Murphy urges Democrats to make good on final progressive push
This story was reported by Paige Britt, Emma Ferschweiler, Victoria Gladstone and Madison Miller of the New Jersey State House News Service
In his final major policy address, Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday pledged to build more houses for the working poor, push public schools to ban cell phones and defend New Jersey from the potentially hostile policies of President-elect Donald Trump.
The governor, 67, mindful that his second and last term will expire in 12 months — 371 days, as he noted in his speech – struck a mostly serious tone in his constitutionally mandated annual State of the State speech. He urged his fellow Democrats, who control the Legislature, to follow through on a progressive agenda that he said will leave New Jersey in better fiscal shape than when he took office in 2018.
“My message to New Jersey is this: I’m not done yet,” Murphy told a joint session of the Assembly and Senate at the State House in Trenton. “Over the next year, we are going to run through the tape in delivering economic security and opportunity to every New Jerseyan.”
He hinted at potential relief – “Stay tuned,” he said, with no detail – for motorists who on Jan. 5 started paying Manhattan’s $9 congestion pricing fee, after courts rebuffed New Jersey’s efforts to kill the plan.
And he spoke about “some uncertainty, and even concern” about Trump’s upcoming second term.
“I will never back away from partnering with the Trump administration where our priorities align,” Murphy said. “But just as importantly, I will never back down from defending our New Jersey values if and when they are tested.”
At times, Murphy was playfully boastful. He joked that he had paid the audience $20 to applaud. A multimillionaire Massachusetts transplant and former U.S. ambassador to Germany, he displayed his adopted state’s trademark swagger when he likened his looming last year as governor to a road race with an all-out sprint to the finish line.
“We’re from Jersey, baby!” he said. “We never slow down, and together, we are going to run through the tape.”
Among the initiatives he highlighted for his final year, Murphy called for:
free pre-kindergarten in towns that have yet to provide it, as well as full-day kindergarten.
no-cost abortion care and “stockpiling” the abortion drug Mefistiprone
safer roads, with particular attention on the state’s 10 most dangerous intersections.
an effort to allow motorists to have electronic copies of their driver’s licenses on their cellphones.
He also lauded school officials who want to ban cell phones, and said the state would push legislation to encourage such bans.
“Today, our children are inundated with screens,” Murphy said. “Honestly, is it any surprise that the rise in smartphone usage has coincided with a growing youth mental health crisis?”
Murphy had no specifics on how the state would cover the cost of his major proposals, but he anticipated pushback.
“To those of you running around, complaining about our administration’s spending priorities, why don’t you level with the people of New Jersey?” he said.
Critics, he added, should talk to public workers whose retirements were threatened by years of pension underfunding by previous governors from both parties, commuters who relied on a broken transit system and homeowners whose property taxes rose as state school aid dropped.
After the speech, some Republicans said Murphy was reaching too far by encouraging broad statewide rezoning to accommodate affordable housing. A coalition of more than two dozen mayors have filed a lawsuit to stop such construction in their towns.
“We all support affordable housing here in New Jersey, but land legislation was crafted without any local planning,” Senate Minority Leader Anthony M. Bucco, a Republican from Boonton, said. “Is there infrastructure available? Are there jobs available? Is mass transportation available? They came up with a regional number and then just put it on each municipality.”
Sen. Troy Singleton, a Democrat from Willingboro and sponsor of affordable-housing legislation, said Murphy had the right approach.
“Together, these proposals will give municipalities even more tools to meet their affordable housing obligations while cutting needless and outdated bureaucratic rules that have for too long locked families out of communities and out of home ownership,” Singleton said in a statement.
On another land-use matter, Murphy pledged to help close a loophole that allows wealthy property owners to take advantage of farm assessment rules, greatly reducing their tax bills.
“If our state’s law-enforcement officers, veterans, nurses and other working people are paying their fair share, so, too, should those at the top of the economic ladder,” he said. “It shows that we are listening when the people of New Jersey speak up. Taking this step will ensure our tax system is stronger and fairer for everyone.”
