Politics & Government

Christie Open to Ways to Remedy Anti-Bullying Setback

Money may be found to satisfy state ruling that portions of the landmark law are an unfunded mandate.

Gov. Chris Christie and leading legislators yesterday vowed to address a state ruling that says sections of New Jersey's landmark are an unfunded mandate -- without discounting the idea of supplying districts with additional money.

Christie said he still needed to review Friday's decision of the state's Council on Local Mandates that the law imposed an unconstitutional mandate on districts in not providing adequate funding.

But he vowed a remedy would be found that would keep the law "effective."

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"We need to fix it by either getting rid of things in the law that impose that unfunded mandate or by funding that unfunded mandate. I am willing to discuss that with the legislature from both sides," Christie said when asked about the decision in a morning press conference.

"Would removing those portions that are an unfunded mandate eviscerate the bill?" he said. "If that is the case, perhaps we can talk about ways that maybe could fund it."

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How much money that would be or whether there are other ways to address the council's ruling remained an open discussion yesterday, with legislators and advocates only starting to digest the decision.

"We're swinging into action," said Steven Goldstein, director of Garden State Equality, the gay rights group that led the campaign for the bill.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), the chief sponsor in the lower house, said she was more inclined to seek funding than to dive back into the law itself. The council essentially gave the state 60 days to address its concerns. The council said it would issue its formal ruling after that period, marking those sections of the law that would no longer be in effect.

"If we're talking about revisiting the whole bill, with all the pressures that are out there now, I think that will be a little difficult," said Vainieri Huttle.

"I want to work with what we have," she said yesterday. "I don't want to gut this bill."

Continue reading this story in NJ Spotlight.

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