June 25, 2009 - 12:15pm
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GREENWALD: 'BUDGET FOCUSES ON OUR CORE MISSION AS A STATE'
By drosemanGREENWALD: 'BUDGET FOCUSES ON OUR CORE MISSION AS A STATE'
(TRENTON) - Below are remarks as prepared for delivery by Assembly Budget Chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) at the opening of the Assembly debate on the state budget:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I want to thank the hundreds of people who came to our public hearings and met with us in our offices to make sure their voices were heard in this process.
Sadly, some skeptics dismissed them...that somehow the people who came to tell us their stories weren't "real."
But I strongly disagree.
They were real - they were honest - and they were heard.
This budget is an investment in them and in the countless New Jersey families who rely on us to ensure their values are protected and strengthened.
Mr. Speaker, what a difference a week makes.
Last Thursday we were prepared to pass a budget comfortable in the knowledge that the just-expired tax amnesty program had met our expectations for bringing in new, much-needed revenue that could keep us from having to cut vital programs even deeper.
Then we learned that the Division of Taxation was being literally flooded with tens of thousands of last-minute amnesty filings...and that what we had originally hoped back in March would be a $100 million effort had, by June, become a nearly $700-million effort.
With that news, the prudent action was to hold off, reassess and get to work to ensure that New Jersey's property taxpayers will be the sole and rightful beneficiaries of this newfound revenue.
Today, we can deliver on that Democratic commitment to put property taxpayers first.
For seniors, the commitment made at the outset to preserve the same levels of property tax relief as last year remains unchanged.
But now, this budget also will restore property tax rebates for families with incomes up to $75,000 and property tax deductions for households with incomes up to $250,000 - an overwhelming majority of New Jersey households.
We are honoring our promise to put this revenue to work to help New Jersey's property taxpayers, not grow the bureaucracy.
At no point have we lost sight of the simple fact that New Jersey is caught in the nation's greatest recession in three generations.
The key spending reductions we have targeted over the past 107 days since the Governor first proposed his budget will remain...this budget will be balanced with less state resources.
But it also will ensure that government's core functions and our residents' core values remained intact.
This budget is a reminder of the extent of the economic collapse across the globe.
In real terms, this budget is $3.9 billion less than last year - a unbelievable sum.
But what's even more unbelievable it that this budget is $2.2 billion less than Governor Corzine's first budget enacted three years ago.
No Governor, no Legislature, in the modern history of this state has enacted a budget that was lower than a budget enacted three years earlier.
But despite the historic level of cuts, this budget focuses on our core mission as a state - educating our children and young adults; improving the health of all of our citizens; and keeping residents safe.
Luckily, in the midst of this fiscal crisis emerged a partner in Washington DC - President Obama - who understands the central need for the federal government to partner with states like ours to put people back to work and help us rebuild and grow from within.
For many years, we have sat by as federal administrations refused to provide New Jersey with its fair return for what we provide to the federal government.
Who can forget the days earlier this decade when Wyoming was getting a greater per capita share of federal homeland security money than New Jersey?
Certainly the challenges we faced in crafting this budget were not eliminated by the infusion of roughly $2 billion in federal stimulus dollars.
As the economy forced us to change our focus from trimming the fat to cutting to the bone, these funds became essential to ensuring we didn't have to perform too many amputations.
Even in these tough economic times, we are going to be able to make investments in core programs and services that strike at the heart of our New Jersey values.
And we should be proud of that.
And as we look at what is happening in other statehouses across the country, we might also begin to realize that things could be much worse.
During our budget committee hearing, I heard arguments from the other side that New Jersey is not like other states.
I say, thank goodness for that.
In California, K-through-12 education is being cut more than $7 billion; in Nevada, more than $700 million; in Arizona, by up to $900 million.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're actually investing $271 million more in our classrooms...and we're doing it through the school funding formula that laid to rest 30 years of court battles.
