In The News
Policy Summit Examines Solutions To NJ’s Infrastructure Challenges
This past Saturday at the Rutgers University Student Activities Center, the New Jersey Chapter of the New Leaders Council (NLC-New Jersey), held its 2nd Annual Policy Summit focused on “Improving New Jersey’s Infrastructure.
The keynote speaker for the event was former New Jersey
Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox, who was making his 1st public appearance since leaving the position. Fox talked about the implications of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund potentially running out of money at the end of June and real reform at the Port Authority to help New Jersey’s infrastructure. “Crisis presents opportunity,” said Fox.
Property tax relief bill passes N.J. Assembly committee
A bill to restore hundreds of millions of dollars paid by utilities to local governments in New Jersey for property tax relief advanced through a state legislative committee on Monday.
The legislation, (A302), would restore $331 million in cuts to energy tax receipts and Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid over five years. But there's a catch: the money must be used to offset local tax levies.
Drug overdoses now kill twice as many NJ residents as car crashes
As Jersey’s ongoing heroin and prescription drug epidemic continues, drug overdoses have become the leading cause of accidental death in the Garden state.
The state Medical Examiner’s Office reports in 2014 there were 1,305 drug-related deaths, and New Jersey State Police data indicates there were 556 fatalities on Garden state roads.
The Medical Examiner’s Office does not have official numbers for 2015 year, but the data suggests there were about 1,300, while 554 people perished in motor vehicle related crashes, which includes drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Bill would move Burlington Island election
The city has one election every year unlike any other election.
The Board of Island Managers, which oversees Burlington Island in the middle of the Delaware River, conducts a public election for staggered board terms every April, but turnout is typically sparse with only a couple hundred voters — if that — bothering to go to the polls. Even last-minute, write-in candidates have won with less than 100 votes.
Statewide Graduation Rates Increase to Nearly 90 Percent
The day after the sobering results of the new PARCC testing were released, the Christie administration had some better news for New Jersey’s schools yesterday: Graduation rates are up.
The administration announced the state’s graduation rate had risen to its highest level since a new method of counting started five years ago, with nearly 90 percent – 89.7 percent, to be precise – of students graduating in 2015.
Burlington County legislators land plum committee assignments
The New Jersey Legislature's new session is in full swing, and with it are some plum new committee assignments for Burlington County's lawmakers.
Slight Hike in Tax Revenue Adds Up to Projected Surplus for State Coffers
Gov. Chris Christie is scheduled to present his next state budget to lawmakers in less than two weeks. And it looks like he’ll be able to deliver that address feeling some confidence about how his spending plan for the current fiscal year is holding up.
A NJ Spotlight analysis of revenue figures released by the state Department of Treasury for the first six months of the current fiscal year indicates tax collections were running a modest $56.3 million ahead of the 3.4 percent growth rate that Christie has projected for the full fiscal year.
N.J. domestic violence offenders should be monitored
Two New Jersey lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle have vowed to reintroduce the legislation known as Lisa's Law – and many lives could be saved as a result of their resolve.
Closing a tax loophole will help business and grow N.J.'s economy
For years, all you needed to dodge corporate taxes in New Jersey was an empty room in Delaware and a really good accountant.
That's simplistic, but essentially true: Multistate corporations used a legal tax-avoidance strategy that cost our state at least $200 million annually – just by shipping profits to out-of-state subsidiaries - but now the Legislature trying to close that loophole.
Christie vetoed bill to track domestic violence offenders, but fight’s not over
Much to the surprise of its sponsor, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have created a four-year pilot program in Ocean County to electronically track convicted domestic violence offenders using GPS devices that would alert victims on their cell phones if their attackers were nearby.