Deal with governor allows budget to be in place by week’s end, Sarlo indicates

With just days left to avert a government shutdown, a top state lawmaker said the Legislature is in agreement with Gov. Phil Murphy on New Jersey’s next annual budget, paving the way for final adoption by the end of the week.

However, key details of the emerging budget agreement remain hidden from public view, and time is running out for a meaningful robust public evaluation of what is expected to be a record-high spending plan.

Speaking at the start of Monday’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting, state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the committee chair, indicated legislative leaders are aiming to have a fiscal year 2025 spending bill voted out of budget committees by Wednesday or Thursday.

From there, that would put the Legislature on a course to send the spending bill to Murphy for final adoption on either Friday or Saturday, he said.

“There is a budget agreement in place between the Legislature and the administration,” Sarlo said. “The timing is still up in the air.”

Under the New Jersey Constitution, state government must shut down if an annual spending bill is not introduced, approved in both houses and signed into law by the governor, all by July 1.

Murphy’s office declined comment when reached later Monday. A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) also declined comment.

New corporate tax

However, as high-level budget negotiations played out behind closed doors, several sources have indicated Murphy and fellow Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature had agreed on one of the key outstanding issues — a new tax on the most profitable corporations for five years as part of the fiscal year 2025 budget.

The second-term governor first proposed that tax in late February and billed it as a dedicated source of revenue for New Jersey Transit.

The proposed tax, which would hit companies with more than $10 million in net annual income, has been widely panned by business-lobbying groups. But it’s also been heavily praised by transportation and environmental advocates, among others, as a long overdue, dedicated source of fiscal support for the state’s cash-strapped bus and rail agency.

‘If we believe in a robust democracy, that has to include meaningful public feedback on the biggest single bill of the year.’ — Jesse Burns, League of Women Voters

Word of the new corporate tax’s inclusion in a broader budget deal brewing in Trenton was shared in a message sent Monday to New Jersey Chamber of Commerce members by its president and chief executive officer, Tom Bracken.

“Our state cannot continually ignore our long-term economic needs in favor of quick fixes,” Bracken said in the message.

“Time is running out for New Jersey,” Bracken said. “This week will say a lot about how serious New Jersey is about economic growth being a priority — or whether it is business as usual in Trenton.”

Key details remain hidden

The timeline for budget adoption shared by Sarlo on Monday means lawmakers, who voted to give themselves a big pay raise earlier this year, appear poised to once again provide only the bare minimum when it comes to public participation in the late stages of the budget-making process.

It was just last year that more than $1 billion in new spending was added by Democratic lawmakers to Murphy’s final draft of the annual budget following last-minute budget negotiations. Amid the race to beat the shutdown clock, lawmakers canceled all public comment on the final fiscal year 2024 spending bill prior to crucial budget committee votes in both the Senate and Assembly.

This year, a coalition of advocacy groups is urging lawmakers to make the full text of the bill available to the public for at least 72 hours before budget committees are convened to move the spending bill to the floor for final approval in both houses.

“We must replace a system that benefits political insiders with an open process that includes the voices of communities that this budget is supposed to serve,” said Antoinette Miles, New Jersey director of the Working Families Alliance.

“If we believe in a robust democracy, that has to include meaningful public feedback on the biggest single bill of the year,” said Jesse Burns, executive director of the state branch of the League of Women Voters.

“The people of this state deserve better and are sick and tired of Trenton’s anti-transparency antics,” Burns said.

In all, 35 states had enacted budgets for the 2025 fiscal year as of June 20, including those operating on a biennial budget cycle, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The last government shutdown in New Jersey occurred in 2017, after Republican Gov. Chris Christie and the Democratic-controlled Legislature remained deadlocked on a new budget until July 3.