TRENTON – For the first time since the pandemic, New Jersey’s chief officer had a more traditional audience for his state mandated status update.
On Jan. 10, NJ Governor Phil Murphy addressed the state legislature in the annual State of NJ Address. After glossing over some previous year accomplishments, Murphy then settled into what he wants to achieve going forward.
For your review, here are excerpts of the address:
“…Ten days ago, a new year dawned upon New Jersey. With the close of 2022, we ended our fifth year of partnership to make New Jersey the stronger and fairer state we know it must be to support our future ambitions.
“And as we start 2023, and embark on Year Six of our journey together, the state of our state is just that. We are stronger and we are fairer. We are moving confidently in the right direction – forward.
“Put simply, we are building the Next New Jersey. A New Jersey ready to lead the way for our nation. A New Jersey with more possibilities. With more safety and more justice. With more freedoms protected. With greater affordability for more families… And with businesses and industries, and jobs and careers, that did not exist in our state a few short years ago. New Jersey is truly becoming the State of Opportunity.
“We are shaping this Next New Jersey in the service of growing and securing the middle class. As you’ve heard me say from day one – and this will not change on my last day as your governor – it is my mission, and ours, to make this state work from the middle out and the bottom up.
“I know where I came from and that is why I always know who I work for. Like so many New Jerseyans, I am guided by family, fairness, and faith in our future.
“Those are the values I learned growing up. In our family, my parents worked hard, yet living paycheck-to-paycheck was too often our reality. They instilled in their four children – my late brother, my sisters, and me – the values of education, hard work, and faith.
“The saving grace back then was if you worked hard you would get ahead and you would do better than your parents. And each of us did. That is our story.
“But today, that notion of the American Dream is harder to achieve for too many people. And that is why I am dedicated to creating pathways to opportunity.
“One of these pathways just got wider. Ten days ago, the minimum wage increased to $14.13 an hour, an increase that will help more than 400,000 New Jerseyans better provide for themselves and their families.
“They are better off because we worked together to strengthen the road to the middle class. Thank you.
“Anyone who is willing to work hard should be able to do better than those who came before them. Everyone deserves a fair shot, and everyone must do their fair share.
“Reasonable, responsible government is back and paying dividends for New Jersey’s families.
“We are rebuilding the American Dream right here – more expansive and inclusive than ever before – for all willing to put in the work.
“So today, every New Jersey family can be proud to live in a state which, in so many ways, is not just a model for our nation, but also leading our nation… Surely, fostering a stronger, fairer, responsible, more affordable, and growing New Jersey is what each and every one of us here were elected to do. And regardless of whether our names are followed by a letter “D” or a letter “R,” this is work to which we are all committed.
“Let us never forget that in the grand ranking of things we are partisans fourth, elected officials third, New Jerseyans second, and Americans first and foremost…
“…Together, we created the ANCHOR Property Tax Relief program – a historic $2 billion investment in direct property tax relief. This is money going right back into the pockets of roughly two million New Jersey middle-class and working homeowners, seniors, and tenants – households in which well more than half of all of our residents live.
“For more than a million homeowners, ANCHOR’s direct relief will effectively undo years of property tax increases – even up to a decade’s worth.
“Let me put it this way. A middle-class family making our state’s average household income of just under $125,000 and paying our statewide average of $9,300 in property taxes is going to receive $1,500 in direct relief – effectively dropping their property taxes to a level not seen since 2011.
“And for nearly one million renters, ANCHOR’s tenant relief will cushion rent hikes…
“…We continued to increase our investment in our public schools to take further pressure off of property taxpayers – a total increase of more than $2 billion since our administration took office. And every penny of that is property tax relief.
“We enacted a state-level child tax credit on top of more than a dozen other tax cuts for our middle-class and working families, seniors, and veterans. We gave parents a sales-tax holiday on the back-to-school items their kids needed to get a strong start this past September. We gave countless New Jerseyans a break by making Island Beach State Park, and all state parks, free and also by waiving numerous licensing fees. And we started a streak of three consecutive credit upgrades because the rating agencies trusted our leadership. These new ratings mean money saved for every New Jersey taxpayer…
“…I noted our ongoing efforts to end the epidemic of gun violence that infects too many of our communities – not just around our state, but across the country.
“Because of New Jersey’s strong gun safety laws, in 2022, we saw shootings go down 26 percent and gun homicides go down 17 percent. But many of our communities are also living amidst another persistent wave of car thefts.
“Over the past year, our administration has focused clearly on this problem. We grew the State Police’s Auto Theft Task Force to give it greater ability to investigate and disrupt car theft rings, including adding new detectives and prosecutors.
“Police pursuit policies were revised to explicitly permit the pursuit of stolen vehicles. And we marked $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to purchase and install automated license plate recognition technologies for local police to better track and trace not just stolen vehicles, but those being used to shuttle would-be car thieves into targeted neighborhoods.
“These steps are already helping to bring down the numbers of car thefts. From September through December, car thefts were down 13 percent from the same four months of 2021. And together we’re going to continue driving these numbers down because we all know there’s more we can do.
“In fact, three months ago, I stood alongside the legislative leaders from both houses to unveil a package to further tighten our laws against car theft.
“So, I ask you today to make passing these measures a top priority. If you send these bills to my desk, I will enthusiastically sign them…
“…Through our burgeoning Jersey Pride and through our continued hard work, we know our shared future is bright. It is bright because we are building the Next New Jersey. Everything we do is guided by our belief that tomorrow can be better than today for the state we all love.
As Nelson Mandela said: ‘May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. It always seems impossible until it’s done.’
“Focusing on hope is not simply an act of optimism. It is an unshakable belief in this state and everyone who calls New Jersey home.
“Some governors boast that their state is where ‘woke goes to die.’ I’m not sure I know what that’s supposed to mean.
“But I can tell you very confidently – New Jersey is where opportunity lives, where education is valued, where justice is embraced, where compassion is the norm, and where the American Dream is alive and well.
“We have done so much to make New Jersey the best state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family, but we can be even better. We have residents who still need us to extend a hand in compassion and partnership. We have challenges to continue to rise up to meet. And we have new brass rings at which to reach.
“Governing is not easy. It’s hard work. But together we have taken on everything that’s come our way. We’ve taken on every challenge with that same swagger we’re known for as New Jerseyans. And now is no time for us to stop and admire the view when a brighter horizon remains forever ahead.
“Thank you all so very much. May God bless you and your families. And may God forever bless the great State of New Jersey and the United States of America.”
