The full New Jersey Assembly passed a bipartisan package of election security bills, including one put forward by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19), that would strengthen real-time vote count reporting in Garden State elections. Under the bill, county Board of Elections websites would be required to uniformly report unofficial results on election nights, giving voters the ability to see the number of votes cast, counted, and remaining to be counted. “At a critical and harshly partisan time in our country, as others have moved to make it harder not easier to vote and the federal government has often been unable to act decisively, I think we can be exceptionally proud to boast that New Jersey is bucking the trend,” said Coughlin. North-JerseyNews.com
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on June 21 plans to detail President Donald J. Trump’s personal involvement in a pressure campaign on state officials to subvert the will of the voters as well as a scheme to put forward false slates of electors in seven states to keep him in power. The panel will release new information about the deep involvement of Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, including text messages revealing that Meadows wanted to send autographed “Make America Great Again” hats to people conducting an audit of the Georgia election. The New York Times
President Joe Biden said that he may make a decision within days on seeking a pause to the federal gasoline tax, as Americans deal with soaring gas prices. “I hope to have a decision based on the data I’m looking for by the end of the week,” the President said in Delaware on June 20. Gas prices started increasing last year and surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted the global oil market. The average cost of a gallon of unleaded fuel in the U.S. hit $4.98 this week, according to AAA, up from about $3 a year ago. Any suspension in the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents a gallon would require action from Congress. The Wall Street Journal
NJ Transit and the union that represents its engineers will be in court this week after a federal judge ordered the end to sickout over the weekend that caused widespread cancellations. NJT went to court as it detailed in court documents that 205 engineers on June 17 (reportedly nearly three times for an average day), 143 on June 18, and at least 133 on June 19, reportedly over the issue of not having the Juneteenth as a paid holiday. U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn ruled June 19 that such a pattern “can reasonably be construed as a job action” in her order. A full hearing on the matter is set for 9 a.m. June 21 in Camden. North-JerseyNews.com
NJ Transit handed out $265,000 in raises the past year to employees of its Human Resources Department, but nearly 80% of that went to eight people. While most human resources workers saw marginal pay increases or none at all, a select group saw their pay jump between $40,000 and $50,000, according to the records. “The individuals have either received salary increases based on earning promotions, taking on additional responsibilities which resulted in a reclassification of their job title, or to achieve parity with other employees in similar job titles,” NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said in a statement. The Daily Record
With state officials heading into the final days of budget negotiations, New Jersey’s economic recovery from the pandemic is still continuing. New Jersey tax revenues dropped nearly 40% compared to a year ago, an expected decline forecasted by state treasury officials due to pandemic extensions in 2021 that will change the budget numbers for lawmakers. But fiscal year-to-date collections of $40.8 billion are up $6.7 billion or 19.6% above the same 11 months last year. Additionally, May marked New Jersey’s 18th straight month of job gains, dropping the unemployment rate to 3.9%, and almost all the additional 6,700 jobs were added in the private sector, according to the state’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development. North-JerseyNews.com
Much of the United States today begins administering coronavirus vaccines to children younger than 5 today. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children as young as 6 months, expanding immunization to almost all Americans. But a recent Kaiser Health poll found that just one in five parents will get their young children vaccinated immediately. The New York Times
New Jersey on June 20 reported four new COVID-19 deaths and 1,117 new confirmed cases. There were 702 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases in the 68 of 71 state hospitals that reported. Of those hospitalized, 72 were in intensive care and 29 were on ventilators. New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 0.82 with the positivity rate at 8.7% for tests conducted on June 15. North-JerseyNews.com
A New Jersey appeals court panel ruled June 20 that six businesses aren’t entitled to insurance coverage for COVID losses they sustained when the governor in 2020 ordered some businesses closed or otherwise restricted their operations to halt the spread of the virus. Language in the business’ insurance policies required them to prove physical damage to covered properties, which didn’t occur, Superior Court Judge Thomas Sumners Jr. wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel. “We recognize that COVID-19 has caused overwhelming economic losses to untold businesses and individuals dependent on those businesses in our state, nation, and the world,” Sumner wrote. “Nevertheless, plaintiffs’ insurance claims are restricted by the clear and plain meaning of their insurance policies, which we cannot rewrite to cover their unfortunate losses.” New Jersey Monitor
The New Jersey Department of Health announced the first probable case of monkeypox in the state on June 20 to a person in North Jersey but stressed that the risk of spread remains low. Jersey City officials confirmed a test conducted by the state’s Public Health and Environmental Laboratories for the presence of orthopoxvirus in a city resident on June 18. The infected person is isolating at home, and the local health department is performing contact tracing to identify anyone who may have been exposed. Hudson Reporter
Gov. Phil Murphy said the state’s history when it comes to slavery is not an area “we should be in anyway proud of” during a Juneteenth celebration June 20. Murphy noted New Jersey was one of the last states to ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery. The state was also one of the last to ratify the 14th and 15 amendments, which gave Black people equal protection under the law and the latter gave Black men the right to vote, not ratifying the 14th Amendment until April 2003. “But to be absolutely certain, it is a history we must acknowledge and a history we must teach,” Murphy said. “While we cannot undo our state’s sorry legacy on race, we can work to overcome and make up for it.” NJ.com
State Senators will make a rare return to Trenton to continue confirming judges during the Legislature’s customary Summer recess amid a high number of court vacancies. State Sen. Brian Stack (D-32), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the panel may meet once more before the Legislature approves a budget, and then once or twice again before September. A spokesperson for Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-21), said the full State Senate would return during its Summer recess to approve any judges advanced by Stack’s committee. As of June 20, 69 seats on the Superior Court are vacant, 16% of the total seats on the bench. New Jersey Monitor
State Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-29) has proposed that the state start to develop in the next two months a graduation test to replace the current New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment given in 11th grade in language arts and math. Ruiz is pushing a bill that would make this year’s assessment be just a field test whose results would not be counted for this year’s 11th graders. The bill would order state education officials to start to come up with a new graduation assessment within 60 days once the measure becomes law. NJ Spotlight News
Harrison Mayor James Fife and former Councilman Anselmo Millan will face off again this year for mayor, rehashing their contest from four years ago. Millan will be running without a slate of Town Council candidates and unaffiliated with any party, so instead of facing off in the primaries, which Democrat Fife won uncontested, he will be on the ballot in the general election against Fife, who is running as a Democrat. The Jersey Journal
Ian Smith, who lost the Republican primary for Congress in New Jersey’s 3rd District two weeks ago, has joined the Libertarian Party. “The change we are looking for starts with the individual and pours out into our families and our communities,” said Smith, a gym owner who won national attention as a critic of Gov. Phil Murphy’s COVID policies. “There is work to be done.” GOP nominee Bob Healey defeated Smith earlier this month by 4,851 votes in the June 7 Republican primary to take on Rep. Andy Kim. In a debate last month, Smith had refused to say if he would support Healey against Kim in the general election. New Jersey Globe
Firefighters continue to battle a massive forest fire in Wharton State Forest that has grown to 11,000 acres but is now 50% contained. The fire could consume as much as 15,000 acres before it is fully under control, making it the largest forest fire in New Jersey in 15 years, according to state Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Shawn LaTourette. The last fire that was at least 15,000 acres was a 2007 blaze that consumed 17,000 acres of woods in southern Ocean and Burlington counties. NJ.com
Wayne police recently broke up a pop-up party held in an abandoned office building. Local authorities were alerted by state police to a party which was promoted across social media for an empty office space in the Willowbrook area June 18. Police say that hundreds of people were set to attend this party, but that it was broken up before the crowd became too large. Police plan to charge 50 people who are accused of breaking into space as the doors to the building were apparently forced open and parts of the building were vandalized. News12 New Jersey
And finally…A rescheduled Brian Fallon solo show turned into a Gaslight Anthem reunion concert over the weekend. The Record