Connecticut is cutting support for higher education by 10 percent; Colorado is slicing its higher education assistance by $300 million.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're actually increasing higher education funding by $77 million including $34 million more for tuition aid grants and NJ STARS.
And we are capping state college and university tuition hikes at 3 percent to ensure students whose families have been hit hard by the recession can continue to go to school and prepare themselves for the new economy.
In Louisiana, lawmakers are eyeing a $345 million cut in Medicaid programs; Tennessee is even considering cutting 90,000 people from the Medicaid rolls.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - our Medicaid program will continue to be the health safety net for 840,000 residents - and we will do it without co-payments.
In Colorado, lawmakers have proposed eliminating $90 million in property tax relief for senior citizens.
But New Jersey isn't like that other state - 600,000 New Jersey seniors will continue to receive rebates that average $1300; we've expanded the Senior Freeze to include 70,000 more households; 300,000 additional seniors will see no change in their property tax deduction.
And let's not fail to mention the 510,000 non-senior rebates and 200,000-plus property tax deductions that are being restored.
South Carolina is proposing the closure of three prisons and the early release of 3,000 inmates; California may release nearly 60,000 inmates.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're making the investments needed to ensure our police and law enforcement personnel have the tools they need to assist over 225,000 motorists, conduct 20,000 criminal investigations, arrest over 5,000 drunk drivers, conduct 120 major crime investigations, arrest 1,300 fugitives, locate 95 missing persons, investigate nearly 300 child exploitation cases and 300 cyber-crimes, perform more than 3,500 DNA analyses, monitor more than 16,000 parolees, make 1,600 emergency helicopter flights and handle 5.5 million criminal history records inquiries.
Michigan, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona all are looking to cut funding for veterans groups and programs.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - every single one of our citizen soldiers will have access to the vital health care, job training and other services they need.
In Albany and Sacramento, the budget process has been replaced by bedlam; honest debate by parliamentary maneuvering and backroom dealings.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we crafted this budget with full transparency and public input. And we did it well before our constitutional deadline.
If New Jersey hadn't already separated itself from the rest of the nation in how we have handled our budget in this unprecedented economic climate because of the emphasis on responsible spending cuts and maximizing federal dollars, now we have.
As other states continue to make unconscionable cuts to their residents core values, we continue to strengthen ours.
Mr. Speaker, this budget's critics had three months to offer real alternatives.
That did not happen.
Time and again, those opposed to this budget sounded a droning doomsday chorus, lamenting cut after cut after cut after cut.
But when it came time to put their ideas on the table, they were days late and billions of dollars short.
The FY 2010 budget development began with a shortfall of more than $8 billion.
And what did the other side of the aisle suggest - $783 million in cuts.
Even if every one of their suggestions were viable, they wouldn't even cover ten percent of the budget gap.
And believe me, viability is not the strong suit of the suggestions.
They began with the tired refrain of cutting over $200 million from the poorest school districts in the state.
For the first time in decades the state Supreme Court has upheld a school funding formula.
Cutting $200 million would send us right back to Court, and make no mistake - we would lose and the children of New Jersey would lose.
The Republican plan included $48 million in cuts to higher education - cuts that would violate the maintenance of effort requirements for receiving federal stimulus money.
This cut - harmful in and of itself - would be severely compounded by the loss of $74 million in federal assistance.
Instead of holding tuitions to a 3 percent increase, New Jersey college students would be looking at double digit tuition increases.
And maybe that would be okay with my friends on the other side of the aisle.
Over the past months we have heard them time and time again question whether we should be accepting the federal stimulus money we already see creating jobs and rebuilding our state.
Mr. Speaker we're going to hear many numbers bandied about today.
I expected to hear spending figures lumped together with no distinction between state spending and federal spending.
But that will not tell the story of this budget.
I want to take just a moment and tell you about some of the numbers I care about - numbers that represent the lives of the hard working residents of New Jersey:
· 1.4 million children will be educated in our public schools.
