1998 Governor Christie Todd Whitman Budget Message

This is an NJN News Special Report, Governor Whitman's budget message to the state legislature. Good afternoon. I'm Kat Madahan and welcome to NJN's coverage of Governor Whitman's budget message to a joint session of the legislature. The governor laid out her agenda for the next four years during her state of the state and inaugural addresses last month. Now she'll talk about plans to fund those initiatives. NJN Senior Political Correspondent Michael Aaron is standing by at the state house, where the governor will soon deliver her budget message. Michael? Kent, the assembly chamber is still a rather raucous place as assembly members and senate members are filing in.

The rafters here, the balcony is filled with dignitaries. This is an $18 billion budget, a record amount for the state of New Jersey. The governor Whitman will formally present to the legislature here this afternoon. It represents a 5.4% increase in state spending over the current fiscal year. It's a good news budget according to the state treasurer. There's a billion dollars surplus that they anticipate at the end of this fiscal year on June 30th. That billion dollars can be carried over and used in the next fiscal year and in fact what the administration plans to do is invest some, spend some and save some. Now the major items slated to be increased are school aid up $539 million, more than half of that goes to teacher pension and social security costs. So about 200 million actually goes to the schools. Municipal aid goes up about $80 million, transportation spending up $130 million, higher education spending up $61 million, capital construction up $43 million, and environmental spending up $12 million. The emerging bones of contention in this budget as presented by Democrats seem to be property tax relief and the Abbott versus Burke School funding monies.

There is $850 million worth of what the administration calls property tax relief in this budget, mainly school aid, municipal aid increases, $850 million worth of increased property tax relief. And the Democrats are saying that's not enough. They're also wondering why the governor is not budgeting $312 million, which is what a special judge has recommended that the Supreme Court order the state to spend additionally on New Jersey's poor schools. There are 610 layoffs in this budget. There is $5 million worth of privatization. The chambers are coming to order. We're going to have a moment of silence here and a pledge of allegiance shortly. I'm going to toss it back to you, Ken. Michael, thank you. And many political analysts gave Governor Whitman high marks on her first two speeches, the state of the state and the inaugural address, which occurred last month. Now we're going to turn to our two political analysts, Republican Roger Bodman and Democrat Jim McQueenie. Roger, what can we expect to hear from the governor today? What can we expect the tone to be today? Well, I think Michael capsized the money side of this speech very well. But I think what we will have here is a very interesting proposal that the governor is going to put forth. And that is going to make it much more difficult to raise taxes. She's going to call for what they call a super majority, Ken.

And that is a two thirds vote of the legislature in order to get a tax increase passed that will require a constitutional change. It will require the legislature to pass the constitutional change and present it to the voters for the approval. So it's going to be an interesting test of wills for some that want less government, government governor Whitman or more government like my friend Mr. McQueenie here. But it doesn't states that already do that. Yes there are. And so it would require a constitutional change. You think the legislature will buy that? I think given the rules that it's likely there's two ways to do it. They can do it in one year with a three fifth vote of both houses of the legislature or over two years with just a simple majority vote. I think the two year plan is more likely. What are the Democrats looking for today in the speech gym? That's one thing they're looking at in reference to Roger. This is a bloated budget of a size that's biggest in the state's history. It's really a post election. Don't worry be happy kind of budget. So it is a good news budget like the treasurers.

Well it's good news if you're a Republican. It's bad news if you're a taxpayer. But it really is one of the biggest budget. It is the biggest budget. It has a lot of elements in there that are just really stock full of stuff and the property tax releases minuscule. All right. Gentlemen, we are going to go now back to rejoin Michael Aaron who's standing by at the state house where the governor is about to enter the assembly chamber to deliver her budget message. Michael. That's right. Can't the assembly speaker Jack Collins just announced that the governor has arrived and will be escorted into the chamber shortly. It's expected that the governor will say something in her speech about the cities as she did in her inaugural address and something about open space preservation. Roger Bodman told us about a tax proposal in the budget. There's also a tax cut that we anticipate to be discussed in this budget. There's a bit of government restructuring having to do with the commerce department and there's going to be a special couple of special events within this budget. One having to do with the state slogan. Right now it's what a difference a state makes you remember that old slogan New Jersey and you perfect together we're going to hear a little about something a little something about that in this speech.

The governor is making her way into the chamber. This is the second time in a month that governor Whitman has entered this chamber for a major speech in mid January. She delivered her state of the state address in the assembly chamber. Her inaugural address of course was at the June Jersey Performing Arts Center on January 20th up in Newark. This is the fifth budget that governor Whitman will have presented to this legislature in her four and a half years as governor. Members of her cabinet there in the balcony.

It worked. I wasn't sure it was going to. We're really going to have to stop meeting like this or people are going to stop talking about us. They're talking about the great future of this great state. They're talking about the progress that we've made over the past four years to put New Jersey on the right road to the 21st century. Today we turn that talk into action as I present my proposed budget for fiscal year 1999. At $17.9 billion this budget reflects the strength of our economy, the health of our finances and the priority of our people.

This budget meets the promises I made in my state of the state and inaugural addresses. It includes solid investments, sensible savings and smart spending. It honors our commitment to use taxpayers dollars wisely. This budget is larger than the current budget but it shows careful stewardship of the public's money. Let me put that in context. Let me tell you where we would be today if we hadn't all of us made some tough decisions over the past four years. Had we continued on the fiscal course being followed before I took office, we would be looking at an annual rate of spending more than double the 2.9% increase we've averaged over five budgets. And had we stayed that course the budget today would be $21 billion and you'd be paying $6 billion more in taxes.

Fortunately for all our citizens we've steered the ship of state in a new direction and once again we're on familiar shores. New Jersey is on sound financial footing. For example we virtually wiped out the use of one shot revenues to balance the budget. We've brought one shots down from more than a billion dollars five years ago to next to nothing today. And we've balanced the budget without relying on an enormous structural deficit, the difference between spending and revenues in any one year. Five years ago the structural deficit stood at $1.5 billion. We've cut it by 75%.

And because of that success I can make this pledge today before my term is over we will have fully eliminated the structural deficit. We're also shrinking the size of government. Quite simply we now have fewer employees spending fewer tax dollars to run the government. For the third straight year we've cut executive branch spending. The money it takes to run all of our state departments, agencies and authorities. And through better management we're continuing to shrink the size of the state workforce. At the end of fiscal year 1999 we will have reduced our workforce by nearly 4,000 positions without sacrificing services.

These reductions are important but it's not enough just to cut spending or reduce the workforce. We've also significantly reduced the portion of the budget that goes to running state government. That means we've freed up nearly two million dollars for programs that make New Jersey a better place to live. Every dollar we don't spend running government we can spend helping people. We can do more good in more ways. We can increase spending on schools and provide more help to college students and we will. We can do more to improve transportation and we will. We can continue to cut taxes and we will. Over the past four years we've cut taxes 17 times. These cuts range from our historic 30% tax cut income tax cut to eliminating the yellow pages sales tax. Altogether we will have saved taxpayers more than six billion dollars. That's a record of which we can be proud.

And let's not forget we started cutting taxes when it wasn't easy when it required tough decisions and real fiscal discipline. So now we can build on our already strong record. We can cut taxes again for the 18th time. Members of the legislature let's take another bite out of the telecommunications tax enacted by the previous administration. Let's abolish the sales tax on calls across New Jersey regional calling areas. That will save business and families $24 million a year. What this means is simple. If you're in Tukesbury and you call your mother in Trenton that call won't be taxed by the state.

So just as I've taken a minute to talk about this tax cut I hope everyone listening will take a minute later today to call your mom wherever she may live. Hello. Hi, Kate. How are you? I've got to call you back sweetheart. I'm a little busy. Thank you. We will continue to build on our record of cutting taxes. After all when we do and it's important to remember this we're not really giving people anything back. We're just taking less of what is already theirs. Over the past six years you and the legislature have earned a reputation as champion tax cutters.

You began by rolling back the sales tax in 1992 and you haven't stopped yet. But of course not all legislatures share that same commitment to cutting taxes. Like you I don't have much experience in raising taxes I like to cut them. But I do believe that it's too easy to increase taxes in New Jersey and we should do something about it. I've already proposed that we give local voters final say on excessive local tax hikes. If a town council has a good reason for raising taxes voters will approve. The same is true of this legislature for example you overwhelmingly voted to raise the cigarette tax but you had good reason to fund charity care and school repair. When it makes sense the votes are there. So let's amend the Constitution. Let's make it harder to raise taxes.

Let's make all future state tax increases subject to a super majority. Unless two thirds of both houses of the legislature vote to raise a tax that tax will not increase. Our economic policies have helped New Jersey climb out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Four years ago New Jersey's economy lagged behind our regional neighbors.

Today we're a regional leader. Our economy hasn't just caught up. It's caught fire. But we can't stop now. We must continue to follow the same principles that have brought us so far so fast. We've cut taxes and made tough choices. And we've avoided putting money into programs that we could fund today but not might not be able to afford tomorrow. We've put New Jersey's fiscal house back in order. So today the state coffers are benefiting from our strong economy and our sensible policies. That makes the temptation to spend greater than ever. But I believe this just because we have the money doesn't mean we have to spend it all. Good, smart, fiscal policy dictates that we use these funds. These tax payers dollars wisely. That's why I propose to put something aside by increasing our budget surplus. Today the budget surplus tops $550 million. And because our economy is so strong, we should add to that surplus.

We should bring it up to $650 million, which will give us the largest budget surplus in New Jersey history. We've accomplished much these past four years because we've aimed high. We've cut taxes 17 times and still revenues have grown by $2.6 billion. We no longer depend on one shot revenues to plug holes in the budget. We've met the courts mandate to increase spending for Abbott school districts sending them nearly $10 billion since I've taken office. We've assumed the cost of running county courts, saving property taxpayers $210 million a year. And in this budget we do more. We will provide funding to move an additional 500 people with developmental disabilities off the waiting list. Since 1994 we've provided funds to move more than 1700 people off the list and into appropriate community placements.

This budget also provides for childcare for an additional 1,000 children of working parents. For those parents with kids in school we're providing $2.5 million for safe, constructive after school programs. In addition, we include $6 million to ensure quality residential treatment services for at-risk children and we fund a new initiative to help reduce black infant mortality. For the parents of all these children and everyone else who uses our buses and trains, this budget freezes New Jersey Transit Fair for the eighth year running. In short, we're doing what government should do. We're ensuring that all the citizens of New Jersey get the services they need and expect.

One of these services is a thorough and efficient education for every child in this state and we're providing that. This budget includes nearly $6 billion to educate New Jersey students, fully one third of our entire state budget. That's a $540 million increase over the current year, making this the fourth straight budget to increase direct school aid. This state is not reluctant to spend money to educate our kids. We spend more on each student than any other state in the Union and any other country in the world. The education portion of our budget exceeds the entire budget of 28 other states. So when it comes to our children's education, we've opened our hearts, our minds, and our wallets. But every wallet has a bottom. As you and I know, there's a limit to what we can afford.

So let's look at the big picture. The 28 Abbott districts will receive nearly $2.3 billion in the budget I'm submitting today. That's 49% of our formula aid going to 25% of our students. But as governor, I have to be concerned about 100% of our students. Right now, the average per pupil expenditure in the Abbott districts equals that of New Jersey's most affluent districts. After 25 years, parity has been achieved. And we haven't stopped there. Our new program success for all will remake every failing urban school from the ground up. We'll involve parents, teachers, administrators, and others to turn these schools into real success stories. We're not content just to spend money. We want to remake whole schools.

But despite all our efforts, a lower court has said that's not enough. It is recommended spending an additional $312 million in the Abbott districts. The question to ask is this. Is this the best way to help our children? The lower court wants to mandate a host of social programs for every three and four year old, even though the Constitution's thorough and efficient guarantee starts at age five. We all agree that children must be healthy and ready to learn when they start school. It's difficult to succeed otherwise. That's why we've developed and funded programs like kid care and faces and bright beginnings. And that's why this administration has already moved on half day kindergarten for four year olds. So I think it's clear this legislature and this governor know what our jobs are and we know how to do them. School shouldn't have the primary responsibility for solving every social problem they're not prepared to and frankly that's not their mission.

But together we can and we are making a difference. Let's give these programs time to work. Last month I spelled out how we can help make New Jersey the best place to live in America. Since those two speeches, some people have questioned whether this administration is ready to put its money where its mouth is. But here's my answer. We're not just ready. We're also willing and able. To begin with, this budget makes New Jersey more affordable. It includes a total of $850 million more in savings and assistance for local government and taxpayers. For example, we're raising the property tax deduction for the second year in a row, saving taxpayers $83 million more than last year.

Our new energy tax reform will save people another $65 million. And the next phase of our county courts takeover will save property tax payers and additional $90 million. That's almost $250 million in new money for direct tax savings this year and the people of this state deserve every penny of it. This budget also includes a significant down payment on my goal of preserving 300,000 acres of open space and farmland over the next four years. I'm committed to finding a stable source of funding to achieve this goal this year. But I also know that with every day that passes opportunities are being lost, we have to begin saving land now.

