What to Know
- Recreational marijuana, raising minimum wage and fixing state’s transit system among 2019 goals NJ Gov. Murphy outlined during address
- Murphy's agenda also makes a call for tougher gun laws and easier voting, including same-day registration
- Tuesday's address was Murphy's first State of the State
Recreational marijuana, raising the minimum wage and fixing the state’s transit system were among the 2019 goals New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy outlined during Tuesday’s State of the State address.
The agenda also makes a call for tougher gun laws and easier voting, including same-day registration.
Murphy and legislative leaders are close to hammering out a deal on a phased-in $15 minimum wage — a topic that has been a topic of contention for months.
“The people this will help are the same people all of us rely on — maintenance workers, child care workers and home health aides, security guards,” Murphy said during his address.
In North Brunswick earlier Tuesday, minimum wage was a top priority.
“A $15 minimum wage will definitely go a long way,” New Jersey resident Casey Jimenez said.
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Another one of Murphy’s top campaign promises was to legalize recreational marijuana, but even as other states, including New York, appear to be on the cusp of making it happen, the Garden State has not seen much progress.
“We must ensure that those with a past mark on their records because of a low-level offense can have that stain removed,” Murphy said.
Rebuilding New Jersey Transit, which has been left starved for money by former Gov. Chris Christie’s administration among other problems, is also on the governor’s agenda. Murphy promised to hire even more engineers all aimed at providing more reliable service to hundreds of thousands of commuters every day.
“NJ Transit now works for [commuters] not the other way around,” he said.
Murphy, like New York Gov. Cuomo, has commanding Democrat majorities in the state senate and assembly. However, there are still skeptics.
Murphy’s goals are similar to other northeast agendas, including that of New York – so much so that while Cuomo is moving forward with off-shore winds off of Long Island to fight climate change, Murphy is doing the same in New Jersey, hoping that the Garden State can beat the Empire State to that finish line.
