ASSEMBLY, No. 2278

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

216th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 6, 2014

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  WAYNE P. DEANGELO

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires Council on Affordable Housing to adjust municipal fair share to reflect job loss in a municipality.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

 

An Act concerning affordable housing and supplementing P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.).

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  For purposes of this section, "employer," "plant closing," and "mass layoff" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 1 of the federal "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act," 29 U.S.C. s.2101.

     b.    A municipality may petition the Council on Affordable Housing for adjustment of its fair share upon:

     (1)   receipt of notice from an employer, pursuant to section 2 of the "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act," 29 U.S.C. s.2102, or regulations promulgated thereunder, of a plant closing or mass layoff in the municipality by the employer; or

     (2)   evidence of jobs actually lost or transferred from the municipality as measured by the last annual estimate furnished to the municipality by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development or an equivalent federal agency.

     c.     Upon receipt of a petition from a municipality, the council shall adjust a municipality's fair share affordable housing obligation to reflect actual job loss in the municipality caused by a plant closing or mass layoff.

     d.    Nothing in this section shall modify any right or duty of the council to perform a realistic opportunity review pursuant to section 13 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-313).

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill supplements the "Fair Housing Act," P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.), to require the Council on Affordable Housing ("COAH") to adjust a municipality's fair share obligation to reflect any permanent job loss within a municipality upon petition of the municipality.  The municipality may petition the council following notice from an employer pursuant to the federal "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act" ("WARN"), 29 U.S.C. s.s.2101 et seq., or receipt of notice of job loss in the municipality from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development or an equivalent federal agency.

     WARN protects workers by giving them advance notice of certain large-scale layoffs.  This federal law requires large-size employers (defined under the federal law as businesses with 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or 100 or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week, exclusive of hours of overtime) to notify local government units prior to either laying off more than 50 employees or permanently shutting down a facility or operating unit when the shutdown would affect more than 50 jobs.  This legislation would require COAH, upon petition of a municipality where a shutdown or mass layoff has occurred, to adjust the municipality's fair share obligation to reflect the permanent job loss in that community because of the closing or layoff.