Good Tuesday morning! We hope you had a nice long weekend celebrating the Fourth of July. There's been a lot of talk about transparency in the budget process. But what about the lawmaking process in general? According to an analysis by our colleague Matt Friedman, nearly 30 bills have cruised through the state legislature in the past year and a half without a committee hearing — meaning the public doesn't have an opportunity to weigh in. Some bills passed without hearings have had short-term implications, like the decision to double poll workers' pay during the June primary. But others have dealt with sweeping changes in how the state is run — like the law to end the public health emergency, while letting Gov. Phil Murphy retain many of his emergency powers until next year. There have been suggestions to make committee hearings mandatory for all bills, but it's been around for quite some time and it's unlikely that lawmakers would want to hamper their abilities to fast track legislation. Read more from Matt here. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I think the more appropriate question is, what didn't I see? I remember one time, it was about five or six officers carrying a woman to the hospital. They had a bag over her head, and her hands were cuffed behind her. Instead of opening the door, they bashed her head against the door." — a woman who was a prisoner at Edna Mahan WHERE'S MURPHY — Joining Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and New Jersey Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers for an "announcement" for his political campaign at 11 a.m. in Newark.
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THIS PANDEMIC HAS BEEN GREAT FOR TRANSPARENCY! — "The pandemic set back student learning. Newark kept the data under wraps," by Chalkbeat Newark's Patrick Wall: " When Newark students took a series of diagnostic tests last fall, some seven months into the pandemic, the results were alarming: Nearly 80% of third graders and almost 90% of fourth graders would 'not meet the passing score' on the state math exams, according to a district analysis that was not made public. The projections suggested that far fewer students were on track to master grade-level math than in previous years. After a spring of school closures and limited learning, students were seriously struggling in math." LABOR SHORTAGE — " Broad court vacancies remain despite swell of June confirmations," by The New Jersey Globe's Nikita Biryukov: " New Jersey lawmakers were on pace this year to appoint and reappoint more judges to the Superior Court bench than any administration since 1998, according to data from New Jersey's Judiciary, but an extended break planned by lawmakers through November means the number of court vacancies will likely remain near record highs. The number of vacant judgeships swelled to 66 last year after the pandemic waylaid much of the legislative process for months, but that slowdown came after the number of vacancies had already swollen to 47 at the end of 2020. There were 51 empty judicial seats on July 1 of this year. At the end of 2017, the last full year of Gov. Chris Christie's tenure, that number was just nine after lawmakers added 63 new judges to the bench, the most for any year since at least 1998." SOME MORE JOB OPENINGS HERE — Lawmakers urge Murphy to fill 2 top elections posts in Bergen County, by Matt: Bergen County is without a superintendent or deputy superintendent of elections after two recent retirements, and the vacancies could last until after the November election. Gov. Phil Murphy has yet to nominate replacements for longtime Superintendent of Elections Patricia D'Costanzo, a Republican, and the office's deputy superintendent, Theresa M. O'Connor, a Democrat. The positions require Senate confirmation, but Senate President Steve Sweeney told reporters he doesn't plan to hold a voting session until after the November election. Two senators from Bergen County, the state's most populous, are raising the alarm about the lack of leadership at the Board of Elections, especially ahead of the first election in which New Jerseyans will be allowed to cast votes up to two weeks early at polling places. OPIOID CRISIS — 'It is not a moral failing': Murphy signs 6 bills to address New Jersey's opioid epidemic, by POLITICO's Danel Han: Gov. Phil Murphy signed six bills Friday to address the opioid epidemic, as overdose deaths continue to steadily rise across New Jersey. The bill signing at the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey's Harm Reduction Center comes as New Jersey reported a record 3,046 overdose deaths in 2020 . The governor noted the first quarter of 2021 is on track to outpace overdose deaths during the same period for the last four years. "We must act now and we must act decisively if we want to stem this tide across the rest of 2021 and beyond," Murphy said, speculating that the rise in overdoses was from the pandemic's second wave. "To be clear, addiction is a chronic disease, just like diabetes, or hypertension. It is not a moral failing." HEY I KNOW THAT GUY — "Former NJ GOP gubernatorial candidate is Sussex County's new lawyer," by The New Jersey Herald's Bruce A. Scruton: "Sussex County has hired a new attorney, the fourth to serve in the post in six years. The appointment of Phillipsburg-based Douglas Steinhardt was announced at the Board of Commissioners meeting on June 23 with a start date of July 1. Steinhardt, a former Republican candidate for governor and state GOP Committee chairman is currently the Warren County GOP committee chair. He is a partner in the law firm of Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor and lives in Warren County." NO RACE WILL BE MORE SPIRITED THAN 2012's LESLIE KNOPE VS. BOBBY NEWPORT — "Trump clone and anti-police charges fly as N.J. governor's race gets off to feisty start," by NJ Advance Media's Brent Johnson: " If you were expecting New Jersey's