· 146,000 senior citizens will participate in the senior property tax freeze program.
· Nearly 600,000 senior citizens will receive Homestead Rebates.
· More than 510,000 non-senior households will receive property tax rebates.
· 200,000 homeowners will see the reinstatement of their property tax deduction.
· Over 840,000 residents will be served by Medicaid and 300,000 will be served by FamilyCare.
· 170,000 senior citizens will receive prescription assistance.
· 30,000 women will receive prenatal care and 210,000 children will be screened for lead poisoning.
· 275,000 clients will be helped through community mental health services.
· 4 million home meals will be delivered.
· 30 million pounds of food will be served through school nutrition programs.
· Nearly 400 companies will receive Business Employment Incentive Program Grants.
· 230,000 students will attend our public colleges and universities - 58,000 of whom will receive Tuition Aid Grants.
· 1,600 injured residents will be flown by emergency helicopter.
· 450,000 commuters will ride NJ Transit trains and buses.
· 13 million tons of solid waste will be recycled.
· 40,000 homes will be tested for radon.
· 2,300 tons of debris will be removed from our beaches.
· 17 million visitors will come to our parks and forests.
· 100,000 veterans will be served by outreach and assistance services.
I could go on for hours about the lives that will be touched by every line-item in this budget.
I won't.
But, I will tell you one thing I know for sure - not one of those touched lives cares if they are helped by a State dollar or a Federal dollar or an Authority dollar - they just care that they are helped.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that even in these worst of times, we're going to see the very best of New Jersey - a state that values ingenuity and creativity and knows that moving our economy ahead will not happen overnight nor unless the doomsday singers stop harping on what they perceive is wrong with New Jersey and embrace everything we're doing right in New Jersey.
New Jerseyans are famously tough and know full well these extraordinary times require extraordinary courage to make tough decisions.
Together we will see the state through this recession and back to prosperity.
On behalf of my Democratic colleagues on the Assembly Budget Committee and on behalf of every New Jerseyan who deserves details and answers, not empty rhetoric, I move the bill.
(TRENTON) - Below are remarks as prepared for delivery by Assembly Budget Chairman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) at the opening of the Assembly debate on the state budget:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I want to thank the hundreds of people who came to our public hearings and met with us in our offices to make sure their voices were heard in this process.
Sadly, some skeptics dismissed them...that somehow the people who came to tell us their stories weren't "real."
But I strongly disagree.
They were real - they were honest - and they were heard.
This budget is an investment in them and in the countless New Jersey families who rely on us to ensure their values are protected and strengthened.
Mr. Speaker, what a difference a week makes.
Last Thursday we were prepared to pass a budget comfortable in the knowledge that the just-expired tax amnesty program had met our expectations for bringing in new, much-needed revenue that could keep us from having to cut vital programs even deeper.
Then we learned that the Division of Taxation was being literally flooded with tens of thousands of last-minute amnesty filings...and that what we had originally hoped back in March would be a $100 million effort had, by June, become a nearly $700-million effort.
With that news, the prudent action was to hold off, reassess and get to work to ensure that New Jersey's property taxpayers will be the sole and rightful beneficiaries of this newfound revenue.
Today, we can deliver on that Democratic commitment to put property taxpayers first.
For seniors, the commitment made at the outset to preserve the same levels of property tax relief as last year remains unchanged.
But now, this budget also will restore property tax rebates for families with incomes up to $75,000 and property tax deductions for households with incomes up to $250,000 - an overwhelming majority of New Jersey households.
We are honoring our promise to put this revenue to work to help New Jersey's property taxpayers, not grow the bureaucracy.
At no point have we lost sight of the simple fact that New Jersey is caught in the nation's greatest recession in three generations.
The key spending reductions we have targeted over the past 107 days since the Governor first proposed his budget will remain...this budget will be balanced with less state resources.
But it also will ensure that government's core functions and our residents' core values remained intact.
