Revisiting Murphy's State of the State address

Jan 17, 2024

Good Wednesday morning!

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has navigated many challenges in recent months, worsened by his battle with New York over its congestion pricing plan.

He dealt with a brief influx of migrants and suffered a bruising policy setback following the cancellation of an Orsted offshore wind project crucial to his and President Joe Biden’s clean energy push. The state is also seeing tax revenues dip as pandemic-era aid expires.

Despite those headwinds, last week’s State of the State address by Murphy suggested a wave of momentum uncommon for lame duck executives heading into their final years in office.

"As we begin our seventh year of partnership, New Jersey stands tall, resilient, and brimming with ambition," he said. "Together, we have lived up to our promise to build a state that is not just stronger or fairer. We are building a state that is stronger and fairer."

While Murphy is likely to detail specific policy ideas during his budget address to the Legislature, some of his critics argue that he hasn’t followed through on many of his first-term promises and offered few policy ideas to cement his legacy as governor.

Murphy recently signed a bill to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections and previewed plans to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for abortions, but he’s yet address NJ Transit’s budget challenges

Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, believes that Murphy’s inability to solve the transit agency’s funding woes despite the bipartisan desire for a long-term funding solution, weakened his address to lawmakers last week.

“Gov. Murphy has said in the past that he would ‘fix NJ Transit “[even if] it killed him,’” Ambrose said. “And we are six years into his term and have yet to see a successful proposal to do that.

Benjamin Dworkin, a director at the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, thinks Murphy has made progress on most of his priorities but acknowledges he isn’t immune to criticism, especially due to his “unique position” in supporting his wife Tammy Murphy’s U.S. Senate bid.

His biggest remaining challenge will likely be trying to keep New Jersey affordable while addressing the state’s lack of tax revenue, worsened by the end of federal pandemic-era aid that many states have relied on to plug funding holes.

“He's got to make sure this budget doesn't cut back the property tax relief programs, because Democrats won on that issue,” Dworkin said.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Ms. Saxton then stated that she would urinate on the sidewalk if I was not allowing her to go inside the residence. I advised Ms. Saxton that if she was to proceed with that action, I would be issuing her a citation for urinating in public," police officer Larry Martinez on Hillside Township Councilwoman-elect Salonia Saxton.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — City of Hoboken staffer JASON FREEMAN, former Newark Housing Authority senior development officer GREGORY GOOD.

WHERE’S MURPHY? — No public schedule.

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WHAT TRENTON MADE

WATERED-DOWN: “Murphy signs compromise booze bill” by POLITICO’s Daniel Han: Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed into law a compromise bill that would lift restrictions on breweries and increase access to liquor licenses in the state, although it falls far short of the governor’s initial vision on liquor license reform.

In his 2022 State of the State address, Murphy said he wanted to gradually lift the cap on liquor licenses, which is limited to one per 3,000 residents per local government. The scarcity makes liquor licenses valuable, with some climbing into the seven figures. Murphy proposed tax credits to reimburse current license holders, who would have seen their liquor license values plummet under his proposal.

However, the governor’s plan to scrap caps on liquor licenses was not popular in the Legislature and failed to advance. Murphy sought to tie an increase in liquor licenses to a bill that would lift restrictions on breweries — a policy that he had previously expressed support for — that passed with strong bipartisan support. He conditionally vetoed that bill looking to include liquor license provisions.

— N.J. booze laws were just tweaked as Murphy signs watered-down bill

— New NJ liquor license law is 'revolutionary' for breweries. Here's what it does

TOILING OVER TOLLS: “Murphy has more complaints for tolling lawsuit” by POLITICO's Ry Rivard: Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration asked a federal judge to let New Jersey add constitutional elements to its lawsuit meant to block New York’s congestion pricing plan.

The request, made in a Tuesday court filing announced by the governor’s office, would seek to amend his lawsuit from last summer that challenged a federal environmental review of the tolling plan and was originally aimed at Biden administration transportation officials.

