The Town Crier - Legislative Backgrounder

On Monday May 16, The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) and the New Jersey State Department of Treasury provided testimony to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on updated revenue projections for the FY 2023 State Budget. There is an estimated multi-billion-dollar surge in revenue with a $3.6 billion increases over the previous year’s projections. If the OLS projections are correct, there will be an estimated $6.9 billion in increased tax revenue than estimated by the Murphy Administration. New Jersey Treasury’s projections are $7.8 billion higher than initial forecasts with projected revenue for FY 2023 of $51.4 billion.

Last week State Departmental budget hearings continued. Department of Human Services/Medicaid, Department of Children and Families, Department of Banking and Insurance and Department of Correction/State Parole Board testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The Department of Corrections/State Parole Board also testified before the Assembly Budget Committee.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary grant program. This new five-year, $5 billion program has up to $1 billion available in fiscal year 2022 (FY22). The SS4A program funds regional and local initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries and supports the National Roadway Safety Strategy goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. This program was established in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).