New Legislative leaders vow to address affordability

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New Jersey’s top elected officials from both parties assumed new leadership posts and swore in all 120 members of the Legislature with a promise: to focus on affordability.

That likely means lower taxes for businesses and homeowners and fewer regulations in the Garden State for companies.

In the lower house, Craig Coughlin, D-19th District, begins another two years as the Assembly Speaker, while Assemblyman John DiMaio, R-23rd District, takes the helm as the next Assembly Republican Leader.

In the upper house, longtime Senate Judiciary Chair Nicholas Scutari, D-22nd District, begins a term as the Senate president after the upset loss by his predecessor, Stephen Sweeney. Steven Oroho, R-24th District, was sworn in as the next Senate Republican Leader.

“Affordability, in my opinion, is the number one issue facing New Jersey,” Scutari told the 40-member Senate on Jan. 11. “We need to work on the affordability for people to live, work and raise a family here.”

His view was echoed by other leaders, who said the state had neglected the costs of living and doing business in the Garden State.

“People told us they feel vulnerable and often helpless in the turbulent and ever-changing economy,” Coughlin told the 120-member state Assembly after he accepted his position. “New Jersey told us that government doesn’t appreciate the line between well-off and struggling that so many families juggle with each day.”

After an unexpectedly narrow gubernatorial election, Republicans also argued that elected leaders have ignored those issues.

“We must make New Jersey more affordable. It seems the majority party has heard that call,” DiMaio said.

But the specific policies officials intend to pursue remain unclear. Jack Ciattarelli, the GOP challenger who nearly unseated Gov. Phil Murphy, was often pressed during debates last year on what government services he would cut to lower spending and taxes but came up short.

“There needed to be more details” on proposals such as auditing state agencies to cut spending and “reducing red tape and regulations for businesses,” Ralph Albert Thomas, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, said in an October interview.

“There was a lot of talk about cutting the corporate tax rate, but then what’s the alternative to that?” he asked. “What has to go?”

Murphy has defended his first-term actions, including many backed by progressive activists, and promised more of the same over the next four years. “We didn’t change our stripes in 2017 … and we’re not going to change now,” the governor said at a New Brunswick event in November, days after Election Day.

But he also vowed that he would not increase taxes in his second term, a tall order given the economic uncertainty of the pandemic.

The governor typically introduces his budget proposal in late February or early March to cover state expenses between July 1 and June 30 the next year. The past four budgets have included a variety of tax increases, including a millionaire’s tax on those earning above $1 million a year, and higher taxes on the state’s most profitable businesses.

“We want to make New Jersey affordable again … for young adults entering the workforce, for growing families and for seniors in retirement,” Oroho told the state Senate on Jan. 11. “New Jersey used to have a great brand [as a] great place to do business, find a job, raise a family.”