Murphy said in a statement that a tolling plan, which the MTA put out for public comment late last year, “discriminates against New Jerseyans, especially low-income New Jersey drivers.” Part of the argument, which would involve case law around the constitution’s commerce clause, is a tax credit that New York would offer to its states low-income drivers and because the tolls are for people entering Manhattan's central business district, not for people driving within the central business district.

— Murphy suit says NYC congestion pricing discriminates against NJ drivers

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TERRORISTIC THREATS — "New Jersey Supreme Court raises bar for terroristic threat charges" by New Jersey Monitor's Nikita Biryukov "The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday drafted a new test for prosecutors who want to charge someone with making terroristic threats in a ruling that ordered a new trial for a Freehold man who argued he was exercising his First Amendment right when he told police to “worry about a head shot.”

The court, in a unanimous, 35-page ruling, said prosecutors must prove that a person in a position similar to a victim’s would have viewed a message as threatening to sustain a prosecution. A charge that fails that test is likely unconstitutional, the court wrote.

The new test adds to an existing requirement, set by U.S. Supreme Court precedent, that the person making a threat have some understanding of their statements’ threatening nature."

FREE MEALS FOR ALL: "This new NJ law expands eligibility and access to free school meals" by Northjersey.com's Mary Ann Koruth and Katie Sobko “On a snowy Tuesday morning in South Amboy, Gov. Phil Murphy expanded access to free breakfast and lunch at schools to more than 50,000 additional kids throughout the state.

Under the “Working Class Families Anti-Hunger Act,” the law provides more families with free lunch and free breakfast by expanding income eligibility thresholds for children enrolled in both public and private schools.

The new “law of the land” as Murphy put it upon signing the bill, extends eligibility for government-funded meal programs to families making up to $67,200 a year, or 224% of the federal poverty level. The limit was previously $59,700. By using state funds to pay for the additional free meals, the bill goes beyond the scope of the 1946 federal program that makes it possible for low-income students to receive nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).”

— Murphy Files Amended Complaint Against Metro Transportation Authority

LOCAL

OFF TO A ROUGH START — "Hillside councilwoman-elect arrested on assault charges" by New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein "Salonia Saxton, who is set to be sworn in tonight as a new councilwoman in Hillside, was arrested on January 4 and charged with assaulting her boyfriend.

Samad Holmes called the Hillside police department for help after an argument with Saxton following dinner and drinks. On the way home, Holmes alleges that Saxton accused him of infidelity and began to punch and scratch his face while her car was still in park, according to a police report obtained by the New Jersey Globe.

“Signs of injury were, in fact, observed to his face, specifically above his nose to which blood was visible and slight swelling to his left cheek,” police officer Larry Martinez wrote in his report."

DUNE DILEMMA: "North Wildwood seeks emergency permit to build a bulkhead where recent storms have broken through dunes" by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Amy S. Rosenberg "What used to be a dune is now more like “a kid’s sand castle,” North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said Tuesday morning, after yet another storm hammered the shore city’s failing dune system.

“Once you get a hole in the dune, every high tide, it just keeps growing,” Rosenello said. “It dramatically accelerates the deterioration of the dune. That’s what’s been happening. Every high tide, it’s coming over.”

The city is seeking an emergency authorization from the State Department of Emergency Protection to expand its bulkhead system behind the dunes as another measure of protection, while it awaits a promised large-scale reconstruction of its beaches."

EVERYTHING ELSE

LET THE KIDS PLAY — “Nonprofit says kids need more ballfields at Liberty State Park, but it spent $1 million on salaries, lawyers, lobbyists and ads” by NJ Advance Media's Mark Koosau "A Jersey City nonprofit group that claims new ballfields and athletic facilities are desperately needed for local youth spent none of its million-dollar bankroll creating or improving athletic facilities.

Instead, the $1 million donated to the People’s Park Foundation in 2022 went toward a six-figure salary for its president, Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Hurley, as well as lobbying and law firms in an effort to convince the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which oversees state parks, to transform Liberty State Park into a sports and entertainment mecca.

And all of its funding came once again from Paul Fireman, the billionaire owner of the ultra-exclusive golf course next door, according to public tax filings published by the IRS."

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