Restricted driver's licenses, barring funeral protests on tap

TRENTON - As budget hearings continue, legislators in the week ahead will consider making it illegal to protest a funeral. They will also debate creating restricted driver’s licenses and convening a special committee to study state school funding. The Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee is scheduled on Monday to consider making New Jersey the 12th state to make it illegal to protest and disrupt a funeral. The bill comes after several funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq were disrupted by demonstrations across the nation by a group who blames the deaths on God’s vengeance against homosexuals. The Assembly measures would make it a disorderly persons offense to disrupt a funeral, barring protests from an hour before to an hour after a service. ``What they’re doing is outrageous,’’ said Assemblyman Jack Conners, D-Burlington, a bill sponsor. The Kansas-based group led by the Rev. Fred Phelps said the proposed law ``sets about to dismantle the First Amendment.’’ Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Mercer and Middlesex counties, another bill sponsor, argued otherwise. ``The idea is to make sure people are able to mourn and let the funeral proceed peacefully without these people disrupting things,’’ Greenstein said. The Senate Transportation Committee on Monday is scheduled to mull recommendations from a special task force that proposed allowing restricted driver’s licenses for motorists who lose their licenses for reasons other than drunken driving and moving violations. The restricted licenses would be for those who lost driving rights because they couldn’t afford insurance surcharges and fines. It would permit them to drive to work, school or a doctor’s office. If restricted licenses are created, New Jersey would join 39 other states with conditional licenses. ``What we’re seeing is that many of these laws that carry license suspension as part of the penalty really hit low-income residents the hardest,’’ said Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson and Bergen. ``For many, license suspension perpetuates a cycle of economic distress, where a driver may be hit with high surcharges he or she cannot afford, lose their license and then find their job in jeopardy because they can’t get adequate transportation to work.’’ Also on Monday, an Assembly education committee will consider creating a bipartisan task force to study how the state funds schools. The special panel was included in proposal unveiled last week by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, to help control costs and promote shared government services. New Jersey funds schools through property taxes and state aid, but has the nation’s highest property taxes and state budget woes have led to no state aid increases for five years. The panel would include seven legislators and six public members. It would begin working this month and present recommendations in September. ``The fact is that we don’t fund education as effectively as we should, and when we do provide money it doesn’t get used as efficiently as it should,’’ said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, who would chair the task force. Such considerations will come as Assembly and Senate budget panels continue considering Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s proposed $31 billion budget plan for next fiscal year. Lawmakers have been trying to avoid Corzine’s $1.9 billion in proposed tax increases, but the administration contends they must actually find $500 million in new spending cuts atop $2.5 billion in already-proposed program cutbacks. On Monday, the Senate budget panel will consider proposed spending for the state education and corrections departments and commerce commission. On Tuesday, the Assembly Budget Committee will meet with top officials from state universities and colleges to discuss higher education in the state. Higher education officials have complained about Corzine’s recommended cuts. ``Proposed policy changes in the state spending plan will set back college access,’’ said Darryl Greer of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities. But lawmakers have expressed concern about administrative spending by colleges. A recent report by the Commission on Higher Education found the state colleges have added 20 percent more administrators and 10.6 percent more faculty in the past four years _ but just 4 percent more students. ``I find it very troubling that so many more faculty and administrators were added while student enrollments lagged,’’ said Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen.