Democratic lawmakers averted a shutdown in the final hours before the deadline Saturday, coming to a deal that incorporated a version of the millionaires tax sought by Gov. Phil Murphy and the an altered version of the Corporate business tax pushed by Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
“There will be no shutdown,” Murphy said. “The parks and beaches are open.”
Legislators will descend on the capitol early tomorrow morning, with caucus meetings at 7 a.m. and voting sessions at 8 a.m.
They’ll try to push through their budget then, using a mix of conditional vetoes, supplements and amendments to get the budget through as quickly as possible.
“It’s been one hell of a journey,” Sweeney said. “As the governor said, it was never a disagreement on where we wanted to go. It was how to get there, and we got there in a place we all think is fair. There is no winners or losers, as the governor said. New Jersey residents, they’re the winners here.”
On Friday, Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick promised he wouldn’t help move Democrats bill on an emergency basis if it included tax hikes.
It’s possible that Republicans could hold up the budget process by not giving Democrats the three-quarters majority they need in both chambers of the legislature, though Coughlin didn’t seem concerned at the prospect.
“I don’t have a list yet of all of the bills, so I can’t tell you how each and every one of them are going to get through, but we’re in good shape. We’re going to get it through without an emergency,” Coughlin said. “There may be a couple of things I have to work with the minority leader to get to, but I’ll work closely with him, and I’m confident that he’ll be understanding.”