TRENTON, NJ – Senator Declan O’Scanlon announced today the reintroduction of a bill aimed at revoking the pensions of government officials convicted of crimes while in office. Senator Edward Durr will join as a co-prime sponsor of the legislation.
The move comes as a response to current laws that allow convicted officials to continue receiving public pensions. O’Scanlon stated, “This is a slap in the face to taxpayers and this reform is long overdue.”
Previous attempts to pass similar legislation, under the code S-1557, were unsuccessful despite having bipartisan support. In 2017, efforts to advance the bill by Republican legislators were thwarted on three separate occasions by Democrats, some of whom had been co-sponsors of the bill.
Senator Edward Durr voiced concerns about the underfunded pension system, remarking, “Our underfunded pension system cannot continue shelling out more cash to crooked politicians who are convicted of bribery and other egregious crimes.”
The bill was initially introduced in the past as S-215 by former Senator Jennifer Beck and A-3432 by then-Assemblyman O’Scanlon.
O’Scanlon criticized the lack of action from Democratic leaders, stating, “If this current indictment against the disgraced Senator doesn’t get them to finally act, they may as well just admit they support the financial interests of public officials that are convicted of child [censored]ography and bribery over the taxpayers.”
The reintroduced legislation could impact cases such as that of Senator Menendez, who, if convicted, would collect more than $200,000 in public pension payments funded by taxpayers. It was also emphasized that former Assemblyman Cohen, convicted of crimes related to child [censored]ography, still receives a state-funded pension.
The bill’s reintroduction aims to put an end to such practices, although its success remains uncertain given the previous history of legislative resistance.