Over the past several years, voters in 13 counties and 53 municipalities have started saving open space on their own. They've dedicated property taxes to fund their efforts. I applaud that commitment and I believe we should help them and others who are committed to open space preservation. Therefore, this budget includes a new $50 million program to match their funds with state funds and purchase more open space in the coming fiscal year. In spending this money, we'll make sure every dollar we invest follows the state plan. This new program will double the effectiveness of these local and county efforts, while we work to establish a stable source of funding. And it will guarantee that the grass is always greener in the garden state.

Next, this budget includes seed money to get my new urban initiative up and running. Through the HMFA and the EDA, we will raise $400 million to help rebuild and renew our cities. This budget commits $25 million to the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority to get this program started right away. In addition, we fully fund my $5 million faith-based community development initiative. This could prove to be some of the most important money ever spent in New Jersey cities. Let's help our religious leaders build up services such as child care and job training. Of course, training for any job is easier with a solid education behind you. Thanks to a longstanding partnership between the state and county governments, New Jersey has one of the best community college systems in America. Now, together, we're making sure it remains one of the most affordable by providing the additional $12 million they need to freeze tuition in the next school year.

We're also doing more for students at four year colleges and universities. We're spending more on tuition aid grants, extending this program to an additional 1,100 students while increasing the size of the grant by as much as 5%. To help keep our best students right here in New Jersey, we'll add $4.2 million to our outstanding scholarship recruitment program. That makes this program available to yet another class of New Jersey high school seniors. And for the first time, we will balance autonomy with accountability at our senior state colleges and universities. If they want more money, they'll have to perform, including holding the line on tuition and fees. Of course, creating bold new programs for tomorrow means taking a fresh look at what we are doing today.

Before we enter the 21st century, we should first make sure we're taking full advantage of today's technology. If technology can help us provide a service at lower cost with fewer headaches, then I say let's do it. For example, I've had hundreds of people tell me they do just about anything to avoid a trip to DMV, and I'm sure most of us feel the same way. So let's eliminate the hassle of renewing a driver's license every four years. Let's shift gears and give New Jersey drivers a 10-year license. And rather than printing those licenses only on paper, let's also make them available as smart cards. Smart card technology can condense a wallet full of credit cards, ATM cards, licenses and the like into one piece of plastic, and that will take yet another load off the backs of people.

Online technology can also improve our election process. That's why this budget includes an additional $1 million for the Election Law Enforcement Commission. The Commission will use this money to make all campaign finance reports available online. Interested citizens shouldn't have to wait weeks to receive this information when we can put it at their fingertips. This budget also ensures that we continue to find savings and efficiencies within government. For example, we've had real success with our privatization efforts. Those already in place, such as prison medical care and the DMV, are saving taxpayers more than $31 million a year. Privateizations now underway will save another $6 million a year. And the new initiatives in this budget, including privatizing the food services at some prisons, will save another $4.7 million annually.

Every step of the way we some have argued that privatization isn't worth the effort. Well, in my book, saving the taxpayers $40 million a year is certainly worthwhile. One of government's most important functions is promoting economic growth. We've done that over the past four years. We've made it clear that New Jersey is open for business and businesses walk through the door and made itself at home. Where government has a more direct role to play, we've played it. We've made substantial investments in infrastructure improvements over the past four years. And this budget continues that commitment. It includes $2 billion for everything from bridges and roads to safe drinking water and shore protection. This will create more than 55,000 private sector jobs, jobs that make New Jersey stronger.

This budget also includes other initiatives to make government more efficient and responsive to the demands of today's business world. We all know that the primary source of jobs is the private sector. And the changing business world demands that we retool the state's main machine for promoting economic growth, our department of commerce. So today, I am proposing that we transform that department into an innovative public-private partnership, the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission. This is much more than a name change. It's a major step forward. State government and the private sector share a common goal, economic prosperity for New Jersey. Our New Commerce Commission will combine the best of both worlds.

It will attract the brightest economic minds and reward them for their creativity in keeping our economy robust. And it will position New Jersey to respond to a market economy with a market mindset, just as our competitors states are doing. In addition, this budget provides $5 million to create high-tech jobs and feels ranging from developing anti-cancer compounds to preserving the Delaware Bay oyster industry. It also offers an additional $10 million for customized job training to help New Jersey businesses retain and expand jobs. We can also do more to make it easier for New Jersey business to do business with the state. Currently, a new company has to register with three different state departments.

