New Jersey Legislature considers $56.6 billion budget; vote expected Friday

Less than a week before the end of the fiscal year, legislative committees met in Trenton on Wednesday to present a budget proposal.

The Assembly Budget Committee was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. — later rescheduled for 4:30 p.m. — and the Senate at 4 p.m. Both sessions began several hours late because they were considering the state's budget for fiscal year 2025, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2025.

The text of the bill was not posted online, but reporters received documents around 8 p.m. The bill was introduced with a budget of $56.6 billion, an increase of about $728 million over the governor's proposal and $2.3 billion more than the fiscal year 2024 budget.

Revenue projections indicate that the state will collect about $54.5 billion in the new fiscal year, meaning the budget will have a deficit of $2.1 billion. Projections show a surplus of about $6.1 billion.

Not everyone agreed with the plan, and business lobbyists were among the most vocal.

Chris Emigholz of the New Jersey Business and Industry Associate called it a “bad budget” and pointed to the structural deficit in the bill.

“It's bad for our taxpayers. It's bad for those who create our jobs. It's bad for our fiscal responsibility,” he said.

Tom Bracken of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce said that “the patience of the business community has run out.”

But advocates like Peter Chen of New Jersey Policy Perspective spoke out in favor of the bill.

“This is a budget that puts us on the path to a better New Jersey, a New Jersey where the powerful and strong are forced to pay their debts to support the investments that help New Jerseyans every day,” he said.

Republican budget official and Senator Declan O'Scanlan said the addition of the uncommitted spending items made the already bloated budget even worse.

“The fact that we are massively increasing spending at a time when we have already been doing this for the last six years of this administration is in many ways a runaway freight train,” he said. “In the last week alone, we have spent almost $700 million more.”

State Senator Paul Sarlo, the committee chairman, said that “no budget is perfect and, quite frankly, this one isn't either,” but that the process of crafting a budget with two branches of government and two chambers of the legislature requires a lot of give and take.

He said that while there was additional spending, much of it was “spending priorities” and “one-off infrastructure” items and that they represented “only a very, very small part of this budget.”

Sarlo also freely admitted that he wished the corporate transfer fee had not been included, but he understands that “the transportation problem is looming and you need a dynamic transportation system to stay competitive and get people to work.”

“No transit agency in the country is solely dependent on ridership,” he said. “Can we do better? We need to do better at local transit.”

The bill was ultimately passed in the Senate along party lines.

Governor Phil Murphy proposed a $55.9 billion budget in February and then sent it to the legislature to work out the details. After months of testimony and negotiations, the budget was sent to the committee.

Other bills that had to pass committee included a 2.5 percent transit fee on businesses in the state that make more than $10 million. Details on that bill, which is sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari, were also sparse, but the idea was first proposed by Murphy in his February budget speech.

Another bill aimed at medical debt relief also passed the committee despite statements to the contrary. Sarlo said the bill was passed because it was a non-negotiable priority for the government.

After approval by both committees, the budget is to be voted on in the plenary session on Friday. The governor has until midnight Sunday to sign the bill.

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New Jersey Legislature considers $56.6 billion budget; vote expected Friday

Anna Harden

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