New Jersey Policy Perspective

Health care costs continue to rise, and shifting federal policies threaten long-standing access to coverage. New Jerseyans are calling on the state government to protect their health care. Federal cuts to Medicaid mean hundreds of thousands of residents are expected to lose coverage, and billions of dollars that once supported the state’s health care system are disappearing.

Dear Administrator Oz: New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Interim Final Rule implementing Medicaid community engagement requirements under H.R. 1. Specifically, NJPP urges CMS to broaden its definition of medical frailty and preserve states’ ability to rely on self-attestation when verifying it.

The digital economy relies heavily on collecting personal data. This requires new tools to regulate the practice and new methods to compensate states when companies collect their residents’ data. Companies popularly known as “data brokers” operate invisibly, collecting and buying consumer data and then aggregating and selling it to advertisers and merchants.

Gov. Sherrill’s first budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 largely followed through on the promises made in her original address, focusing on reducing the deficit while preserving family affordability. But a closer look shows that robust revenues and reforms are needed to put the state on more stable fiscal footing. Even bigger changes will be needed in FY 2028 to meet the governor’s promise to eliminate the deficit entirely and make the state more affordable for its residents.

Today, Governor Sherrill signed into law S731/A796, which creates a new utility rate structure for data centers, requires them to bring their own new clean energy, and requires them to pay for necessary grid upgrades. In response, NJPP releases the following statement: Alex Ambrose, Senior Policy Analyst, New Jersey Policy Perspective: “Today, lawmakers delivered on their promise of more affordable energy for all New Jerseyans.

The Senate and Assembly budget committees voted last night to advance A5324/S4533, which establishes the new Employer Health Care Contribution Assessment. This new revenue raiser, intended to support Medicaid in the face of significant federal cuts, charges corporations with more than 50 employees enrolled in Medicaid a per-employee fee, which also applies to employees’ dependents who are enrolled in Medicaid. The fee is projected to generate $145 million in revenue in Fiscal Year 2027.

Last night, the Senate and Assembly budget committees approved more than $500 million in raids from the Global Warming Solutions Fund, funded by Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), to be used for ratepayer relief. For more on RGGI and the state’s history of raiding funds for ratepayer relief, see New Jersey’s Clean Energy Funds: What They Are and Why They Matter.

New Jersey should never have been in the business of subsidizing data centers, which have increased utility rates and imposed costs on communities up and down the state. NJPP thanks the bill sponsors and legislative leadership for the proposal in A5165 to end the brief, costly Next New Jersey AI tax credit. But this change comes too late for the $250 million already lost to this program, sending taxpayer dollars to subsidize the industry causing cost increases and straining state infrastructure.

Every senior in New Jersey deserves to grow old in their own home, with the stability and dignity that comes with it. And when the state spends public dollars to make that possible, those dollars should reach the people who need help the most, not the households that need it least. Stay NJ, the state’s newest property tax rebate program, was not built that way.

Lawmakers, and even Governor Sherrill, have been denied access to Delaney Hall, the immigration detention facility in Newark run by the GEO Group. That should concern every elected official in this state. No private company holding a 15-year federal contract worth roughly $1 billion should be able to block public oversight or avoid basic accountability. When elected officials are turned away from a facility operating in our own state, something is very wrong.