We're cutting that down to one. And right now, New Jersey companies have to send three different checks to three different departments when they file their annual report and make their tax unemployment and disability payments. We're changing that, too. Now, companies will have just one form to fill out, write one check and use one envelope, or if they wish they'll be able to file electronically instead. Today's reality is that states are competing fiercely for jobs and business, not just here at home, but abroad as well. That's why these plans aren't just something we should do. There's something we must do. And just as these actions will help secure our economic future, we must also look at how we sustain the richness of our culture. To this end, I propose some sweeping changes in our Department of State. For too long, we've scattered historical programs among several different departments. As a result, New Jersey's proud history hasn't received the attention it deserves.

We can't allow the state where Washington battled the Hessians, Edison invented the light bulb, and Sarah Vaughn learned to sing to lose its historical focus. My plan will re-energize the Department of State combining travel and tourism and many arts, history, and cultural programs now located in other departments. My task force on New Jersey history recommended this action. I'm convinced it will improve public appreciation for our state, and that will encourage more families from all over to visit New Jersey and see for themselves our many historic sites and cultural attractions. I'm proud of our state, my home and yours, and I want to make sure that more and more people know about New Jersey's hidden treasures and all we have to offer.

For years, we've worked to promote tourism through various media campaigns. It seems that every new governor has a new idea about how it should be done. When I took office, for example, we changed the tourism slogan. When my predecessor took office, he did the same thing, and you know what? We were both wrong. We've seen Virginia and New York succeed and saved taxpayers dollars by sticking with slogans that work. So today, I want to announce a slogan that will outlive this administration and those that follow. A simple phrase that says it all about New Jersey, the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth. I'd like to ask a long time friend of mine and yours to come forward and announce our new state slogan. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, our new state slogan is New Jersey and you perfect together.

Thank you, Governor Kane. I couldn't have said it better myself. Members of the legislature, a few weeks ago, I received a pamphlet from Rabbi Moshe Zef Weisberg. It said something that embodies my own hopes for New Jersey, and I'd like to share it with you. The pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, social responsibility, loving families and compassionate communities, pride in one's heritage, respect for self and others, faith and the courage of hope.

My friends, I think that says so well what we all want for our state. And while the process of drawing up and deliberating on a budget often seems a job best left for accountants, it's really not. A budget should advance our hopes and aspirations for New Jersey. That's what this budget does. It signals that we're serious about making our state more affordable and our schools stronger. It solidifies our commitment to preserving the beauty of New Jersey for generations to come while striving to make life better for those here now. And it fulfills the oath we all took just days ago to serve the people of this state to the very best of our abilities. I look forward to working with you in the weeks ahead to achieve these goals and many others that we all share. Together we can keep people talking. Talking about the great future of this great state and saying once again that New Jersey and you are perfect together. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Governor Whitman getting the congratulations of many including former governor Tom Kane as she wraps up the presentation of her fifth budget message to the legislature. The governor said that state spending has increased on average 2.9% in her five years as governor, although it's going to go up 5.4% if this budget approved is approved. The governor made a great point that there are no one shot gimmicks in this budget, but in her budget speech there were a couple of gimmicks that it will probably be remembered for.

She took a phone call from her daughter to symbolize the fact that she's doing away with the sales tax on long distance telephone calls within the state of New Jersey. And of course at the very end she had former governor Kane come up to suggest that she's going to go back to the old slogan, the travel slogan of New Jersey, New Jersey and you perfect together. This is Michael Aaron in the assembly chamber. Let's go back to Kent Manahan in the studio. Michael, thank you and of course we will rejoin you shortly with some democratic legislative reaction to the governor's address. In the meantime we have some reaction of our own here in our NJ and Trenton studios with our two political analyst Jim McQueenie and Roger Bodman. And Jim is this a budget that the Republican controlled legislature can buy? Do you think? I think in large part it is absolutely. I will disagree with the analysis of my friend Mr. McQueenie from before the speech because it does in fact offer substantial property tax relief. It is a sound and responsible budget across the board. It increases spending in certain areas, particularly in education. The governor was very aggressive in her defense of her actions and that of the legislature in years past to fully fund the so-called avid districts, the special needs districts that the court has continually said need more and more and more money.

Where she has said properly so on my view that a legitimate amount of money has been placed there. And I think it just covers a whole host of other areas from areas of revitalization of our cities, revitalizing cities in terms of the program she announced in her inaugural address. And frankly it leaves a big surplus, a $650 million dollar surplus, the biggest surplus in state history. Large enough to also include that 312 or so million that the special master is calling for in those special needs districts. I don't think you're going to see that one the day is done however. So Jim, what's not to like in this budget from a democratic perspective? I think Democrats look at this again in the last election. One of the reasons it was so close was because of this enchantment about property taxes. And I think it is a very severe thing still lingering on. There was a promise with the election that that would be dealt with, the governor said I feel you're paying. And in this particular budget, the direct amount of money going for property releases is really fractional in this budget, literally pennies on the dollars of this budget.

