Bill Text: NJ S1603 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes fringe benefit rate for State colleges and universities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-25 - Transferred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S1603 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2024-S1603-Introduced.html

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SENATE, No. 1603

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  ANDREW ZWICKER

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Senator  JAMES BEACH

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Diegnan, Johnson, Greenstein, Ruiz and Pou

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes fringe benefit rate for State colleges and universities.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

  

An Act establishing a fringe benefit rate for State colleges and universities and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

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

 

     1.    Beginning with the State fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury shall establish a separate fringe benefit rate for State colleges and universities.  The separate fringe benefit rate shall reflect the actual cost of employee retirement programs at those colleges and universities, and shall be applied to all federal, dedicated, and non-State funded programs.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill directs the Division of Budget and Accounting, also known as the Office of Management and Budget, in the Department of the Treasury to establish a fringe benefit rate for public institutions of higher education that reflects the actual cost of employee fringe benefits. The separate fringe rate is to first apply in FY 2025.

      Currently, the fringe benefit rate used is not specific to employees at the State's public institutions of higher education, but to State employees in general. Many State employees are enrolled in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), while many of the employees employed by State public colleges and universities are enrolled in the less costly Alternative Benefit Plan (ABP) or are not enrolled in a retirement plan. This results in a difference between the actual cost of benefits and the amount paid to the State.