Oliver on Christie Conditional Veto of Minimum Wage Increase

(TRENTON) – Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex) issued a multimedia package Monday in which she outlines the Legislature’s next step to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage, following Gov. Christie’s conditional veto of legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50/hr and tie future increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The multimedia package consists of a video of Speaker Oliver’s comments and audio and a transcript of same.

The video can be accessed directly via our website – www.assemblydems.com – or by pasting the following link into a Web browser: https://vimeo.com/58380396

A transcript of comments from the Speaker is appended below:

Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex):

                “The Democratic caucuses in both the Senate and the Assembly are, of course, disappointed that the governor did not sign our legislation as presented to him: $8.50 an hour with a Consumer Price Index.

“So, we will use a tool available to us legislatively. We will vote on a bill that will put this on the ballot in November 2013. We just need a simple majority of votes out of the Assembly and the Senate, which we know we will have.

“And we have every confidence that the citizens of this state, in November 2013, will vote yes to raise the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and incorporate the CPI.”