By: JANE ROH • Courier-Post Staff • May 6, 2010

CAMDEN — Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, confirmed that current state employees who live outside of New Jersey will be exempted from the final version of a residency bill he introduced in March.

"I fully expect there is going to be language in there that will grandfather employees in," the freshman senator said, describing amendments he plans to introduce on May 13. "The exact language is what we're working on."

Norcross, who is also president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Labor Council, said he was confident the retuned bill would pass with "broad support" in Trenton.

The original requirement that some 6,000 public employees plus thousands of teachers pack up their families and find homes in New Jersey or lose their jobs did not sit well with unions. Pennsylvania Reps. Steve Santarsiero and John Galloway, both D-Bucks, last month went to Trenton with more than 1,000 signatures and testimonials from residents who said the law was unfairly burdensome.

"I'm very pleased to hear that," said Santarsiero about the forthcoming amendments. "We want to thank Senator Norcross for listening to the voices of so many people who have written to me and my colleagues describing what a hardship it would be if the law as originally written had passed."

Santarsiero said he was eager to see if the amended law offers protections for current state workers who accept jobs in other municipalities, agencies or departments.

Norcross will hold at least one more meeting with concerned public employees before the amendments are introduced next week, said aide David Marcou.

As for future prospective employees who'd have to move to the state to receive Garden State taxpayer-funded salary and benefits, Norcorss said, "You know the job that you want and this is the condition of it. If you don't want to move to New Jersey, then don't take the job."

While there might be logic behind the bill, Santarsiero said he disagreed with the bill's philosophy.

"I'm not a proponent of barriers among the states. We're all one country and our citizens should be able to move around freely," Santarsiero said. "That out-of-state worker does have a positive impact on the economy. She's having lunch at local eateries, she's going out and buying goods and services locally within the state."