New Jersey Assembly Republicans

From: PolitickerNJ – Assemblyman Jay Webber, (R-26), said that while it was encouraging to see illegal guns off the street, he has received calls from constituents who have been experiencing delays in approvals of their gun permit applications, which go through State Police.

Jay Webber

“They have waited far more than 30 days,” he said. “Some have waited for several months.”

(Attorney General Jeffrey) Chiesa said he believes much of the delay stems from a large backlog in the number of applications that need to be processed. State police have been deluged by the large number of applications made, especially after the Sandy Hook school massacre last December in Newtown, Conn.

To address the backlog, he said the number of troopers working on application processing will increase from 9 to 13. The four additional officers are being trained on the paperwork, he said.

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From: NJ Spotlight – Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Essex, Morris and Passaic) opposed the bill, saying that it should also inform the public about the “higher taxes, reduced choices, and harm it will do to our state.”

Residents who choose not to purchase insurance as a result of the ACA’s individual mandate will have to pay a penalty. This will rise from the higher of $95 or 1 percent of income in 2014 to the higher of $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016.

Jay Webber

“If there are carrots in this law, then we should tell them what the sticks are, the sticks are pretty heavy,” Webber said.

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From: Burlington County Times — The controversial health care bill directs the state Department of Banking and Insurance to create a public awareness campaign about an online and telephone health care exchange that the federal government will run in which residents and businesses will be able to buy approved insurance plans.

Jay Webber

Before the vote, Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-26th of Morris Plains, argued that the public awareness campaign should be required to include information about the tax penalties for residents who fail to obey the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to obtain coverage.

“We should tell people if you don’t sign up that there’s a tax to pay,” Webber said about the penalties, which can be as much as $695 or 2.5 percent of income for individuals and $2,085 or 2.5 percent of income for families.

“We should tell them what the sticks are, because the sticks are pretty heavy,” he said.

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Press release — Assembly Democrats approved legislation today to have a one-sided public awareness campaign about ObamaCare, said Assemblyman Jay Webber who fought to include pertinent financial information that would tell the complete truth.

Jay Webber

“I’m all for informing the public about ObamaCare – we should tell them about the higer taxes, reduced choices, and harm it will do to our state,” Webber, R-Morris, Essex and Passaic, said. “If the Assembly Democrats want a public information campaign about the things they think are good about Obamacare, then we should tell the people about all of the law’s bad parts, which will hit us all soon enough.”

Trenton Democrats approved legislation requiring the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance to establish a public awareness campaign about a federally-administered health insurance exchange, even though federal law already includes requirements to inform the public. Corzine Democrats rejected Assemblyman Webber’s proposal to include critical information to give the public a more thorough understanding of ObamaCare. The  amendment would require information including:

• The tax penalties for those who don’t carry insurance, which peak in 2016 at the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income for individuals, and $2,085 or 2.5 percent of income for families.
• How it will cost between 11 million and 14 million Americans their existing coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office and Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary.
• The increases in price of low-cost, limited health insurance have become so unaffordable that institutions of higher education have prevailed on the Legislature for relief due to concerns that college students will not be able to afford their education and higher-priced health insurance.

“Even U.S. Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat who was the prime sponsor of Obamacare, has called the law a ‘train wreck,’” Webber said. “He’s right – the public does need more information about this wreck coming down the rails, so we can eventually replace it with something that contains costs, increases choice, and gives Americans more control over their healthcare decisions.”

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From: Patch – Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26^th) presented the Annin Flag of Honor to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in honor of New Jersey Reagan Day, an annual celebration of the life and leadership of former President Ronald Reagan.

John Ashcroft & Jay Webber

Ashcroft was the keynote speaker at the annual celebration, founded by Webber and sponsored by the Young American Foundation. Nearly 600 people attended the ceremony.

“It is my privilege to represent the township of Verona in the New Jersey Legislature,” said Webber. “One of Verona’s crown jewels is Annin flag makers, America’s oldest and largest flag maker.”

As part of the ceremony, Webber highlighted some of the great moments in the history of Annin flags — including the flag which draped the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln on its journey from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois, the flag placed atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in 1945 and the Annin flag planted on the moon by the crew of Apollo 11 in 1969.

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From: NJ Press Media — Jay Webber. As up-and-comers go, Webber, a Republican assemblyman from Morris County, is more of a high-and-nearly there type. After all, it wasn’t even three years ago when Webber was named one of Time Magazine’s “40 under 40” group of rising young civic leaders, a designation for which the 41-year-old no longer qualifies. He is a sharp high-achiever with premium educational chops — a bachelor’s from Johns Hopkins, followed by a degree from Harvard Law School — and a conservative bent that will always play well with a hard-core base. He remains one to watch.

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Jay Webber

Press release — Assembly Republican Budget Committee member Jay Webber, R-Morris, Essex and Passaic, issued the following statement after testimony from Education Commissioner Chris Cerf.

            “It’s refreshing to see an administration that views the question of “How well?” we spend education dollars as more important than “How much?” we spend. How well we spend our scarce educational resources is the critical question, especially when New Jersey remains stuck with the Corzine Democrats’ school funding formula and its vast inequities that reverberate through every town in New Jersey.

            “That formula is patently unfair and needs to be replaced. There is simply no justification for giving a child in one town more than $25,000 in state aid while a child in another town is supported with little more than $300.”

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From: PolitickerNJ

The problem of school districts that send students to other districts being charged too much tuition was discussed at today’s Assembly Budget Committee hearing.

Jay Webber

Assemblyman Jay Webber raised the issue during questioning of the fiscal year 2014 budget request for the Education Department.

The issue is that all school districts have to live within the 2 percent tax cap increase.

Webber said, however, that some receiving districts are charging the sending district higher rates than they should be, leaving the sending district squeezed.

“This is a growing concern for a lot of towns, especially smaller towns,’’ Webber said.

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From: Asbury Park Press

Declan O'Scanlon

“By any fair assessment, any metric, New Jersey’s in much better shape than it was four years ago,” said Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, the GOP’s budget officer in the Assembly. “Some of that is driven by the economy. Much of that is driven by the policies of this administration.”

[...]

That debate sparks fiery, finger-pointing, look-backs not just to 2008 but to governors who served approximately a decade ago, such as Democrat James E. McGreevey and Republican Donald T. DiFrancesco.

Jay Webber

“When it comes to taxpayer debt, taxpayer money, the Democrats in the Legislature treat it like a bottle of liquor. They talk about it like a bunch of Mormons, but they treat it like a bunch of drunken sailors,” said Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris. “I just can’t sit here and listen to lectures about the dangers of borrowing and the dangers of taxing and the dangers of spending when we watched for a decade the same people vote for borrowing — and not just borrowing, but borrowing to balance the budget unconstitutionally.”

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Jay Webber

Assembly Republican Budget Committee member Jay Webber’s response to Democrats was colorful.

“Corzine Democrats more than doubled taxpayer debt when they were in charge last decade, and now they have the temerity to decry the actions of this administration, which has begun to bring under control the reckless practices of the past,” says Webber. “Their hypocrisy is absolutely galling.”

“Today, the Corzine Democrats showed that they treat taxpayer debt like a bottle of liquor. They talk about it like a bunch of Mormons, but behave like a bunch of drunken sailors.”

From: NJ 101.5 FM

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