New Jersey Governor Phil MurphyÕs daily press briefing at the the War Memorial in Trenton, NJ on April 24, 2020, regarding updates on the corona virus.
Governor Phil Murphy will announce that he is lifting restrictions on indoor dining from 25% capacity to 35% and that he will lift the 10 pm curfew on the establishments, according to a report at NorthJersey.com
Municipal officials with political death wishes will be allowed to impose their own curfews.
Aseemblywoman Serena DiMaso and Senator Declan O’Scanlon
With three weeks left in the summer tourist season Governor Phil Murphy finally signed legislation repealing the tax and surcharge of Jersey Shore short term summer rentals.
Monmouth County legislators Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso say Murphy’s action today is “too little, too late.”
“The Governor made the right call in repealing this short-term rental tax–and we acknowledge that–however it comes way too late,” said O’Scanlon. “We are in August at this point, summer is nearly over and most of the damage of this ill-conceived aspect of this tax has been done. The Governor and his policy folks need to recognize when something is emergent and do their homework up front, so they’re ready to take action the minute such bills land on his desk. This was a total failure of administrative planning and it likely, needlessly, cost the New Jersey economy millions of dollars.” Read the rest of this entry »
Governor Phil Murphy and his team apparently failed to account for the impact on the minimum wage increase he signed into law earlier this year will have on his own State Budget. Senator Declan O’Scanlon called this omission a “shocking failure.”
“Just a month ago the Governor patted himself on the back as he signed the minimum wage increase bill. During today’s Senate Budget hearing, we learned that incredibly, while he was preparing this budget, the Governor failed to provide the very funding necessary to meet the increased spending obligations triggered by his new minimum wage policy,” O’Scanlon said. Read the rest of this entry »
After hours of delays for last minute amendments which caused the suspension of testimony and debate a legislation that legalizes and establishes a regulatory structure of recreation marijuana passed the Assembly Appropriates Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday night, according to reports on Politico, InsiderNJ and NJGlobe.
Legislation to expunge marijuana convictions, including felony convictions for selling over 5 lbs of pot, passed the committees. The felony expungement provisions prompted a strong reaction from Republican Senators Kip Bateman (Somerset), Michael Doherty (Warren) and Gerald Cardinale (Bergen). Bateman said the bill contained “evil.” Doherty said that the bill is a “deal with the devil.” Cardinale suggested calling the bill, “the Drug Pusher’s Friend Act.”
The Murphy Administration’s directive that New Jersey Police and Corrections Officers thwart and/or refuse to cooperate with the enforcement of federal immigration laws took effect today, according to a NJ.com report.
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced the sanctuary policies in November:
After seeing salt covering New Jersey roads today, despite the fact that temperature is not supposed to drop below 37 degrees Fahrenheit over the next few days, Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said that “enough is enough” and demanded that the State put an end to the practice of unnecessary brining.
“It’s time for someone to challenge Governor Murphy’s assertion that this is a pennies per mile cost: it’s not. There was simply no way that a .17 per mile number was an accurate reflection of the cost to brine our roads when you account for labor, gas, and equipment. After speaking with a few of local officials we were able to confirm that the actual cost in totality is in excess of $12 or $13 per mile locally – and that is for areas that are more conservative with their usage of salt and brine,” O’Scanlon said.
Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik inducts Bob Salman into the Monmouth Dem Hall of Fame. Middletown Mike photo.
A prominent Monmouth County Democrat who wants the newly created position of chief ethics officer at New Jersey Transit finds himself in a self induced ethical controversy after an email he sent to other Democrat leaders was leaked to Politico.
Bob Salman, 79 of Marlboro, served as Inspector General of the Department of Transportation during the McGreevey/Codey and Corzine administrations. Governor Christie appointed him to the Council on Local Mandates. He is a member of the Democrat State Committee and is an inductee of the Monmouth Democrat Hall of Fame.
Bob Hugin speaking with Middletown Republicans. photo by Art Gallagher
U.S. Senate
Bob Hugin will have a 25,000 vote lead over Senator Bob Menendez tonight but a winner will not be declared until November 20. Ballots post marked today and delivered by the post office by Thursday evening are to be counted under Governor Murphy’s new election law. There will be a record number of provisional ballots to be verified and counted or not. There will be counts, recounts, lawsuits and reviews of security cameras at the North Bergen and Jersey City Post Offices before the final outcome is known. Read the rest of this entry »
