus, and the last week of September shouldn’t disappoint.
Sure, the bulk of the week’s schedule is pretty sparse. However, more than a dozen committee hearings are slated for Monday, which will keep discussion rolling on previously discussed legislation as well as new bills.
Student loans
A Senate panel will vote on legislation that seeks to require a state authority to develop and distribute student loan data to high school students.
According to the bill, S2150/A1083, the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority would be required to compile examples of “Monthly and annual loan payments required for various types of student loans, based on differing principal loan amounts and current interest rates, the time period it would take to fully repay those loans based on various monthly or annual payment installments, definitions of fixed rate loans, variable rate loans, and consolidation loans, and the consequences of defaulting on a student loan.”
The information would be distributed annually to all high school students in public schools and to juniors and seniors in nonpublic high schools.
The Senate Higher Education Committee is slated to take-up the bill Monday morning.
State lottery
And while winning the lottery certainly makes it easier to pay for college, Assembly lawmakers will decide whether to release a bill from committee that would allow lottery winners to remain quiet for a year before telling their neighbors they scored big.
The Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee is slated to discuss A2982, which would allow state lottery winners to remain anonymous for up to one year.
Currently, winners’ names are a matter of public record.
Climate change
Speaking of college, the Assembly Higher Education Committee will decide whether the state should urge its colleges and universities to sign a national climate change initiative.
The committee will vote on Resolution No. 39, which urges higher education institutions to become signatories to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.
Colleges and universities that have signed the initiative have concluded that it is “unequivocal” that the Earth’s climate is warming and that rising temperatures have tripled over the past three decades, according to the resolution.
“Although governments and environmentally conscious organizations are already engaged in the battle against climate change, it is imperative that New Jersey’s institutions of higher education become leaders in the fight,” reads the resolution.
Hard plastic
The fight against a compound used in many consumer products is coming again to an Assembly panel.
The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee will discuss A1145, which prohibits the sale of food and beverage packaging that contains bisphenol A, or BPA.
Critics charge BPA, which is used to make hard plastics, interferes with children’s development and has other adverse affects on people.
The bill seeks to prohibit the compound being used in packaging for food and beverages and would levy a $250 to $500 fine against businesses that fail to comply with the proposal for each offense.
New Jersey talks presidential election
Also this week, a pair of the country’s best known political analysts will be featured speakers at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s Forum 2012.
James Carville and Mary Matalin are slated to discuss the national election and talk with the business community about how the results could impact the business climate in the state.
Carville and Matalin – a Democrat and Republican strategist, respectively – each have more than three decades of experience working for three presidents.
The couple, who have been married for 18 years, will lead the presidential discussion at the Pines Manor in Edison on Thursday.
