When lawmakers reconvene in Trenton next month, they will face the same COVID-19 vaccine or testing requirements that teachers, state employees and healthcare workers are currently adhering to. The State Capitol Joint Management Commission voted 5-2 along party lines to mandate all persons who wish to enter the State House be vaccinated or subjected to testing. State Senate Republicans in a letter objected to the new protocols, stating “Quite simply, the policy…will exclude the large segment of New Jersey society that is unvaccinated from the legislative process in a manner that could be perceived as deliberate.” North-JerseyNews.com
The Murphys Administration stated there are no plans for “a blanket COVID-19 vaccine mandate” if Gov. Phil Murphy is re-elected. “The administration has never had plans, nor is it making plans, for a blanket COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” according to a statement released Oct. 26. The response was prompted after the controversial conservative activist group “Project Veritas” released secretly recorded video showing Murphy campaign workers saying that the governor would impose broader vaccine mandates after the election is over. NJ1015.com
The Food and Drug Administration’s independent vaccine advisers voted Oct. 26 to recommend authorizing the Pfizer COVID-19 shot for children ages 5-1, after deliberating whether everyone in that age group should be eligible for immunization. Data presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that children ages 5 to 11 are “at least as likely” as adults to contract COVID-19, and surveillance testing suggests pediatric cases are widely underreported. Hospitalization rates also are three times higher for children of color than for White kids, highlighting racial disparities seen among adult patients. PoliticoNJ
New Jerseyans have returned 41% of all vote-by-mail ballots issued with one week left before Election Day. A total of 390,842 voters have had their VBM ballots marked as returned by election officials. According to an analysis by the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, Democrats have cast 62.8% of all early votes so far, with 21.1% coming from Republicans and 15.8% from unaffiliated voters. New Jersey Globe
Jersey City may be forced to pay millions of dollars to a group of city employees who worked throughout the coronavirus pandemic, after the state Supreme Court said it wouldn’t hear its appeal in a separate case. The State Supreme Court earlier this month denied Jersey City’s petition for a hearing after an appellate panel ruled in Jersey City Public Employees Union Local 245′s favor regarding double-time pay for a 2018 state of emergency. In that case, a state of emergency declared by Gov. Phil Murphy because a nor’easter lasted a week, but the union filed a grievance saying that members were not paid double-time for the entire time. The Jersey Journal
Senate Democrats worked to nail down the details of a groundbreaking tax on billionaires’ wealth, part of a menu of tax increases to finance a bill that would strengthen the social safety net and address climate change. Another measures being considered is a 15% minimum tax rate on corporations based on the profits they report to their shareholders, not what they show to the Internal Revenue Service. The billionaires’ tax and the corporate minimum tax faced skepticism among House Democrats, who questioned their feasibility, and both were likely to encounter legal and constitutional challenges. The New York Times
One compromise could restore the state and local tax (SALT) deductions New Jersey residents relied on to ease their tax burden as Congressional Democrats hammer out a scaled-down, $2 trillion Build Back Better plan. A possible deal would lift the cap imposed by a Republican Congress on state and local property-tax deductions for two years. NJ Spotlight News
Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-25) doubled down on her earlier calls to address the state’s school bus driver crisis after school officials shared stories of canceled routes and late service. School officials lamented that children were heading to and from school at wildly different times when compared to pre-pandemic life. Some noted children were picked up 90 minutes early and dropped off more than two hours late every day. “None of this is sustainable. It’s nothing short of educational neglect,” Dunn said at a State Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Public School hearing. North-JerseyNews.com
A group of Atlantic City casino workers urged legislative leaders to advance a bill that would bar indoor smoking, and asked Gov. Phil Murphy to exert pressure to get the stalled bill moving. Smoking was already disallowed at workplaces and indoor public spaces in the state under the 2006 Smoke Free Air Act, but exempted casino and casino simulcast facilities from the ban. Casino workers got a respite from their smoky workplaces last September, when Murphy issued an executive order banning indoor smoking over concerns the practice could exacerbate the spread of COVID-19. Murphy has said he is supportive of a bill to restore the ban that lapsed in July. New Jersey Monitor
Five hundred and forty-one cities and towns across the state will be receiving $161.25 million in municipal aid grants to advance road, bridge, safety and quality-of-life improvements, according to an announcement from Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. The competitive Municipal Aid grant program attracted 625 applications from 547 different municipalities with a total of $363 million requested. In all, 546 awards to 541 municipalities will be granted. ROI-NJ.com
Mahwah approved the $6.4 million first phase of what is now expected to be a $32 million DPW complex on Micik Lane. The 6-1 vote at the Oct. 21 meeting followed two evenings of discussion about the cost, which has escalated from the $25 million December 2020 estimate due to COVID-related worker and building supply shortages and insurance costs. Bids on Phase 1 alone—which includes site preparation and moving the salt shed to the north end of the 7.6-acre property—came in $300,000 higher than expected. The Record
Despite a nearly even breakdown of registered Republicans and Democrats, the 40th Legislative district has never elected a Democrat to the State Senate or Assembly. Republican incumbents—State Sen. Kristin Corrado along with Assemblymen Kevin J. Rooney and Christopher P. DePhillips—are all seeking re-election with Democrats putting forward a ticket of Michael Sedon for State Senate and Genevieve Allard and Nicole McNamara for Assembly. North-JerseyNews.com
The Bayonne Board of Education wants to purchase the former St. Andrew’s School building and accompanying convent as a way to alleviate overcrowded public schools. The shuttered school at Fourth Street and Broadway closed its doors in 2008, when the city’s Catholic elementary schools were consolidated into All Saints Catholic Academy due to financial strain caused by declining enrollment. According to Superintendent of Schools John Niesz, the board is “still in the planning stages” in trying to acquire the building. Hudson Reporter
The Hudson County jail has filled all but five spots in its expanded substance use treatment program, ushering in both participants from other counties and the funds needed to help close the gap left by the closure of its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit. The program doubled in size this year from an 80-person capacity to 160, which has led to contracts with multiple other counties to house their inmates. The contracts with other counties, who are reimbursed by the state, would yield more than $5 million annually. The Jersey Journal
A marijuana growing and processing facility proposal for an existing building in Newton moved a step forward when members of the town’s Planning Board said they were not against the concept. Newton Agriculture will now move to invest in architectural and engineering studies as its next step as it plans to grow and process recreational-use marijuana in parts of the existing red brick building that takes up the corner of Mill and Clinton streets. The town is the only municipality in Sussex County to pass ordinances that allow for all phases of marijuana businesses. The state has set up categories for the cultivation, processing, distribution and sales of recreational marijuana. New Jersey Herald
And finally…Seven N.J. universities are among the best in the world. NJ.com
