New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would,for the purposes of providing workers' comp benefits, assumeillnesses and disorders suffered by public workers stemmed fromtheir employment unless evidence is provided in rebuttal.

The bill, N.J. Senate Bill 1778, or the"Thomas P. Canzanella Twenty First Century First RespondersProtection Act," states that it is an "appropriate public policy tomodernize the WC system in the state to ensure the meeting of thecritical needs of public-safety workers" who are exposed tocarcinogens, communicable diseases, radiation and related hazards.Complications from these exposures may take long periods of time tomanifest themselves, masking the causality of the physical orpsychological illness.

One of the criticisms of the bill, however, is that the Senatehas not analyzed its potential financial impacts, and may attractmore claims into the system. In a letter to the Senate, Christiewrote that state law already has a balanced system in place todetermine a proper workers' compensation award to sick or injuredemergency personnel. 

"This bill alters that careful balance byproviding public safety workers with a presumption toworkers' compensation, rebuttable only by clear andconvincing evidence," he wrote. "This sweeping new standard wouldapply to disabilities associated with an array ofenumerated incidents and, in some cases, disabilities not tetheredto any work-related incident at all."

"We must…balance our responsibility to our public safety workerswith our responsibility to the taxpaying public at large," wroteWilliam G. Dressel, executive director of the N.J. State League ofMunicipalities in a letter tothe Mayor's office. "Creating rebuttable presumptions such as thisbill does will increase costs for municipalities, and those costswill be passed on to taxpayers."