Nonday was the final voting session of the Legislature’s 2024-2025 session. A new one begins at noon Tuesday. (Photo by Hal Brown/New Jersey Monitor)
The Legislature approved a plan Monday to expand New Jersey’s corporate tax breaks by almost $3 billion and grant Newark’s Prudential Center up to $300 million in new tax subsidies.
The votes in the Senate and Assembly came during hourslong voting sessions in the Statehouse in Trenton as the two bodies met for the last time in the 2024-25 legislative session. A new session begins Tuesday at noon.
Divided NJ Legislature gives final passage to three anti-ICE bills
Critics had blasted the bill as irresponsible during a time of fiscal belt-tightening and federal funding cuts.
Several Assembly Republicans slammed the subsidies as “corporate giveaways,” saying legislators should fund small businesses rather than billionaire sports owners and only add new spending that supports residents’ health, safety, and welfare instead of their entertainment.
Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon) derided Monday — in which the Democratic-led Legislature approved multiple bills that included new spending and tax breaks — as “the majority party’s oligarch day, where we keep giving more and more money away.”
Supporters said the bill includes provisions to safeguard public money, while Prudential Center officials said the arena needs the subsidies to make $400 million in repairs and upgrades to a facility they say is a major economic driver for the city and state.
The Assembly passed the measure by a 49-22 vote, and the Senate, 31-6.
Paid family leave
More small businesses would be required to offer paid family leave and temporary disability benefits to employees under a bill advanced in both chambers of the Legislature Monday.
The legislation would require employers with as few as 15 workers to offer paid family leave and cut in half the amount of time an employee would have to work annually to be eligible for the benefit. If signed into law, the bill would allow a worker to take paid family leave if they work for at least six months and 500 hours for their employer.
New Jersey law requires businesses to provide eligible workers with up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child or to care for a loved one. Workers pay into the fund, and the benefits are based on a worker’s earnings.
The bill would also ensure that workers can return from paid leave to the same position they had before taking it. Advocates say it would include another 1.7 million workers who are not currently covered by the state’s family leave law.
In the Senate, the bill advanced by a vote of 31-7, and in the Assembly, 46-25.
Magic mushrooms
Lawmakers also passed a bill to legalize therapeutic access to psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in some mushrooms. The bill, which would apply to adults over 21, passed by a 35-4 vote in the Senate and a 48-23 vote in the Assembly.
Supporters say the drug treats chronic mental health disorders more effectively than existing therapies. Critics have complained about the bill’s $6 million price tag (to implement a pilot program) and said state officials should wait for the federal Food and Drug Administration to act, as it’s expected to do this year to approve the use of synthetic psilocybin.
Cyberharassment
New Jersey lawmakers approved heightened penalties for cyberharassment of elected officials and other public employees in nearly unanimous votes Monday.
Under the legislation, electronic threats and the posting of obscene or lewd material meant to emotionally harm a public servant or their family members could earn between one and five years’ jail time, rather than the 18-month sentence provided for by existing law.
The bill would require the attorney general to promote education and training on cyberharassment and calls on the office to work with social media platforms to tighten harassment policies and create or expand offices dedicated to combating cyberharassment.
The Senate passed the bill 39-0 and in the Assembly the vote was 70-3.
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