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With the onset of the new year, New Jersey leaders are figuring out their legislative focus for the coming months. Citizen groups and experts are also weighing in on what lawmakers ought to prioritize. But how much will the legislature accomplish in a Presidential election year? Will advocacy groups have their wish lists fulfilled?

For Dena Mottola-Jaborska, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, a healthcare expansion plan for lower-income New Jerseyans is a top priority so that residents can access programs such as Medicaid. She said the state’s Family Leave program also needs expansion so people can care for sick family members or welcome a newborn without added stress.

“We’re working on some changes to the program that will make it more accessible for low-income and moderate-income people,” she said

New Jersey Citizen Action is also advocating raising the state’s minimum wage, which just increased to $15.13 an hour on January 1. Mottola-Jaborska said the initiative would help low- and moderate-income families build wealth and disposable income.

Affordability has always been a top issue for the state. New Jersey has been singled out for having the highest property taxes in the nation, and several studies have found that the Garden State also has one of the highest costs of living.

Kelly Dittmar, an associate professor of political science at Rutgers University in Camden and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, said there will be continued efforts to provide residents economic relief, stability, and security.

Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said lawmakers launched a series of programs to support residents last year, including a senior citizen property tax reduction plan. He said the legislature will be trying to find money for many big-ticket programs and services.

“Funding for New Jersey Transit, school funding, and school regionalization might take on a new importance, we’re looking at potentially the re-funding of the Transportation Trust Fund,” he said.

But the biggest challenge for the legislature in 2024 will be managing what is widely considered a slowing period of economic growth, Dworkin said.

Mottola-Jaborska said her organization is trying to get the state’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program improved so that very low-income families can get higher benefits.

“We’d like to see it increased because we see it as a program. I think most people hope it’s a program that helps people get out of poverty,” she said. “But if the benefit is so tiny, people just continue to struggle.”

The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program used to be known as welfare.