A planned vote on the New Jersey Fiscal Year 2024 state budget has been officially delayed until tomorrow, with the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) still working to write up the multi-hundred page document that will apportion tens of billions of dollars.
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee had both scheduled votes on the budget today alongside a lengthy board list of other major bills. But without the actual text of the budget in place, there was nothing for them to vote on.
“There is a framework and deal in place, but [we want to be] very deliberate on some of the changes to make sure they’re properly reconciled,” Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) said. “OLS wants to ensure that there’s a full document ready – not just score sheets, which are changes and appropriations and revenues and language, but the full document available to the members here.”
Both Sarlo and Assembly Budget Chair Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Newark) said their committees are set to return tomorrow at 3 p.m. – though Pintor Marin cautioned there’s still no guarantee the budget will be done by then.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Pintor Marin said. “I definitely know that we’re going to have the other bills that we need to get done tomorrow, and then we might have to take a break for everyone to review the other documents.”
There seems to be relatively little dispute over the content of the budget itself; Gov. Phil Murphy reached a deal with legislative leaders yesterday, and while most Republicans are likely to vote against the final bill, their votes aren’t necessary for passage.
But delaying the vote still means that legislators are bringing the process down to the wire. The budget must be signed by Murphy on or before Friday to avoid a government shutdown, and under the legislature’s procedural rules, the two budget committees need to release the bill at least 24 hours in advance of Friday’s full voting sessions (unless legislators approve an emergency, which Republicans would likely block).
Another piece of the budget deal, the senior property tax program StayNJ, is also still in limbo, though it’s not likely to face any substantial opposition. The Senate committee approved a bill creating the program unanimously today, but Pintor Marin chose to hold off a vote in her committee until tomorrow.