Category: Statement

New Census Data on Poverty and Health Coverage Needs a Careful Read

Posted on by Tonanziht Aguas

On October 29, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2025 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates, a release delayed from its usual September date by a U.S. Department of Commerce administrative order. The data show New Jersey’s poverty rate fell to 8.7 percent. The child poverty rate was 10.4 percent. The state’s overall uninsured rate was unchanged from 2024.

New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) issued the following statements in response:

Tonanziht Aguas, Policy Analyst, on economic security and affordability:

“A lower poverty rate is good news only if it means families are doing better, and this year’s numbers do not tell us that for certain. Federal immigration enforcement changed who lives in New Jersey in 2025, and federal cuts to food assistance changed the help families could count on. Both make this data harder to read than usual.

“What the data does show clearly: Black and Hispanic/Latinx residents remain far more likely to live in poverty than their white and Asian neighbors, and that gap has not closed.

“State lawmakers can act no matter what Washington does. They should expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, which put money directly in the hands of working families and lift children out of poverty. Poverty is a policy choice, and New Jersey can choose differently.”

Jennifer Spiegel, Policy Analyst, on health care and insurance:

“A flat uninsured rate hides real movement underneath it. Coverage slipped for residents who earn just above the Medicaid cutoff, the people for whom cost is the biggest barrier to insurance. The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and cuts to health programs have disrupted access to care, and they make this year’s numbers harder to read.

“New Jersey should not wait on Washington. The state needs to expand coverage programs and make sure every resident can afford health care, regardless of immigration status, income, or employment.”

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New Jersey Will Hold Data Centers Accountable for Cost Increases

Posted on by Alex Ambrose

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. Holding data centers accountable for their role in rising electricity prices will drive down costs and ensure working-class families aren’t footing the bill. Data centers will now be required to invest in New Jersey’s electric grid system, which creates more accountability for the harmful impact they have on our communities. This bill will also begin to address the unequal burden AI data centers place on environmental justice communities; across the state, these communities already experience higher air pollution and worse health outcomes.”

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Medicaid Per-Employee Fee Puts Workers at Risk

Posted on by Jennifer Spiegel

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. More than 300,000 New Jerseyans are already at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under federal cuts.

For more on NJPP’s concerns about this approach, see our blog on what this assessment means for low-income workers and their families.

In response, NJPP issues the following statement:

Jennifer Spiegel, Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“New Jersey must find new revenue to protect NJ FamilyCare, but this is the wrong way to raise it. A per-employee Medicaid assessment risks discouraging Medicaid enrollment and pushing employers away from hiring lower-wage workers without addressing why health care is unaffordable in the first place.

“And by including dependents in the assessment, this proposal also undermines New Jersey’s progress in expanding health care access to children through the Cover All Kids initiative. For many working families, Medicaid is the only affordable way to insure their children. No parent should have to weigh their child’s health coverage against their own job security.

“Lawmakers should pursue broader, more equitable revenue solutions that ask profitable corporations to contribute their fair share without putting low-wage workers at risk of losing coverage.”

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Budget Funds Legal Defense for Immigrants Facing Detention and Deportation

Posted on by Marleina Ubel

New Jersey’s legislative budget committees approved the state budget bill S2027/A5327, which included $20.2 million for the state’s Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI). This program provides free legal counsel and representation to income-eligible New Jersey residents facing detention and/or deportation.

In response, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) releases the following statement:

Marleina Ubel, Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“Funding the DDDI is the right call, and the Governor and Legislature deserve credit for it — as do the legal aid organizations and grassroots partners who do this work and who pushed to get it funded. The program is rooted in the belief that all people deserve access to due process, and right now that principle is under direct attack from the federal government. The increase proposed in New Jersey’s Fiscal Year 2027 State Budget is the largest single-year increase in the state’s history, and it may not be enough.

“Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has shown up at New Jersey courthouses, transit stations, and workplaces this year, detaining people on their way to work and in front of their own families. In recent years, courthouse arrests in Passaic and Middlesex County prompted New Jersey’s Chief Justice to ask the federal government to stop. It has not. Many of these detentions tear families apart and leave children without a parent.

