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Essex County Politics · April 20, 2021 3:17 AM
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By MATT FRIEDMAN
Politico
04/19/2021
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s directive may help allay the concerns of criminal justice advocates who did not want to see mandatory minimum sentences upheld over a political fight, leading some to throw their support behind the legislative effort.
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Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday vetoed a bill that would do away with mandatory minimum prison terms for non-violent crimes, excising sections that would eliminate the sentences for corruption offenses.
At the same time, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a directive requiring that prosecutors make use of a provision in New Jersey law allowing them to set aside mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes.
“I am particularly troubled by the notion that this bill would eliminate mandatory prison time for elected officials who abuse their office for their own benefit, such as those who take bribes. Our representative democracy is based on the premise that our elected officials represent the interests of their constituents, not their own personal interests,” Murphy wrote in his veto message, which also took a shot at former President Donald Trump. “I cannot sign a bill into law that would undermine that premise and further erode our residents’ trust in our democratic form of government, particularly after four years of a presidential administration whose corruption was as pervasive as it was brazen.”
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · April 20, 2021 3:05 AM
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JOHN REITMEYER, BUDGET/FINANCE WRITER | APRIL 20, 2021
NJ Spotlight News
Motor Vehicle Commission chief administrator Sue Fulton
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The head of New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission faced another grilling from lawmakers who said their constituents continue to be frustrated with frequent office closures and other difficulties securing appointments for services during the ongoing pandemic.
During a hearing Monday that was supposed to be about her agency’s latest state budget request, MVC chief administrator Sue Fulton instead was peppered with questions about its ongoing struggles to adapt to challenges posed by the health crisis.
“Something has got to get done,” said Assembly Budget Committee Chair Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Essex). “There’s got to be something we can do in order to make sure that people are getting what they need.”
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · April 19, 2021 3:03 AM
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LILO H. STAINTON, HEALTH CARE WRITER | APRIL 19, 2021
NJ Spotlight News
April 14, 2021: Dr. Shereef Elnahal, president and CEO of University Hospital, Newark at the announcement of state funding for a study of a potential new hospital
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A new University Hospital in Newark should include modernized operating rooms, a stroke center, additional space for liver transplants, and innovatively designed areas to better support primary care and help address underlying social issues like poverty, housing challenges or poor nutrition.
That is the vision of Dr. Shereef Elnahal, University’s president and CEO, and it comes with a current estimated price tag of $1 billion. The existing 42-year-old facility — twice the age of New Jersey’s other hospitals, on average — suffers from occasional flooding and regular overcrowding in the emergency room, officials note, and is not built for today’s team-based approach to medicine.
As the state’s only true public hospital with a unique mandate to care for Newark residents, a new University Hospital needs to enable “newer, more innovative models to meet not only the clinical needs but also the upstream social needs that patients have that ultimately determine their health outcomes,” said Elnahal, a former state health commissioner.
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Posted by
Essex County Politics · April 16, 2021 3:49 AM
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By MATT FRIEDMAN
Politico
04/15/2021
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaks during a joint meeting of the Democratic-led Assembly and Senate in Trenton.
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday began his third major push for new gun control laws since taking office in 2018. He cited rising gun violence in cities across the country, including in parts of New Jersey, which already has some of the nation's most stringent gun laws.
The governor, a liberal Democrat who is up for reelection this fall, said the measures were “perhaps the most sweeping gun violence prevention package in the nation” and would “guarantee unquestionably that New Jersey will have the strongest gun violence prevention laws in the United States of America.”
Murphy unveiled his proposals at a press conference in Newark, where he was joined by high-ranking lawmakers from both houses of the state Legislature. But at least some of the proposals are likely to hit a wall in the state Senate.
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