With less than two weeks to go until the June 30 deadline, the legislature has yet to produce legislation enacting a state budget. The Senate Budget Committee met today on a host of issues, but the budget itself was not among them.
A consensus is emerging between Senate and Assembly Democratic majorities on a budget bill with a provisional tax cut included. A top Democrat told NJ Today the budget will set aside $180 million to finance phase one of a tax cut halfway through the fiscal year, but only if revenues come in stronger than they currently have been.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-19) pointed to less than stellar revenue projections for the cautious approach to a tax cut, saying “the money may not be there as we go through this year and nobody wants to be in a position of enacting tax relief that requires the state of New Jersey to borrow money to do it.”
Gov. Christie’s allies say a growing state economy can support an immediate tax cut and that Democrats are just trying to stymie the governor.
Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-21) is adamant about an immediate tax cut, saying “business does not like a ‘maybe,’ they want to know for sure just like Wall Street likes stability, people in New Jersey and businesses want stability. Do the tax cut now.”
Senate Democrats say they’ll introduce a budget bill in time for a hearing this Thursday. Assembly Democrats don’t have a budget schedule yet.
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The other legislative issue drawing the most attention today was the Rutgers-Rowan merger bill. Rutgers president Richard McCormick and board negotiator Candace Straight were here to testify that a merger with UMDNJ would instantly catapult Rutgers in the rankings from 55 to 22 in federal research dollars, more than MIT., Harvard and Yale.
“Rutgers and UMDNJ combined really elevates one another,” said Sen. Joe Vitale (D-19). “Some of the best universities around the country that have both a medical school and academic component are among the very best.”
To counter critics who say the merger is being rammed through, the sponsors amended the bill to allow fourteen months for the merger instead of six. And they’re ready to provide a cost estimate for the first time. When asked if that amount would be around $50 million, Vitale said he thought it would be less than that.
The budget battle is very fluid. One possible scenario is that Democrats pass the budget, Gov. Christie line-item vetoes so much of it that he provokes a negotiation to speed up the tax cut, and that both sides return here in July to iron it all out.
Reporting from Trenton, Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron files this report.