That's going to be an issue I think because that pain is still there as most people who were paying these property taxes see. The speech itself actually was a fairly traditional speech here addressed the main areas keeping the state green schools, although she did draw a line in the playground I guess here, in terms of the debate saying maybe enough is enough. And I think that might be, that might turn out to be more debateful going forward here because I think that's saying something that's probably another constitutional challenge if she wants to change the constitution for the issue of super majorities for taxation. But otherwise it was a good speech, it was a breezy speech and it was also it had gimmicks that work. She has the gift of speech making that Clinton has, I think, for persuasion. A breezy speech. I like that, Jim. What about the fiscal prudence of keeping a surplus as highest? I think the issue there really is you have to sort of look at it from both sides. She's proposing a dramatic departure from current policy. And that is this two thirds vote that would be required to raise taxes. That clearly is going to be a contentious issue within a legislature, though I think it can be passed.

On the flip side of that, if you make it more difficult to raise taxes, you should responsibly, I think, take some of the money that you get during good solid fiscal times like we're now enjoying and put some of that money in the bank for the so-called rainy day. She's in fact doing that. So I think the two are bounced in her mind. If you're going to make it more difficult to raise the taxes, you ought to put a substantial surplus away. I think you're going to see something happening here that's going to be a little disconcerting as this budget goes through. As you know, this budget is just a proposed budget that the governor has to have digested, if you will, by 120 members of the legislature from now to midnight on June 30th, and it has to come out balanced in this case. I think a lot of this stuff that's in there right now is going to be true, but it's never more than 1% on it. It will pretty much look like she's at, but it is one of these things. I thought the irony of this thing is, this is a speech that's incredibly generous. It's one of these speeches that, you know, don't worry, be happy, kind of speech in the budget. But yet it's being given in the context of the state having a lesser credit ranking now, and that's very rare. I said this is a traditional speech and how it was given in the air as a dress. It's not traditional to give a budget address with a lower credit rating, which the state has.

Because of the one-shot gimmick of last year? Well, no, not in fact. Again, you have a selective memory. It does, in fact. Who could forget 2.8 billion dollars in bonds? To tidy over a bunch of garbage. I gather you do forget when, in fact, the bond rating was dropped, and was in the previous administration when a certain former governor sold a portion of the state interstate highway system of the turnpike for 400 million bucks to balance the then budget. That's when the AAA bond rating was lost in history will prove me correct. When this, the point being that this budget illuminates entirely all one-shot fiscal gimmicks. But if we look at it. After the mother of one-shot gimmicks though, that has to be said. The last word on the one-shot is because if you look at what it does cover, and you run down the gamut of education, municipal government, open space, environment, transportation, college age, college aid. And for two-year institutions as well, there's a proposal for a 10-year license, which got a huge ovation there for New Jersey drivers, the smart card technology, privatization, the elimination of the commerce department to save. The best part, New Jersey, and you perfect together is back. I just think it's brilliant and smart that the state has spent so much time and effort in those years branding it.

It worked. We should get it back. We got it back, and I congratulate the God. I always thought that the Republican, this was too much of a Republican slogan for tourism. What a difference in a state mix. That is it. That wasn't it. Sorry. So it's good that the change stood back. So you approve of that. So with the old one that Burnhead, New Jersey's got it. Got it. Got luck. I think perfect together is a fact. Well, got debt right now. I think we have a surplus. A couple of seconds left. Your perspective on the super majority, which the governor is calling for in order to raise tax. I think it's going to be very problematic on the legislature because legislators are going to be put in the position of a straight jacket imposed on themselves by themselves. Property tax relief will reach a worse situation, but basically they're going to be strapped from responding. They won't be able to really respond. It's like a fire department being told the fire department is only going to respond to five along fires. But a lot of people are going to get burnt before that five along. A lot of towns are looking for state help for these property tax relief. And you're going to have legislators running for re-election in a couple of years.

We're going to have to say we also heard you're paying and we decide not to respond. All right. Jim and Roger, thank you. And we're going to take a break from our NJN coverage of the governor's budget message. And when we come back, we'll go back to the state house for some legislative reaction to the governor's remarks today. We'll be right back. Oh, okay. Yeah.

