ASSEMBLY, No. 2013
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MAY 13, 1996
By Assemblywoman TURNER
An Act concerning investigations into certain permanent reductions of jobs and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Director of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury shall investigate any anticipated or actual permanent reduction by a corporation of 350 or more jobs in the State of New Jersey and may investigate any anticipated or actual permanent reduction by a corporation of 2,500 or more jobs in the region of which the State is a part or 15,000 or more jobs in the United States. In conducting the investigation, the director may consult with, and use information provided by, any national, state or local public or private agency or organization, including a labor organization, deemed appropriate by the director. The purpose of the investigation shall be to determine if the reduction will have significant adverse effects on the long-range viability of the corporation or significant adverse effects on the State, regional or national economy, including adverse effects related to reduced wages and benefits for workers, reduced public revenues needed for public services and infrastructure and weakened environmental and other public standards. Upon a determination that the reduction will cause significant adverse effects on the corporation or the economy, the director shall, notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, take any of the following actions which the director determines has a reasonable likelihood of minimizing or deterring the reduction or subsequent reductions of jobs:
a. Publicize the determination;
b. Initiate or support shareholder petitions or initiatives which may, directly or indirectly, have an impact on the reduction or subsequent reductions, including petitions or initiatives concerning corporate governance and the selection of corporate officers;
c. Sell, redeem, divest or withdraw investments from the corporation of all assets of any pension or annuity fund under the jurisdiction of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury; or
d. Initiate and support efforts to get other investors, including multi-employer private pension funds, public employee pension funds in other states and other institutional investors, to sell, redeem, divest or withdraw investments of their assets from the corporation.
The director shall take actions only against corporations which the director determines are likely to be influenced by the actions and shall select the actions which have the greatest likelihood of minimizing or deterring the reduction or subsequent reductions.
For the purposes of this section, "the region of which the State is a part" means the region consisting of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
2. The director shall, not later than 12 months after the effective date of this act and not less than once during each 12-month period thereafter, issue to the Governor and the Legislature a report which shall include the results of each investigation conducted pursuant to section 1 of this act and a description of each action taken pursuant to that section and the effects of the action.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Director of the Division of Investment to investigate any major anticipated or actual permanent reduction by a corporation of jobs in New Jersey and permits the director to investigate any major reduction by a corporation of jobs in the region or the nation. The director may consult with, and use information provided by, any national, state or local public or private agency or organization. The purpose of the investigation is to determine if the reduction will have significant adverse effects on the long-range viability of the corporation or significant adverse effects on the State, regional or national economy, including adverse effects related to reduced wages and benefits for workers, reduced public revenues needed for public services and infrastructure and weakened environmental and other public standards. If it is determined that the reduction will cause significant adverse effects on the corporation or the economy, the director is required to take any of the following actions which have a reasonable likelihood of minimizing or deterring the reduction or subsequent reductions:
1. Publicize the determination;
2. Initiate or support shareholder petitions or initiatives which may have a direct or indirect impact on the reduction or subsequent reductions;
3. Sell, redeem, divest or withdraw investments from the corporation of all assets of any pension or annuity fund under the jurisdiction of the Division of Investment; or
4. Initiate and support efforts to get other investors, including other institutional investors, to sell, redeem, divest or withdraw investments of their assets from the corporation.
The director is directed to take actions only against corporations which are likely to be influenced by the actions and select the actions with the greatest likely effectiveness.
Concerns investigation of permanent reductions of jobs.