They warned “winter is coming” and said then-President Donald Trump’s administration deserved “shame” for not sending New Jersey more robust federal aid.
State lawmakers are planning to send Gov. Phil Murphy a budget bill later this week that calls for even more spending and borrowing than he originally asked for.
The first votes on a $32.7 billion spending bill formally introduced by lawmakers on Monday are scheduled to be held Tuesday afternoon in budget committees in the Assembly and Senate.
Also scheduled for committee review on Tuesday are a series of tax hikes proposed to back up the Legislature’s spending bill.
For six months the coronavirus pandemic has loomed large over New Jersey, taking an enormous toll on the state’s public health and economy, and affecting nearly every aspect of daily life.
But you won’t find it by name in Gov. Phil Murphy’s $32.4 billion budget proposal.
Senator O’Scanlon putting Assemblywoman DiMaso and Senator Gopal to sleep. 2018 photo by John Ward courtesy of RedBankGreen
Senator Vin Gopal did not vote on the controversial bill passed and signed into law yesterday that allows Governor Phil Murphy and four Democrat legislators to borrow up to $9.9 billion without voter approval.
New Jersey’s Constitution requires voters to approve state government debt. New Jersey’s Courts, and therefore its Democrat legislators and Governors, treat the Constitution as book of aphorisms.
Ambassador Murphy and cardboard President Obama. That shirt looks familiar
Last-minute bid for changes to legislation fails; some lawmakers sought to ensure Black and Latino representation on panel that will review borrowing proposals
Despite passionate calls to add diversity to the process, the Legislature sent Gov. Phil Murphy legislation Thursday that gives a panel of four state lawmakers power to determine the fate of up to $9.9 billion in emergency borrowing.
Gov. Phil Murphy wants a plan in place to borrow billions without voter approval; now legislators are ready to sign off one to make that happen. A revamped version of emergency-borrowing legislation is set to go before lawmakers for the first time Tuesday.
Lawmakers vote along party lines to permit at least $5 billion in new debt to deal with economic fallout of pandemic
BY JOHN REITMEYER, NJSpotlight
Legislation that would give Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration the authority to borrow billions of dollars to help offset projected revenue losses brought on by the ongoing pandemic cleared the Assembly Thursday in a party-line vote.
New Jersey is joining the federal government in extending the deadline to file and pay income taxes until July 15, according to a joint statement by Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. The State Budget Deadline has been postponed from June 30 to September 30.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon, (R-Monmouth), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, make the following remarks in response to Governor Phil Murphy’s proposed budget:
Watch O’Scanlon deliver his remarks:
“This budget won’t lift up the middle class. It will leave generations of New Jersey residents with no hope for a prosperous future.
“Even if the Governor’s rosy projections – of both revenue and savings – are accurate, we are still only a fraction of the way out of the hole we’re in.
“We can’t tax our way out of this mess. Without major reforms, it is a very real possibility that young public workers won’t even have a pension by the time they retire.
“I urge Governor Murphy to come to the table and hammer out a compromise with us. There is no other option,” Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said.