This is an NJN News Special Report, governor Whitman's budget message to the state legislature. Welcome back to NJN's coverage of governor Whitman's budget message to the state legislature. The governor has just delivered her budget message. We're going to go back now to the state house where NJN senior political correspondent Michael Aaron is standing by with some legislative reaction to the governor's remarks, Michael. Kent, the next step for this budget is legislative hearings and we're here with the four legislative budget officers. I'm here with Senator Bob Latel, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee from Franklin in Sussex County, Assemblyman Rich Bagger, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, Republican from Westfield, Democratic Senator Bernard Kennedy of Hoboken and Democratic Assemblyman Joe Charles of Jersey City. The Republicans I gather from what I sensed before we went on the air are pretty upbeat about this speech and about this budget. Correct, Senator?

Yeah, I think it's a great budget. Well delivered and certainly covers a lot of wonderful points that people wanted to hear about. Assemblyman Bagger, your feelings about this budget and the speech? It's a really positive budget and a great speech and this sets forth a really fiscally responsible road map for the state. A fiscally responsible road map says Assemblyman Bagger or Senator Kenny? I think it's an improvement over the last several budgets, not any major gimmicks in it, but we're very concerned about the property tax relief effort here. It's missing. We're going to talk about that in a second. Assemblyman Charles, your quick take on the budget? Well, the speech was well delivered. The budget, it wasn't so well received by me. I don't think it'll be well received by the property tax pays of the state of New Jersey either. You both hit on the buzzword property taxes. What's the problem? According to the governor and her administration, there's $850 million more in property tax relief in this budget, mainly in the form of school aid and municipal aid than in the current budget. It's actually very little new property tax relief. In November's election, the governor promised that she had heard the voice of the people of New Jersey was going to address it in a bold way.

There's nothing here in additional property tax relief. In fact, the governor has reduced by $200 million, the amount of money and the general fund that went to property tax relief last year. We're heading in the wrong direction, and quite frankly, although I think a lot of the things the governor said were good, I'm very, very surprised and disappointed that property tax relief didn't emerge here as the number one issue. Can we get a response to that? Well, I think the property tax relief does exist, and I think that the legislature will work hard to develop a more aggressive program high for one of our already testified before the mayor's at the legal municipalities that I was going to attempt to increase the block grant program. Something in bagger, your response to the charge that there's no property tax relief in this budget? Virtually, the entire increase in this budget goes to increase state aid to schools and state aid to municipalities. Together, the funds are going to go to offset property taxes total, many hundreds of millions of dollars. There's five or six hundred million dollars in new school aid, and that would otherwise have to come from property taxes.

This is a large increase to state aid to municipalities in schools. Isn't that property tax relief assemblyman? I think it depends on how you spell relief. If you spell relief funding programs that you're statutorily mandated or ready to fund, then you might call it relief. The property tax payer calls relief a reduction in amount of money they have to pay on their property taxes. This budget won't do that. So it's not property tax relief. Governor called for a constitutional amendment that would require a super majority to pass a tax hike in the future at the state level. Senator let's tell what you thought about that. Well, that's certainly worthy of debate. It's an idea that's been circulated before, and I think the legislature needs to hold some hearings on it to find out what the public has to say. Senator Kennedy, what do you have to say? With all due respect to the governor, I'm not in favor of tyranny by the minority.

If we do this, the state and the people of New Jersey will be held hostage to 13 senators in the Senate and 26, 27 assembly people in the assembly. Any fiscal measure, the children of the state of New Jersey, those kids that were supposed to educate will be held hostage by one third of the elected officials. I'll say, you know, let's do it if we have every local governing body in this state have to have two thirds of its local representatives vote to increase property taxes. I didn't hear the governor say that. Something in Bagger, some tax hikes like perhaps a cigarette tax hike have been fairly close votes in the legislature. We might not have a charity care solution if we had a requirement for a super majority for tax hikes. What's your feeling about it? Well, the tobacco tax increase that we passed last December passed pretty handily and I think would have met the two thirds test. It's an interesting proposal that I think we're going to have to look at very carefully in the legislature because it's a major constitutional change and a major constitutional issue. Interestingly, it would require bipartisanship in the fiscal policies of the state, which wouldn't be all bad.