This budget is a reminder of the extent of the economic collapse across the globe.
In real terms, this budget is $3.9 billion less than last year - a unbelievable sum.
But what's even more unbelievable it that this budget is $2.2 billion less than Governor Corzine's first budget enacted three years ago.
No Governor, no Legislature, in the modern history of this state has enacted a budget that was lower than a budget enacted three years earlier.
But despite the historic level of cuts, this budget focuses on our core mission as a state - educating our children and young adults; improving the health of all of our citizens; and keeping residents safe.
Luckily, in the midst of this fiscal crisis emerged a partner in Washington DC - President Obama - who understands the central need for the federal government to partner with states like ours to put people back to work and help us rebuild and grow from within.
For many years, we have sat by as federal administrations refused to provide New Jersey with its fair return for what we provide to the federal government.
Who can forget the days earlier this decade when Wyoming was getting a greater per capita share of federal homeland security money than New Jersey?
Certainly the challenges we faced in crafting this budget were not eliminated by the infusion of roughly $2 billion in federal stimulus dollars.
As the economy forced us to change our focus from trimming the fat to cutting to the bone, these funds became essential to ensuring we didn't have to perform too many amputations.
Even in these tough economic times, we are going to be able to make investments in core programs and services that strike at the heart of our New Jersey values.
And we should be proud of that.
And as we look at what is happening in other statehouses across the country, we might also begin to realize that things could be much worse.
During our budget committee hearing, I heard arguments from the other side that New Jersey is not like other states.
I say, thank goodness for that.
In California, K-through-12 education is being cut more than $7 billion; in Nevada, more than $700 million; in Arizona, by up to $900 million.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're actually investing $271 million more in our classrooms...and we're doing it through the school funding formula that laid to rest 30 years of court battles.
Connecticut is cutting support for higher education by 10 percent; Colorado is slicing its higher education assistance by $300 million.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're actually increasing higher education funding by $77 million including $34 million more for tuition aid grants and NJ STARS.
And we are capping state college and university tuition hikes at 3 percent to ensure students whose families have been hit hard by the recession can continue to go to school and prepare themselves for the new economy.
In Louisiana, lawmakers are eyeing a $345 million cut in Medicaid programs; Tennessee is even considering cutting 90,000 people from the Medicaid rolls.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - our Medicaid program will continue to be the health safety net for 840,000 residents - and we will do it without co-payments.
In Colorado, lawmakers have proposed eliminating $90 million in property tax relief for senior citizens.
But New Jersey isn't like that other state - 600,000 New Jersey seniors will continue to receive rebates that average $1300; we've expanded the Senior Freeze to include 70,000 more households; 300,000 additional seniors will see no change in their property tax deduction.
And let's not fail to mention the 510,000 non-senior rebates and 200,000-plus property tax deductions that are being restored.
South Carolina is proposing the closure of three prisons and the early release of 3,000 inmates; California may release nearly 60,000 inmates.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we're making the investments needed to ensure our police and law enforcement personnel have the tools they need to assist over 225,000 motorists, conduct 20,000 criminal investigations, arrest over 5,000 drunk drivers, conduct 120 major crime investigations, arrest 1,300 fugitives, locate 95 missing persons, investigate nearly 300 child exploitation cases and 300 cyber-crimes, perform more than 3,500 DNA analyses, monitor more than 16,000 parolees, make 1,600 emergency helicopter flights and handle 5.5 million criminal history records inquiries.
Michigan, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona all are looking to cut funding for veterans groups and programs.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - every single one of our citizen soldiers will have access to the vital health care, job training and other services they need.
In Albany and Sacramento, the budget process has been replaced by bedlam; honest debate by parliamentary maneuvering and backroom dealings.
But New Jersey isn't like those other states - we crafted this budget with full transparency and public input. And we did it well before our constitutional deadline.
If New Jersey hadn't already separated itself from the rest of the nation in how we have handled our budget in this unprecedented economic climate because of the emphasis on responsible spending cuts and maximizing federal dollars, now we have.
