Lawmakers met in Trenton on Thursday to move a new bill forward that would stop government workers from illegally cashing in on unused sick and vacation time.

A July report from state Comptroller Kevin Walsh found that 95% of the towns his office studied violated state laws limiting worker payouts. Those 57 towns have until Friday to submit plans to fix the problems and keep them from happening again.

“We've directed them to prevent future unlawful payments, by amending their policies, by seeking to amend contracts, by adopting new ordinances and fixing internal controls. And we also, based on what we saw in those 57 municipalities, made recommendations to all towns in the state,” Walsh said.

Opponents testified that they are worried the proposed law would complicate lawful payments for eligible public workers.