In recent weeks, mayors skittish about next year's budgets have converged on the Statehouse to press for action, while Gov. Christie has berated the Legislature for slow progress.
Christie's spokesman, Kevin Roberts, on Tuesday chided the Legislature for limiting a Senate committee hearing on arbitration reform to "discussion only" and questioned lawmakers' priorities.
He sarcastically noted that the crowded legislative schedule included bills that would require that cats and dogs released from shelters be sterilized and that would declare October "Agent Orange Awareness Month."
But legislative leaders countered that they are poised to act on arbitration and civil-service proposals, two key pieces of the tool kit.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said the upper house would introduce final versions of bills on both topics by the end of the month and act on them in November.
The Senate has been researching programs around the country as it works on a civil-service bill, he said. Sweeney added that he was not sure whether the bill to be considered Thursday, which would ban arbitrators from awarding any settlement that would increase public employees' compensation in excess of the 2 percent cap, would be the final product.
"I wish it was a faster process, but we need to get it right," Sweeney said. "These are major reforms that are going to have a long-lasting impact on the state."
The process is on schedule, he said, and the Legislature is committed to getting it done before the end of the year, a deadline that Christie has set for adopting the tool kit as well as changes to ethics, pension and education policies.
Assembly Democrats, who are finalizing their own arbitration and civil-service bills for introduction, said in a statement Tuesday that the measures would likely get a hearing on Monday, followed by a vote on approval later this month.
