Since the Executive Board meeting of June 29, 2011, a battle over Governor Christie sweeping vetoes of the Democratic budget ensued. Shortly after Christie wiped out most Democratic sponsored restorations of funds for key state programs, Senate President Sweeney fiercely attacked the Governor and the vetoes, and attempted to override many of the line item vetoes in the FY ’12 Budget. However, with few exceptions, the Republicans backed Christie’s actions and the override attempts failed to win the two-thirds needed.

 

Recently, updated state revenue figures show that the Christie Administration underestimated FY ’12 revenues by $100 million. In fact, the new numbers are much closer to the Democrats and OLS’ budget estimates. Given this promising news there is speculation that the Democrats may try again this fall to restore funding for key state programs using the new revenue forecasts as a basis.

 

DDD Closure Commission:  Senator Jeff Van Drew’s legislation (S-2928) to establish a Commission to study and recommend a process for closing developmental centers was conditionally vetoed by Governor Christie on August 25th. The Senate quickly concurred with the changes demanded by Christie which, among other things, stacked the deck by reducing the number of members on the Commission to five, with three members appointed by the Governor. Under the revised bill, decisions of the Commission will be binding!

 

The Senate has several sessions scheduled prior to the November elections and it is expected that the General Assembly will also be meeting at some point.