governor's race to be a genteel debate about property taxes and school aid between two relatively mild-mannered candidates, think again. Those issues, of course, will play a role. But a month into the general election, the battle pitting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy against Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli has been an ideological firefight, with their campaigns using sharp words to paint each other as extreme members of their respective political parties. Ciattarelli, a former member of the state Assembly, has portrayed Murphy, an avowed progressive, as being a left-wing interloper. This week, he tweeted a video claiming that while some Jersey Shore towns have called off July 4 fireworks by citing overcrowding and social distancing, local officials are 'afraid to say' that 'lawlessness, a spike in crime, and unruly crowds fueled by drinking and recreational pot is the real problem.'" MORE ELECTION COVERAGE — "In early days of race, Ciattarelli stays on the right" — "Braz Leaving Governor's Office To Join Murphy Re-Election Campaign"
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MONEY FOR ALL — "Stimulus update: GOP called stimulus package a 'bailout' for blue states like N.J. Here's what really happened," by NJ Advance Media's Jonathan D. Salant: " New Jersey and other states finally got the federal funds they coveted after Trump was voted out of office. President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law included $350 billion in aid for state and local governments — including $6.2 billion for New Jersey. And while every Republican in the House and Senate voted no, a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts showed the federal aid was a boon to GOP states as well. Six of the 10 states with the biggest boost backed Trump in 2020, according to the analysis based on data from the Treasury Department and the National Association of State Budget Officers." PENNEAST — "PennEast pipeline foes vow to keep fighting despite Supreme Court ruling," by My Central Jersey's Mike Deak: "Opponents of the PennEast natural gas pipeline are vowing not to give up the fight. Though a Supreme Court ruling last week removed one obstacle to the construction of the $1 billion pipeline by allowing the company to acquire 41 state-controlled properties through eminent domain, the Hunterdon County commissioners and state Sen. Kip Bateman, R-Somerset, say they will continue to oppose the 110-mile project." — " Struggling N.J. minor league baseball teams seek federal COVID aid to help them play ball" |
PATERSON — "Paterson election fraud case remains open 1 year after councilmen charged," by The Paterson Press' "Michael Jackson and Alex Mendez have a long way to go if they are going to surpass Rigo Rodriguez. After the Attorney General's Office charged Rodriguez with election fraud in 2010, he continued to serve 42 months on the Paterson City Council — and ran for mayor — before his criminal case was resolved with his admission to New Jersey's pretrial intervention probationary program. The two current City Council members accused of voting fraud, Jackson and Mendez, recently reached the first anniversary of the charges being filed against them. Political insiders say Mendez and Jackson seem not to have let the cloud of the pending criminal cases affect their performance as elected officials. Both men have remained outspoken and aggressive critics of Mayor Andre Sayegh's administration." MIDDLESEX — "Meet the new chairman of the Middlesex County GOP," by My Central Jersey's Susan Loyer: "The Middlesex County Republican Organization has a new leader. South Plainfield Councilman Robert Bengivenga Jr. has taken over as chairman, replacing Lucille Panos. Bengivenga, 38, a five-term councilman, defeated Perth Amboy Republican Chair Sharon Hubberman by a 191-79 vote during the June 22 reorganization meeting. 'The most basic plan is to unify the party so that we can work together to have a strategic plan to win locally and to build the party from the ground up,' Bengivenga said." — " Encroaching waste materials threatens Camden house and residents' health, says state" |
VIRTUAL LEARNING — "Pa. and N.J. racial gap in access to in-person learning last year was among the worst in the nation, new report says," by The Inky's Maddie Hanna and Kristen A. Graham: "As schools moved to bring children back during the pandemic, students of color in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were less likely than white students to have the choice to attend in person. And the access gaps between those groups in the two states were among the widest in the country, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report by authors including Brown University economist Emily Oster, who advocated this year for reopening schools, tracked information on school instructional models between September 2020 and April 2021. In New Jersey it found nonwhite students were more likely to be limited to virtual school compared to their white peers at a margin greater than in any state." HOUSING — "Landlord refused to accept tenant's rental assistance for illegal unit. NJ says they must," by The Record's Ashley Balcerzak: " Tenant lawyers say they are seeing an increase in eviction cases involving illegal apartments. The reasons are unclear, experts say. It could be that small landlords — who are more likely to run them — are feeling the strain of not receiving rent payments during the pandemic and filing eviction cases. Tenants such as Mattos don't realize their predicament until trying to claim assistance. And some tenants may be demanding better living conditions for the first time, by withholding rent, and ending up in landlord-tenant court." — Murphy signs bills allocating more than $300M for schools, county colleges — "NJ spending billions on health care. Is it enough to deal with the next pandemic?" |
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