New Jersey
NJ legislature considering $56.6 billion budget; vote expected Friday
3-minute read
Historic savings for taxpayers as NJ debt is being paid down
Historic savings on the way for taxpayers as New Jersey debt is being paid down, Gov. Phil Murphy said during his 2025 state budget address.
With less than a week before the end of the fiscal year, legislative committees were in Trenton on Wednesday to advance a budget bill.
The Assembly Budget Committee was scheduled to start at 2 p.m. – though it was later updated to 4:30 p.m. − and the Senate at 4 p.m., both were hours late to start as they considered the state’s spending plan for fiscal year 2025 – which runs from July 1 through June 30, 2025.
The bill language was not posted online but documents were obtained by reporters around 8 p.m. The bill was introduced as a $56.6 billion budget, an increase of about $728 million over the governor’s proposal and $2.3 billion more than the fiscal year 2024 budget.
Revenue projects indicate that the state will earn about $54.5 billion in the new fiscal year, meaning the budget functions at a deficit of $2.1 billion. Projects show a surplus of about $6.1 billion.
Not everyone was on board with the plan and the business lobbyists was among the most vocal.
Chris Emigholz of the New Jersey Business and Industry Associate called it a “bad budget,” pointing to the structural deficit in the bill.
“It’s bad for our taxpayers. It’s bad for our job creators. It’s bad for our fiscal responsibility,” he said.
Tom Bracken of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce said that the “business community has run out of patience.”
But advocates like Peter Chen of the New Jersey Policy Perspective spoke in support of the bill.
“This is a budget that leads us on a path towards a better New Jersey, towards a New Jersey where the mighty and powerful are forced to pay what they owe to support the investments that help everyday New Jerseyans,” he said.
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlan, the Republican budget officer, said the “already bloated” budget is worse than it had been with the addition of discretionary spending items.
“The fact that we are massively increasing spending at a time when we have already done so over the last six years of this administration, is in many ways a runaway freight train,” he said. “In just the last week, we’ve added almost $700 million.”
State Sen. Paul Sarlo, the committee chair said that “no budget is ever perfect this is not either quite frankly” but that the process of creating a budget with two branches of government and two houses of the Legislature requires a lot of give and take.
He said there is supplemental spending but that many are “spending priorities” and “one time infrastructure” items and that they are a “very, very small components to this budget.”
Sarlo also candidly announced that he wished the corporate transit fee wasn’t included but he understands the “transit issue is looming and in order to stay competitive and get people to work you need a vibrant transit system.”
“No transit agency across this entire country is solely dependent on ridership,” he said. “Can we do better? We have to do better with transit.”
The bill was ultimately cleared in the Senate along party lines.
Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a $55.9 billion spending plan in February and then handed it off to the Legislature to figure out the details and after months of testimony and negotiations the budget appeared before committee.
Among the other bills to clear committee was a 2.5% corporate transit fee for businesses in the state earning more than $10 million. Details on that bill, sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari, were scarce as well but the idea was first proposed by Murphy in his budget address in February.
Another bill geared toward providing medical debt relief also cleared committee despite testimony against it. Sarlo said that the bill would pass because it was a non-negotiable priority for the administration.
After clearing both committees, the budget is set to be voted on in full chambers on Friday. The governor has until midnight Sunday to sign the bill.
Christian Fuscarino resigned Tuesday as executive director of Garden State Equality amid charges of child endangerment and assault after an incident last month with a child in his Neptune City home.
“I resigned from Garden State Equality to ensure that the organization’s work is not impacted by a private family matter,” Fuscarino, a nationally recognized advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, said in a statement on social media.
“While my loved ones and I have been working through this moment together with care and love, the press has turned a deeply personal situation into a public headline,” Fuscarino said.
“Everyone involved is safe and navigating this situation responsibly,” he added.
Fuscarino asked that the matter “be seen for what it is: a private family moment, not a public spectacle.”
Fuscarino, 35, is charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child by a caretaker and two counts of simple assault, according to court documents.
An affidavit of probable cause alleges Fuscarino pulled the child from bed about 8 p.m. on Nov. 9 and struck the victim multiple times in the face with an open hand, pushing the child into a wall during the encounter.
The incident was captured on a home security video system, according to the affidavit.
The child was later taken to the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center in Freehold for a forensic interview. The child made no disclosure of physical abuse, the affidavit states.
However, another person living in the home told investigators they witnessed Fuscarino strike the child and intervened.
The state Division of Child Protection and Permanency obtained the video and notified the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 20.
A Neptune City police detective arrested Fuscarino on Nov. 21. The case has since been referred to the prosecutor’s office, court records show.
In a statement Tuesday, Garden State Equality said they had placed Fuscarino on leave after learning of the charges.
By Wednesday, Fuscarino’s bio on the Garden State Equality website had been removed.
“Garden State Equality takes allegations against our staff seriously and we oppose violence of any kind,” the agency said. “We respect the courts and will allow that process to be handled by them.”
Fuscarino had served since 2016 as the executive director of Garden State Equality, the largest LGBTQ+ organization in New Jersey, which is based in Asbury Park.
With 20 years of experience in LGBTQ+ advocacy, Fuscarino had been at the forefront of efforts to protect transgender rights, combat hate violence, and implement groundbreaking healthcare and education policies.
In a July 2018 story posted to NJ.com, Fuscarino said he wanted to dedicate his life to helping New Jersey’s LGBTQ+ community so that others would not have to suffer the indignities that he endured in adolescence.
MOORESTOWN, N.J. (WPVI) — Ten people, including several students, were hospitalized Tuesday after a school bus crash in Burlington County, New Jersey.
The collision happened around 3 p.m. at Borton Landing and Hartford roads in Moorestown.
Township officials said in a Facebook post that a car and school bus collided at the intersection, injuring six students, the bus driver and three occupants of the passenger vehicle. All injuries appear to be minor, officials said.
“We have been made aware of a bus accident on one of our routes. There are no significant injuries for our students,” Moorestown Township Public Schools said in a statement.
The remaining students on the bus were taken to a nearby school, where they were picked up by family members.
School counselors will be available this week to provide additional support to students.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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An alleged drunk, wrong-way driver was arrested following a crash on Interstate 80 in Warren County, officials said.
Robert Felegi was driving a pickup truck west in the eastbound lanes in Knowlton when he crashed head-on into a New Jersey State Trooper’s vehicle near milepost 1.4 around midnight Tuesday, State Police said.
The trooper had emergency lights and sirens activated while trying to alert motorists of a hazard ahead, authorities said.
The trooper suffered minor injuries, while Felegi was not hurt.
Felegi, 67, of Middleport, Pennsylvania, was charged with assault by auto and driving under the influence.
He was brought to the Warren County jail ahead of a detention hearing. An attorney for Felegi is not listed in court records.
investigation, and no additional information is available.
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