By Philip Sean Curran
SMITH SEEKS TO PROTECT STUDENT ATHLETES FROM HEAT STROKE
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4) wants to create a new federal committee to find ways to reduce deaths of high school and college student athletes caused by exertional heat stroke, an issue that hit one Monmouth County family hard.
The 12-member group will be called “Braeden’s Commission,” in honor of Braeden Bradforth of Neptune. Bradforth, 19, was practicing last year for the football team at Garden City Community College, in Kansas, in hot weather. He died Aug.1 of heat stroke.
A memorial was held last week in Neptune on the one-year-anniversary of his death.
“Death from exertional heat stroke is preventable,” Smith said in a news release Aug. 2 announcing his bill. “When any athlete suffers from it, well-researched protocols exist that require prompt action to mitigate its impact, including death.”
Since 1995, 64 football players have died of exertional heat stroke, with 60 of them in high school and college, the legislation read in part.
As part of its work, the commission will study “whether athletic trainers and coaches have been properly trained to recognize and treat cases of exertional heat stroke,” the bill said.
The panel will have two years to submit a report to the president and Congress, including steps the federal government can take.
O’SCANLON ON SUPERINTENDENT SALARY CAP REPEAL
New Jersey last month eliminated the salary cap on school superintendents, a move that one lawmaker from Monmouth County supported.
The Christie era law “wasn’t working,” state Sen. Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr. (R-13) said in a phone interview Aug.1.
“You had districts that were skirting around the caps with other perks and other forms of compensation,” he said. “So you really ended up not knowing what these people were being paid, net.”
Under the old law, superintendents’ pay was tied to the enrollment size of their school district. The more students, the higher the salary.
But O’Scanlon pointed to how employees in school districts were working in positions without salary caps and earning more than superintendents.
“And they wouldn’t take the superintendent’s position even if offered, because they would take a pay cut,” O’Scanlon said. “Well, that’s not a functional system.”
Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation in July ending the salary cap.
DOWNEY’S BILL TO PROMOTE PAY EQUITY
When Assemblywoman Joann Downey (D-11) went to Trenton as a state legislator in 2016, one of the things that she wanted to end was the practice of employers in New Jersey being able to ask job-seekers their salary history.
Four years later, the two-term legislator from Monmouth County saw her measure signed into law, a move that supporters say will help close the pay gap between men and women.
“This is a bill that I wrote, that I wanted really badly when I first came in,” said Downey in a phone interview July 31. “We’re hoping that women will get what they’re worth in terms of their pay.”
Acting Gov. Sheila Y. Oliver signed the legislation into law July 25. The new law takes effect in six months. According to the governor’s office, violators face fines of up to $1,000 for a first offense and higher penalties for subsequent offenses.
In describing her motivation for the bill, Downey pointed to her own family as the mother of young daughters who will enter the labor force one day.
“And I hope that my girls … never have to worry about whether they’re getting paid what they’re worth,” she said.
Downey said the law would help everyone, from returning veterans to first-time job seekers. The aim is to avoid them from getting low-balled on their salary, something that Downey said has happened to her during her career.
“Why should you have to tell anybody what you were making before?” Downey asked rhetorically. “A job should pay whatever the job is worth.”
Employers still can ask job-seekers what their salary expectations are, however, she said.
An earlier version of the legislation passed the Senate and Assembly, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Chris Christie. Downey said she encountered some resistance to the bill from the business community, who said asking pay history was a way for them to judge the job market.
Downey was among a group of primary sponsors of the legislation, including Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D- 11). In an interview July 31, he said he thought the new law “is good for everybody.”
“All this bill does is say that you just can’t ask what your past salaries were,” he said. “And I don’t see anything difficult with that. If you’re going to hire somebody, you should have some kind of indication of what you’re willing to pay.”