Something in Charles? Well, it sounds very good, but I think in practice it won't be very practical. It's going to be very difficult to get that two thirds majority on these tax increase measures. I think that in some cases, things are so important that they should not be held hostage to the 66% voting super majority. Senator talked a good deal about the Abbott versus Burke school decision in her speech. It was probably the, I would say the most tension in her speech came when she addressed Abbott versus Burke. And the $312 million that Judge Michael Patrick King has recommended be spent additionally as supplemental aid in the special needs school districts. You Democrats are upset that this morning is not in the budget. Do I read you correctly? I am. The governor had one remark in her speech that I think is contrary to the reality at least in recent years. She said that this governor and this legislature knows how to take care of the educational funding. That's not true. That's proven by Cipher. It passed the law in December of 1996 that purported to deal with the thorough and efficient requirement.

Supreme Court said no legislature, no governor. You have not dealt with this constitutional requirement. Well, we need to tell you how to do it. So I'm disappointed that the governor is again not dealing with the constitution responsibility of this state government legislative and executive to handle the Abbott issues and to deal with the thorough and efficient requirement. Do you think this budget should contain some of that $312 million? No, it's not an order and it's certainly only a recommendation at this point in time. And if there is going to be an order, I think the members of the Supreme Court need to show some common sense and native intelligence and sit down with the governor and the legislature and work out a time schedule that we can afford and we can pay for. She was challenging the court today, wasn't she? No, I think she was just sending them a message that we're here and we're part of this government too. And she was saying don't make us spend money on three to four year olds. That's a legislative and executive responsibility. The constitution says we only have a duty to spend money on five to 18 year olds. I read that as sort of a strong message to the court.

Well, but it was a message to the court that let them know that that's our opinion and there are three distinct branches of government and we're all co-equal branches of government. And they have to start recognizing that they just can't sit over there and dictate things to us without talking to us. Senator Kennedy, while the governor doesn't explicitly want to put any of that $312 million into the budget, she is planning a $650 million surplus. So if there is an order, the money is there and since the money is in the budget, right? Yeah, I think the governor is just being politically rhetorical on this issue, at least to a degree. The huge surplus shows that the governor is prepared to address the court and I would expect that the governor and her administration are going to try to negotiate the number down. It may be a payment schedule so that the money is there in this budget. But I disagree very much with my Republican colleagues that the governor has responsibility, the children of the state. She said in her inaugural address that the urban areas are a priority. How can you make the urban areas a priority without having quality education there? It doesn't go together. So I think the governor has to re-examine her policy.

Some women beggar, you're taking on whether the money really is there in the budget for Abbott versus Burke and the governor is positioning on it today? I'm pleased to see an adequate surplus proposed in the state budget of $650 million. The greatest portion of that, $500 million is there because of the rainy day fund. That law that's been on the books for a number of years. I don't think we should start planning on spending that surplus. That's there to get us at an adequate level of reserves and keep our good bond rating on Wall Street. But is it your understanding of the rainy day fund that that's just the sort of emergency fund the state would be able to tap if there were Supreme Court order and the governor decided she wanted to meet it? I think there's a strong feeling on the part of the governor and a majority in the legislature that Judge King's recommendations go beyond the court's constitutional responsibilities. If fully funded the Abbott versus Burke parity in this budget for the second year in a row, spending more money on the special needs districts than ever before in the history of our state, and this $312 million above and beyond that, and the state's position in court that will be argued before the Supreme Court is that should not be constitutionally mandated.

There were a couple of gimmicks in this speech today that we were talking about before we went on the air. I think everyone thought it was pretty clever when the governor took a phone call from her daughter to symbolize the fact that she's calling for doing away with the telecommunications tax. That was great. We like that. Mike, do you have a phone here? I'd like to call a taxpayers of the state of New Jersey. Tell them that they are not getting property tax relief. I think that phone is downstairs, the one that the governor activated. The governor also called former governor Tom Kane up to the podium to say that she wants to go back to the old state tourism slogan. New Jersey and you perfect together, which Tom Kane and his inimitable accent made legendary. Really what's your feeling about that as a permanent state travel slogan? Well, I think it's great. It was wonderful to see Tom Kane back here in the assembly chambers again. He started out here 30 years ago when he was first elected to the state assembly, and I think it was a good idea and a good program to get started again.

Assemblyman Bagger, you agree? It's great that we have that slogan back, and I think it's great that the governor is combining a travel and tourism with cultural and historic and arts organizations under the department of state. There's a real opportunity for synergy there to promote New Jersey. The current slogan is what a different estate makes. I heard Jim McQueeny, before we went on the air, say what a difference an estate makes, comment on the backgrounds of our current governor and the former governor who were up there. What did you think about this slogan? Perfect. No partisan problems with it. Governor Kane is a favorite of most people across party lines, and the slogan is a good slogan. Two more surprises in the budget message today. The governor wants to restructure this.

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