As other states continue to make unconscionable cuts to their residents core values, we continue to strengthen ours.
Mr. Speaker, this budget's critics had three months to offer real alternatives.
That did not happen.
Time and again, those opposed to this budget sounded a droning doomsday chorus, lamenting cut after cut after cut after cut.
But when it came time to put their ideas on the table, they were days late and billions of dollars short.
The FY 2010 budget development began with a shortfall of more than $8 billion.
And what did the other side of the aisle suggest - $783 million in cuts.
Even if every one of their suggestions were viable, they wouldn't even cover ten percent of the budget gap.
And believe me, viability is not the strong suit of the suggestions.
They began with the tired refrain of cutting over $200 million from the poorest school districts in the state.
For the first time in decades the state Supreme Court has upheld a school funding formula.
Cutting $200 million would send us right back to Court, and make no mistake - we would lose and the children of New Jersey would lose.
The Republican plan included $48 million in cuts to higher education - cuts that would violate the maintenance of effort requirements for receiving federal stimulus money.
This cut - harmful in and of itself - would be severely compounded by the loss of $74 million in federal assistance.
Instead of holding tuitions to a 3 percent increase, New Jersey college students would be looking at double digit tuition increases.
And maybe that would be okay with my friends on the other side of the aisle.
Over the past months we have heard them time and time again question whether we should be accepting the federal stimulus money we already see creating jobs and rebuilding our state.
Mr. Speaker we're going to hear many numbers bandied about today.
I expected to hear spending figures lumped together with no distinction between state spending and federal spending.
But that will not tell the story of this budget.
I want to take just a moment and tell you about some of the numbers I care about - numbers that represent the lives of the hard working residents of New Jersey:
· 1.4 million children will be educated in our public schools.
· 146,000 senior citizens will participate in the senior property tax freeze program.
· Nearly 600,000 senior citizens will receive Homestead Rebates.
· More than 510,000 non-senior households will receive property tax rebates.
· 200,000 homeowners will see the reinstatement of their property tax deduction.
· Over 840,000 residents will be served by Medicaid and 300,000 will be served by FamilyCare.
· 170,000 senior citizens will receive prescription assistance.
· 30,000 women will receive prenatal care and 210,000 children will be screened for lead poisoning.
· 275,000 clients will be helped through community mental health services.
· 4 million home meals will be delivered.
· 30 million pounds of food will be served through school nutrition programs.
· Nearly 400 companies will receive Business Employment Incentive Program Grants.
· 230,000 students will attend our public colleges and universities - 58,000 of whom will receive Tuition Aid Grants.
· 1,600 injured residents will be flown by emergency helicopter.
· 450,000 commuters will ride NJ Transit trains and buses.
· 13 million tons of solid waste will be recycled.
· 40,000 homes will be tested for radon.
· 2,300 tons of debris will be removed from our beaches.
· 17 million visitors will come to our parks and forests.
· 100,000 veterans will be served by outreach and assistance services.
I could go on for hours about the lives that will be touched by every line-item in this budget.
I won't.
But, I will tell you one thing I know for sure - not one of those touched lives cares if they are helped by a State dollar or a Federal dollar or an Authority dollar - they just care that they are helped.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that even in these worst of times, we're going to see the very best of New Jersey - a state that values ingenuity and creativity and knows that moving our economy ahead will not happen overnight nor unless the doomsday singers stop harping on what they perceive is wrong with New Jersey and embrace everything we're doing right in New Jersey.
New Jerseyans are famously tough and know full well these extraordinary times require extraordinary courage to make tough decisions.
Together we will see the state through this recession and back to prosperity.
On behalf of my Democratic colleagues on the Assembly Budget Committee and on behalf of every New Jerseyan who deserves details and answers, not empty rhetoric, I move the bill.
Related topics: Louis Greenwald, FY2010 Budget
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