Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the BOLI Investments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee hears BOLI progress on hiring and backlogs; acknowledges report
Summary
The Transportation Economic Development Subcommittee heard a Bureau of Labor and Industries update showing 34 of the funded positions filled, declining intake backlogs but rising investigation caseloads, and a proposed funding fix; the committee unanimously acknowledged the report and requested follow-up.
The Transportation Economic Development Subcommittee on Feb. 5 heard an update from the Bureau of Labor and Industries on implementation of 2025 investments intended to expand civil-rights and wage-and-hour enforcement and reduce agency backlogs.
"We have already filled 34 of those positions," Commissioner Christina Stevenson said, describing progress against the legislature’s package of roughly $18,500,000, 59 new positions and 34 reclassifications. Stevenson told the committee intake backlogs in civil-rights complaints have fallen from a peak above 4,300 to about 2,800 and that the agency is exceeding early hiring targets.
The report, introduced by Mr. Ruff of the Legislative Fiscal Office, explained the funded positions were targeted by division: 15 in the civil-rights division, 21 in wage and hour and 14 in business operations. Stevenson said three civil-rights positions are effectively vacant because of step-placement and pay-equity differences that require additional administrative steps before positions are filled.
The agency cautioned that reduced intake will shift cases into investigations and projected that about 1,900 civil-rights cases in the 2027 biennium would remain uninvestigated unless additional investigators are available. "As you get through that big stack of intake cases, what that does is push them into investigations," Stevenson said.
Representative Wynne pressed for outcomes data and Stevenson replied the agency’s experience shows roughly 50% of wage-and-hour matters are resolved at the notice-of-claim stage and, of those that proceed to further review, about 60% are found substantiated. Stevenson also described work with the Rutgers Workplace Justice Lab to undertake strategic enforcement and case triage rather than strict first-in-first-out processing.
Stevenson outlined a bipartisan work-group recommendation for sustainable funding that includes raising the prevailing-wage fee cap (which has not been increased in about 20 years) and using a worker-benefit fund mechanism with a proposed two‑tenths of a percent per-employee-per-hour assessment split between employer and employee. She identified Representative Watanabe as chief sponsor of House Bill 4027 and Senator Taylor as sponsor of Senate Bill 1506, which would embody elements of that recommendation.
Tamara Brickman of the DAS Chief Financial Office and the Legislative Fiscal Office recommended the committee acknowledge receipt of the implementation report and asked for a follow-up status report on implementation and outcomes. The committee voted to acknowledge the report; the motion carried without recorded objection. The LFO requested the agency also provide a follow-up status to the Emergency Board in December 2026, and the chair expressed interest in receiving an earlier update to the subcommittee in the 2027 session.
The subcommittee’s action was procedural (acknowledgment) and did not change agency funding. The committee will continue oversight and requested additional implementation data in future reporting.
