Technical error holds up budget process

Lawmakers in Trenton have hit a wall that’s brought progress on the state’s budget to a halt for several hours.

At issue is language in the conditional veto of the corporate tax bill, which returned to the legislature from Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk after lawmakers reached a budget compromise yesterday evening.

But, while other measures sent back to the statehouse passed without issue, the rewrite of the corporate tax bill included a provision for combined reporting, a practice meant to reduce tax avoidance committed by corporations.

The original draft returned to the legislature had a fault in language that could have ended with the state collecting more or less money than was intended, said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, who added that which way the collection would lean depended on how the draft was read.

After a spat between Murphy’s office and legislative leaders over the fact that the bill would have to be changed once more, the legislature received the latest version shortly after 3 p.m., Senate President Steve Sweeney said.

The bill is currently under review, and a source said the bill wouldn’t see a vote until at least 4:20 p.m.

Still, Sweeney remains hopeful that the day’s troubles will be over soon after. He expects to be done by 5 p.m., or maybe 6 p.m., he said.

Legislators have been in Trenton since around 7AM after Murphy insisted on an early start as part of his negotiations with Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.