New Jersey's 24th Legislative District

Senator Steven Oroho

Senator Declan O'Scanlon
Senator Steve Oroho

Oroho/O’Scanlon Renew Call for Immediate Action on Public Workers Health Coverage Crisis

Please Share:

Bookmark and Share

Senate Republican Leader Steven Oroho and Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon today urged Senate Majority leaders to convene a special committee to address skyrocketing public health care premiums.

Senate Republican Leader Steven Oroho and Republican Budget Officer Declan O’Scanlon today urged Senate Majority leaders to convene a special committee to address skyrocketing public health care premiums. (©iStock.com)

The full text of the letter (click here for PDF) is below:

October 13, 2022

Honorable Nicholas P. Scutari
Senate President

Honorable M. Teresa Ruiz
Senate Majority Leader

Honorable Paul A. Sarlo
Chair, Senate Budget Committee

Dear Senators Scutari, Ruiz and Sarlo:

We are writing to respectfully request that if you will not convene a special committee to review and address skyrocketing public health care premium increases — as Republican Senators have unanimously supported — that the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee be charged with a similar mission on an immediate basis.

As you know, Republicans sponsored legislation to establish a special committee to investigate the causes of more than 20% increases in State and local employee/retiree premium increases. We believe a special committee would have the singular focus necessary to effectively explore and explain the failure of the Murphy Administration to disclose premium increases in a timely manner and to compel their production of critical information that has been withheld from public employee unions, and the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services on behalf of all legislators. Such a commission would allow for a better understanding of what is driving the increases and development of recommendations to improve transparency and prevent further increases.

We continue to believe the creation of a special committee is the most appropriate venue for investigating and halting health premium increases that will crush taxpayers as well as employees and retirees who share in the costs. But if that option is not acceptable to you, perhaps an appropriate alternative is to convene the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for this purpose. The committee could not only call witnesses and produce information that has been withheld by the Administration, but it could also consider and improve legislation being advanced by our colleagues on both sides of the aisle that would enhance transparency and help control costs.

Failing to create a commission with a singular purpose or appropriately charge the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to address the matter would be an unacceptable dereliction of the duty to give this issue the attention it deserves.

We appreciate your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Steven V. Oroho
Senate Republican Leader

Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr.
Republican Budget Officer

Similar Posts on SenateNJ.com

Leave a Comment:

Comment Rules: Please remain civil, stay on topic, and refrain from using foul or abusive language. Posts that violate those rules may be hidden or deleted, and repeated violators may be blocked. To prevent spam, comments with links are automatically filtered.

District 24 Guide

Steven Oroho's Biography

Steven Oroho

Steve's Bio & Public Service

Constituent Services

Constituent Services

Steve Can Help You!

Contact

Contact Steve

Steve Wants to Hear from You!

District 24

District 24

About the Legislative District

Email Updates

Email Updates

Sign Up for Steve's Newsletter

Facebook

Facebook

Follow Steve's Page

Internships

Internships

Students - Get Involved

Legislatitve Activity

Legislative Activity

Committees, Bills & Votes

Twitter

Twitter

Tweet @stevenoroho

Steve's Recent Posts

- Proudly Serving Parts of Morris, Sussex and Warren Counties -