“Funding the DDDI is one action among many that the state will have to take to protect all New Jerseyans and defend the rights of every person living here.”

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The State Budget Fails Families on Prison Communication Fees

Posted on by Marleina Ubel

Tonight, New Jersey’s legislative budget committees approved the state budget bill S2027/A5327. The budget did not include funding to reduce or eliminate prison communication fees.

In response, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) releases the following statement:

Marleina Ubel, Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“This budget missed a real opportunity to help some of New Jersey’s most vulnerable families. When someone is incarcerated, the families left behind pay the price — and prison communication fees make that price steeper. When families can’t afford to stay in touch, those relationships fray — and kids pay the price, through more anxiety, more behavioral struggles, and barriers to staying connected to a parent they need. Eliminating these fees and keeping families connected would cost less than one percent of the Department of Corrections budget and save New Jersey families $15 million annually.

“These fees fall hardest on Black and brown families, who are incarcerated at vastly higher rates in New Jersey than anywhere else in the country. The state should be doing everything it can to keep families connected, not letting prison communication companies profit off of families who have no other choice.”

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Stay NJ Reforms Are a Step Forward — But Renters Are Still Left Out

Posted on by Peter Chen

Today the state legislature voted to approve reforms to Stay NJ, a senior homeowner subsidy, lowering the income cap to $200,000 and reducing benefits for higher-income enrollees. This change will maintain benefits for roughly 90 percent of seniors, while targeting the highest benefits of $6,500 for only those seniors with $100,000 or less in income. This aligns with prior recommendations by New Jersey Policy Perspective to reduce the cost of the program, ultimately reducing program costs by $450 million annually.

In response, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) issues the following statement.

Peter Chen, Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“These much-needed reforms will prevent the state from sending tax relief to very-high-income households, while focusing the benefit on less wealthy seniors. By adopting measures that focus aid on low- and moderate-income seniors, the bill creates a more progressive structure, directing more money to those who need it most.

“That said, serious issues remain with the program, namely its large overall cost and its focus on homeowners. Senior renters are more likely to be housing insecure due to rent increases and eviction, and are also more likely to be low-income and Black or Hispanic/Latinx. Given the state’s rising rents and housing costs, the program’s renter gap is a real problem. And with a $1.4 billion structural deficit and a price tag of more than $740 million, the legislature may find itself revisiting this program again before long.”

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Governor Sherrill’s First Budget Showed the Way Forward. Now Comes the Hard Part.

Posted on by Nicole Rodriguez

Governor Sherrill signed the Fiscal Year 2027 Appropriations Act today. The budget includes increases to revenues, reforms to the Stay NJ senior homeowner subsidy program, and expanded funding for families with children and immigrant households.

In response, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) issues the following statement.

Nicole Rodriguez, President, NJPP:

“Governor Sherrill’s first budget gets some important things right: reforming Stay NJ, closing corporate loopholes, and expanding the Child Tax Credit. Each of those required real political will, and that should be acknowledged.

“But the process behind this budget looks much like the one New Jerseyans have watched for years — agreements reached behind closed doors, spending decisions made with no public input, and a final document lawmakers and residents had little time to review before a vote. That falls short of the transparency Governor Sherrill promised.

“The substance leaves serious work undone, too. Washington is shifting billions of dollars in costs onto states and putting programs families depend on at risk, yet this budget does too little to prepare New Jersey for the fiscal and human toll of those federal cuts. That is a missed opportunity to shore up the state’s finances and protect residents before harder budget choices are made.

“One provision deserves particular scrutiny: a new health insurance assessment that would require employers to ask workers whether they or their family members are enrolled in Medicaid. Compelling employees to disclose sensitive family health information raises real privacy concerns and risks enabling discriminatory hiring or employment decisions, intentional or not. New Jersey should be expanding access to health care, not creating new risks for the workers who need it.

“A $1.4 billion structural deficit remains. $400 million in legislative add-ons was approved without any public accounting of where that money is going. Next year’s budget will be tighter still, and it will require the governor to pursue revenue that doesn’t fall on working families — and to bring the public into that process from the start.”

