Paul Sarlo

New Jersey's bonded debt is approaching $50B, including the $3.7B the state borrowed in November when it thought COVID would wreck its revenues.

Homestead benefits will be updated so they are finally calculated on more recent property tax information, under a state budget agreement announced Monday.

In budget hearings, legislators seem pleased with the direction of the Department of Military & Veterans' Affairs, now led by a former field surgeon.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said New Jersey’s marijuana legalization laws will likely have unintended consequences, including a legitimate concern that police officers will stop enforcing alcohol and pot possession laws for fear of prosecution.

"I see this as a program that seems quite ambitious,” said Sen. Mike Testa, R-Cumberland. "…How long can this project be funded? I share the fears with Chairman Sarlo that we start this program and it’s going to be phased out quickly."

The Murphy administration forecasts that it will end the current fiscal year with a combined surplus of $6.34 billion, but its 2022 spending plan uses much of that to offset spending.

Shared services to reduce spending is seen as one way to relieve some of the pressure on New Jersey's tops-in-the-nation property tax bills.

A week after an unexpected veto, lawmakers approve a revised plan for extending outdoor dining rules through November, 2022.

After just over a year and a half without a tax incentive program, a modified economic plan first pitched by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018 is in place.

Senate adds random drug testing and tests for any suspicion to the bill, which evisions new industry of certified 'workplace impairment recognition experts.'