John Wisniewski

The Transportation Trust Fund is on pace to run out of money June 30, 2015. A deal between Gov. Chris Christie and the Democrat-controlled legislature remains elusive.

At a legislative leadership forum Tuesday sponsored by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, State Senate Budget Committee chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) suggested there were enough Democratic votes to phase out the estate tax and lowering income taxes for retirees in exchange for an increase in the gas tax to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund.

The lame duck session of the New Jersey Legislature begins Wednesday after Tuesday's Assembly elections are over. Most political experts have predicted that a deal would be hammered out before the end of 2015 to increase the state's gas tax to replenish the fund that supports transportation projects.

Get ready for a big push by New Jersey Democrats to increase the gas tax, warned Gov. Chris Christie when he spoke Monday at an event hosted by the New Jersey Commerce and Industry Association in Morris County.

While the debate continues to swirl around Trenton on how best to fund the state's Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), talk of using a gas tax hike as a revenue raiser is expected to gain momentum this fall once the Assembly returns from its summer vacation.

Conventional wisdom in Trenton is that a gas tax increase to replenish the nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund won't be discussed until after the November elections when all 80 seats in the General Assembly are on the ticket.

New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund will go bankrupt at the end of this fiscal year at midnight June 30, 2016 unless a new, sustainable, recurring revenue source is identified.

As Gov. Chris Christie and state legislators scramble to find the best way to replenish the almost bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, the debate continues about how best to accomplish this task.

A new panel would be given one year to find ways to make a college education less expensive in New Jersey and to present recommendations to the legislature, under a measure sent Thursday to Gov. Chris Christie that would establish the "College Affordability Study Commission."

The controversy continues to swirl around Gov. Chris Christie's personal and possible business relationship with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.