Environment Department of Environmental Protection Allows Construction of Power Plant in Newark Community - On July 18, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released a decision allowing the construction of a controversial backup power plant in the Ironbound community of Newark. The DEP decided that a law preventing polluting projects in overburdened communities should not [...]
Education Legislature Approves Bills and Budget to Target Literacy in Young Children - On June 28, the NJ legislature passed two bills and allocated funding in the state budget to target low literacy rates in school-age children due to the COVID-19 pandemic. S2644 would establish a working group within the Department of Education (DOE) to provide [...]
Digital/Tech Legislature Passes Tax Incentive Program for Artificial Intelligence - On June 28, both houses passed S3432, legislation that establishes Next New Jersey, a tax incentive program to encourage artificial intelligence (AI) development. Under the Economic Development Authority-administered program, businesses which collect more than half of their revenue or devote more than half their staff to [...]
Education Lawmakers Abandon Plan to Subsidize Private School Tuition - Sponsors of the proposed New Jersey Student Support Act withdrew the bill following widespread stakeholder opposition. The bill would have directed the state to spend $37.5 million annually on tax credits to enable students to attend private school. Taxpayers could claim credit for contributing to organizations [...]
Education Community Colleges Resist Budgetary Cuts - Community colleges statewide have spoken out against a $20 million reduction in state aid which will halt colleges’ expansion plans and force them to raise tuition and cut programming and services. State aid should account for a third of funding for community colleges, yet 55% of funding currently comes [...]
Education Assembly Education Committee Advances ‘Freedom to Read’ Bill - The Assembly Education Committee advanced on June 6 A3446, a bill which requires local districts to create policies on book curation in school and public libraries that bar the removal of books based on authors’ backgrounds, origins, or views. The legislation would also make librarians immune [...]
Education Legislators Advance Measures to Address Teacher Shortage - On May 20, the state Senate passed two pieces of legislation to alleviate NJ’s teacher shortage. S1287 would bar officials from requiring teaching candidates to pass a basic skills test to obtain teaching certification. Some testing requirements would remain for candidates in specific subject areas. The bill [...]
Cannabis Bill Advances to Regulate Sale of Hemp Products - The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced S3235 on May 16. This bill would regulate the sale of certain intoxicating hemp products with low levels (below 0.5 milligrams) of THC, the chemical which causes intoxication. Federal legislation passed in 2018 enabled the sale of hemp products such as [...]
Education Snowballing Effects of FAFSA Processing Delays - The problematic rollout of a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid form – Better FAFSA – has caused a snowball effect on higher education enrollment. The simplified form is intended to improve completion rates, yet a delayed start, slow processing, and lingering errors have had the opposite [...]
Cannabis Appellate Court Affirms NJ Recreational Cannabis Law May Coexist with Federal Law - A New Jersey Appellate Court ruled on May 1 that state laws enabling recreational cannabis sales may coexist with federal law. Residents of Highland Park, NJ, challenged two 2021 ordinances allowing cannabis retail, lounges, and delivery services in the borough, arguing the [...]
