Trenton NJ, New Jersey Business and Industry Association calls Governor Murphy’s 2021 Budget with $1.4 Billion Spending Increase Is Irresponsible:
“This budget simply does not reflect the stark reality of our times. Instead of keeping expenses low for our taxpayers, Governor Murphy is raising taxes to make New Jersey businesses less competitive. Instead of holding the line on spending, Governor Murphy has proposed spending $1.4 billion or 3.6% more than the prior year and $5.4 billion or 15.6% more than the budget three years ago before he took office.
Trenton NJ, Governor Phil Murphy today released his revised budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021), including targeted cuts across State government, fair and equitable revenue raisers, an emergency borrowing proposal, and additional plans to invest federal funding received to date to help close what would have been a nearly $6 billion budget hole as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan calls for a millionaire’s tax, an extension of the corporate business tax, a proposed boat tax, and other small taxes, including a cigarette tax. The proposal also included a massive scheme to add $4B in borrowing,
Trenton NJ, With the U.S. gaining 1.8 million jobs in July and the national unemployment rate at 10.2% compared to the nearly historic high of 14.7% at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, WalletHub today released updated rankings for the States Whose July Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Most, along with accompanying videos and audio files, to illustrate which areas of the country have had the best recovery so far.
Atlantic City NJ, The Atlantic County Board of Freeholders unanimously passed a resolution on August 18 supporting County Executive Dennis Levinson’s request for Governor Murphy to lift the current restrictions on indoor dining and entertainment that are having a devastating economic impact on Atlantic County businesses.
“For the freeholders, this was not a political decision between Democrat Governor Phil Murphy and Republican County Executive Dennis Levinson; it was a choice between what is right and what is wrong, between economic survival and bankruptcy,” explained Levinson.
“Ok riddle me this…. . Democrats are up in arms because “Trump is suppressing votes by handicapping the US Mail system” . SO….. Why aren’t Democrats going all out to insist on In Person Voting and to ban Vote By Mail so they can bypass Trump’s “evil Postal plans” and ensure that there is no voter suppression? . Oh right… because its easier for Democrats to cheat with Vote By Mail. “
RAMSEY NJ, The Pallotta for Congress campaign released a short video taken from Governor Murphy’s Monday press briefing. In it he speaks of diversity and unity, before calling this the “ultimate Us versus Them moment in our history.”
Republican candidate for Congress Frank Pallotta said that for all his talk of “celebrating diversity” and “uniting America”, Governor Murphy continues to treat 12 of the state’s 21 counties as “Them”.
Lodi NJ, Senator Anthony M. Bucco said the continued long lines at MVC facilities in Randolph and across New Jersey make it clear that the Murphy administration needs to implement real solutions to better serve drivers.
“Despite Governor Murphy’s insistence that everything’s under control again at the MVC, nothing could be further from the truth,” said Bucco (R-25). “Six weeks after agencies reopened for business, people are still lining up in the middle of the night for a chance to get through the door. Drivers shouldn’t have to arrive at the MVC before dawn to guarantee they’ll be successful in obtaining their license, registration, or title.”
Trenton NJ, Estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that total nonfarm wage and salary employment in New Jersey increased by 129,900 in July to a seasonally adjusted level of 3,751,900. All of the gain was recorded in the private (+146,700) sector of the state’s economy. New Jersey has now regained a total of 341,300 jobs in the three months since a low point in April, or 41 percent of the jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown measures taken in response to contain it. The state’s unemployment rate fell by 3.0 percentage points in July to 13.8 percent. See the technical notes at the end of this release for further information about the impact of the coronavirus on this month’s employment estimates.
Ridgewood NJ, NJBIA Urges No New Taxes, Responsible Use of Borrowed Funds for Proposed FY2021 Budget . NJBIA President and CEO Michele N. Siekerka, Esq. issued the following statement regarding Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed nine-month, FY 2021 budget next week.
Ridgewood NJ, the NJBIA, NJ Chamber of Commerce Issue Joint Statement on Reopening of NJ Businesses :
Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, and Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, issued the following statement today regarding a regional approach to reopening New Jersey businesses.
Lodi NJ, Governor Murphy allows over 70 people inside the NJMVC in Lodi to get a privilege ie… driving in New Jersey ,but won’t allow one at a time to exercise the constitutional right to vote.
Trenton NJ, Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) today criticized the Murphy administration’s continued blockade of New Jersey’s reopening and cited numerous metrics from surrounding states’ successful reopening.
“That the Governor, with a straight face, can cite a debunked study of an incident that happened over 8,000 miles away involving a restaurant in China with a wheezy, inadequate ventilation system that doesn’t conform to standards used in this country…to justify continuing to kill businesses here in New Jersey is outrageous and demoralizing for anyone trying to hold out hope that there’s any real, scientific focus on our safety and the health of our economy,” said O’Scanlon. “That the Governor, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, continues to suggest that we have to continue to destroy thousands of businesses and jobs and livelihoods is simply unconscionable. What we can see across the board – with the undeniable metrics and results from surrounding states in the Northeast – is that our draconian, timid, most-stringent economy, business-and-job killing restrictions in the region – if not the country – is providing tremendous, needless economic & mental health pain, with zero health benefit.” said O’Scanlon. “New Jersey is months behind other states in reopening indoor dining and gyms–even at a limited capacity–and yet our rate of transmission, deaths & cases is no better than our surrounding states. On virtually every metric we see no benefit to these polices. But the damage is evident. On virtually every economic metric we are underperforming our Northeast neighbors, dramatically on many fronts. If you don’t think these numbers are a big deal, think again. Our taxes and budget decisions will be tortured. Unemployment, mortgage defaults and bankruptcies will impact us all. Our children and grandchildren will be stuck with the bills and consequences. The very survival of New Jersey as we know and love it hangs in the balance.”
Paramus NJ,No one can deny that the veterans, spouses, and Gold Star parents residing in our state operated veteran nursing homes located in Paramus and Menlo Park suffered higher COVID -19 death and infection rates than anywhere else in New Jersey, and arguably the world. Since March, 24 % of the veterans residing at the Paramus Memorial Home have died of COVID 19, and 17% at the Menlo Park Home suffered the same fate.
Trenton NJ, Senator Michael Doherty said the New Jersey Constitution doesn’t authorize Governor Phil Murphy to issue an Executive Order that unilaterally changes the manner in which voters will cast their ballots this November.
Doherty pointed to Article II, Section I of the New Jersey Constitution, which says: “General elections shall be held annually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; but the time of holding such elections may be altered by law.”
“it’s hard to imagine a more ingrained and salutary feature of U.S. election procedures than in-person voting. Even anonymity in voting (a relatively recent innovation) pales by comparison to in-person voting in terms of how close it gets to the beating heart of our representative form of self-government.
In-person voting as the primary means of receiving the gravely expressed will of We the People is sacrosanct–no doubt about it.
Are we so devoted to personal convenience that we are willing to let drunk-with-power governors rob us of our most closely-held rights?
Neither the science-to-date nor the revealed reality of the so-called “novel” Coronavirus, or the gift of COVID-19 it keeps on giving us, in any way justifies this act on the part of Governor Murphy. There is no way this will pass Constitutional muster. Current conditions daily fall farther and farther away from the kind of emergency that the governor would need to prove exists in order to receive the judiciary’s blessing for such a draconian measure.”