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Clean Energy Raids Threaten Long-Term Affordability

Posted on by Alex Ambrose

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.

In response, NJPP issues the following statement:

Alex Ambrose, Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“Diverting money out of the clean energy funds to pay for short-term solutions won’t do anything for long-term affordability. RGGI must be used for what it’s meant to be used for: solutions like energy efficiency and energy storage, which will bring down costs for everyone. New Jersey has raided these funds before and, every time it does, it delays the investments that would actually make energy affordable in the long term.”

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NJPP Urges Immediate Action on Delaney Hall and Immigration Enforcement Oversight

Posted on by Nicole Rodriguez

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.

We are asking lawmakers to respond publicly and urgently.

Over the past several years, the Legislature has taken real steps to protect residents from federal overreach. Codifying the Immigrant Trust Directive and passing the state’s recent data privacy protections matter. Those policies make people safer and send a clear message about the kind of state New Jersey wants to be.

But this moment is exposing the limits of those protections and the need to strengthen them.

Across the state, immigrant justice organizations, legal service providers, faith leaders, advocates, and community groups are already carrying enormous responsibility. They are representing detained residents, supporting families, documenting abuses, organizing rapid-response efforts, and helping people understand their rights as fear and uncertainty grow. Their work is holding communities together right now.

Yet proposed cuts to legal services threaten that just work when it is needed most. Access to legal representation can determine whether families stay together, whether people remain detained, and whether residents can navigate an increasingly hostile system at all. This is not the time to pull back support.

We also want to be clear: this issue does not stop with immigrant communities. When transparency erodes, when detention systems operate without meaningful oversight, and when elected officials are blocked from doing their jobs, that affects everyone. These are questions about accountability, public power, and whether basic rights still hold when people need them most.

Lawmakers have more power here than many are willing to acknowledge. Oversight authority matters. Budget decisions matter. Public pressure matters. What elected officials choose to say — or not say — matters too.

We urge lawmakers to:

  • Speak publicly about conditions at Delaney Hall and other detention facilities;
  • Demand access and transparency from the GEO Group and federal authorities;
  • Review law enforcement and detention-related contracts, including food and transportation services, connected to immigration enforcement;
  • Advance stronger oversight of ICE activity in New Jersey;
  • Protect and expand funding for legal services, including the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, and immigrant support programs;
  • Divest New Jersey’s public pension funds from Palantir, whose technology powers ICE data and targeting operations;
  • Build on existing protections, including the Immigrant Trust Act and recent data privacy laws;
  • Work directly with the organizations already leading this work on the ground.

 

People across New Jersey are paying attention to how leaders respond at this moment. Silence reads as indifference. Residents deserve to know that their elected officials will use their authority to protect civil rights, demand accountability, and stand up for the people of this state.

Sincerely,

Nicole Rodriguez
President
New Jersey Policy Perspective

Progressive Tax Gains Help, But New Jersey Budget Shortfall Remains

Posted on by Peter Chen

On May 19, the New Jersey State Treasurer reported revenues slightly above projections, revising budget forecasts for the upcoming fiscal year and increasing the state’s projected cash reserves. A structural deficit of more than $1 billion remains, signaling a continued gap between the investments the state has promised and the revenue available to fund them.

In response, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) releases the following statement.

Peter Chen, Senior Policy Analyst, NJPP:

“Even strong revenue collections can’t cover up the reality that the state doesn’t have enough revenue to cover the rising costs of basic services like schools and health care. The proposed revenue increases in Gov. Sherrill’s budget are a good start, but the legislature will need to find more revenue-raising options to keep the state’s finances on solid footing.

“Spending down the reserves without a plan to replace them would be the worst thing lawmakers could do right now. As today’s collections show, even above-average collections cannot make up for a tax structure that doesn’t keep pace with what the state has committed to provide. The state’s fiscal position reflects years of short-sighted decisions by past policymakers who failed to pay for the state’s obligations and raise the revenue needed to support them.

“The best time to raise revenue was yesterday. The next best time is right now.”

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