New Jersey

NJ Senate president says amended transparency reform bill could advance in April

Published

2 years ago

March 19, 2024

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NJ Senate president says amended transparency reform bill could advance in April

3-minute read

Work is underway on amendments to the controversial bill that would limit access to government data and documents in New Jersey.

State Senate President Nick Scutari told reporters Monday that he thinks by mid-April the Legislature will take up the bill with “mostly clarification amendments.” He said earlier in the day that the state Senate may reconvene on April 15 to handle some business.

The bill, which cleared committee in the state Senate but was held from consideration at last week’s Assembly Appropriations Committee meeting, has drawn significant criticism from good government and advocacy groups, which say it would gut New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act.

Scutari said he hears from people who comment on or criticize a bill before reading it and amendments themselves, so he recommends people do that and “then we’ll have a full-throated discussion of what we’re intending to do.” He went on to say “much of the criticism was unfounded and shows a lack of understanding in what was trying to be done.”

The Senate president also said the Legislature is “going to try” to make the amendments available for viewing before they are heard in committee.

“Those amendments are being worked on as we speak, and they’re bicameral and bipartisan, so both sides of the aisle and both houses are coming up with things that are going to satisfy both, and I think you’re going to see the bill overwhelmingly pass,” he said.

NJ open records law could be gutted: Here’s what NorthJersey.com has unearthed using OPRA

What would the OPRA legislation have done?

Under the new bill, access to email and call logs, dog license information, email addresses and even digital calendars would be exempt. Requests for email would need to include a “specific subject matter” and “discrete and limited time period” as well as a specific person, as opposed to a title or government department.

The bill would also ban the release of metadata, which is the information about when an electronic file was created and who created it. Requests that an agency thinks could lead to “harassment” could be denied, and an official OPRA request form would need to be used. One of the most noted changes would be to the policy regarding attorney’s fees in the event of a lawsuit.

Requesters who win OPRA lawsuits “may” be entitled to legal fees if the public agency is found to have knowingly violated the law or unreasonably denied access.

The legislation was first enacted in 2002 and requires local, county and state government entities to provide the public with access to government records in New Jersey.

Charlie Stile: The backlash on OPRA and the NJ primary are real. Democrats better pay attention | Stile

Fierce opposition from advocates

The bill was met with hours of testimony in opposition during committee hearings in both chambers last week.

Both Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said last fall that OPRA reform was being considered during the lame-duck legislative session, which ran from November to early January.

Gov. Phil Murphy would not comment on the specifics of pending legislation during a regular “Ask Governor Murphy” segment on WNYC last week but did say he thought OPRA needed to be tweaked, given the way that technology has changed in the years since it was implemented, and that he’s heard anecdotally about concerns regarding commercial use of the process.

“We are all in on transparency,” he said. “I would think if you get something that would address some of the things I just mentioned in a fair way that doesn’t undermine transparency, that’s something that I’m open-minded to … I haven’t seen anyone with nefarious behavior here. I think there are people who are legitimately trying to address some issues with the system, but we are all in on transparency most importantly. Period. Full stop.”

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com

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New Jersey

White Christmas in the Philadelphia region this year? Cecily Tynan breaks down our chances

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

White Christmas in the Philadelphia region this year? Cecily Tynan breaks down our chances

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Is there anything more magical than waking up on Christmas morning to a fresh blanket of white outside?

Well, if you’re dreaming of a white Christmas in the Philadelphia region, keep dreaming. Our chances are really low.

By definition, a white Christmas is defined as having at least an inch of snow on the ground.

But since 1950, we’ve only had eight of those in Philadelphia, the latest in 2009, 1998 and 1995.

Statistically, the chance of a white Christmas in the Poconos is 40%. But then it really drops as you head to the south — Lehigh Valley at 90%, Trenton 12%, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and the Jersey Shore are all less than 10%.

And this year, it’s even less than that because temperatures will be at or above average from Christmas Eve through the 28th.

So Cecily’s official forecast for Christmas: it’s not white, it’s mostly cloudy, seasonable highs in the mid to upper 40s.

There’s always next year!

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New Jersey

Future Home to Paramount, 1888 Studios in Bayonne Breaks Ground | Jersey Digs

Published

16 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Future Home to Paramount, 1888 Studios in Bayonne Breaks Ground | Jersey Digs

Construction has officially begun at 1888 Studios, which will revitalize 58 acres of land near the Bayonne Bridge. Image courtesy Choose New Jersey.

A large film production studio in New Jersey is officially underway as construction has begun to revitalize 58 acres of land near the Bayonne Bridge.

Public officials and film industry executives took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for 1888 Studios, a motion picture and television production complex that will rise at the foot of Avenue A in Bayonne. The event took place inside a tent on the studio construction site, which had been a Texaco refinery that closed in the 1980’s.

Jersey Digs was the first outlet to report on the studio plan back in 2022. Bayonne passed a rezoning plan in 2020 for the land, which overlooks Staten Island and the Kill Van Kull.

1888 Studios Bayonne 7 — The full plan for 1888 Studios. Image courtesy of Gensler.

Designed by San Francisco-based firm Gensler, 1888 Studios will consist of a mix of studio sound stage buildings complemented by attached office structures. The complex will include a post-production office and several mill buildings for stages to be constructed and stored.

The new facility will span 23 soundstages and more than one million square feet. The construction phase is expected to produce 2,300 union jobs and when the facility is complete and operational, it is expected to produce 2,000 union jobs.

1888 Studios Bayonne 8 — Rendering of the studio complex. Image courtesy of Gensler.

Arpad Busson, the President of the 1888 Studios, said during the ceremony that the production complex “will reshape the city for generations to come” and would make Bayonne “a global connector.” Film powerhouse Paramount signed a 10-year agreement back in October to be the facility’s primary tenant.

Other aspects of the plan for 1888 Studios include a lighting and grip building, a central utility plant, a utility yard, a trash and recycling area, and a facilities yard to support the studio use, along with surface parking. Four subterranean parking structures would be built on the site, providing a total of 2,127 parking spaces.

1888 Studios Bayonne 6 — 1888 Studios. Image courtesy of Gensler.

Paramount’s Global Operations executive Jose Turkienicz attended the groundbreaking and called the studio complex “a major step forward” and a source of “creative momentum.” A former New Jersey resident, Turkienicz thanked the state’s public officials for supporting tax credit programs for the film industry in the Garden State.

Outgoing Governor Phil Murphy said that New Jersey has an “innovation economy,” which includes film and digital industries. He noted that New Jersey gets back $7 for each $1 invested in the film industry and lauded the state’s Film Ready program that prepares communities for the movie and television business.

Among the celebrities at the ceremony were model and businesswoman Elle Macpherson; Emmy Award-winning actress Tammy Blanchard, a Bayonne resident; Mark Lipsky, executive producer of such Eddie Murphy films as The Nutty Professor, Beverly Hills Cop II, and Coming to America; and actor and executive Paul DeAngelo, a Bayonne resident.

1888 Studios is one of three major film production facilities under construction in New Jersey, with Lionsgate breaking ground recently on a studio in Newark and Netflix building another facility at Fort Monmouth.

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