Phil Murphy begins a second term. Here’s what he revealed about his agenda | Forbes – NorthJersey.com

As he begins a second term or, as he's described it, the fifth year in an eight-year journey Gov. Phil Murphy has committed to lowering New Jersey taxes.

While he says his administration's focus on the Garden State's high cost of living is not new, it's certainly amplified especially as weary New Jersey taxpayers eye the start of the pandemic crisis' third year.

It also follows Murphy's close call at the polls in November, when Jack Ciattarelli, his Republican challenger, came within striking distance of upending Murphy's plans for a second term. Ciattarelli's campaign, while dogged by the shadow of former President Donald Trump, still made inroads with voters because of his focus on what he has called New Jersey's "affordability crisis."

The progressive framing of the Murphy agenda may well be a thing of the past.

In a wide-ranging conversation that followed his State of the State and second inaugural addresses,Murphy contended that the emphasis on lowering property taxes in 2022 is far from new.

"Affordability is not something that we just came up with last week. This has been something that we've been on from moment one. It's possible, I think perhaps, that we're emphasizing affordability and opportunity ... maybe with brighter lights than we had been," Murphy said. "We've had four of the lowest property tax increase years on record in New Jersey. I mentioned yesterday that's good, but it's not good enough. We want to see them go down."

Citing tax rebates "of hundreds of millions of dollars"distributed last year,efforts to stimulate shared services, the state's commitment to expanding school subsidies and investment in infrastructure as progress, the governor still acknowledged that addressing high taxes will take a process as complicated, perhaps, as the efforts NASA scientists took to guide a wounded Apollo 13 mission back to Earth in April 1970 a pathway to affordability has lots of twists and turns.

"I don't think there's one magic wand as it relates to affordability, so we've been pulling a lot of different levers," Murphy told me. He went on to note that, of course, the state does not set property taxes school districts do. The state's role, Murphy said, will likely be to continue to invest in funding New Jersey's public schools.

The complexity of the task ahead acknowledged, Murphy pledged that his administration would continue to examine any avenue that could allow New Jersey to become more affordable.

"We want to underscore that we've been on affordability from day one, but I want to triply underscore today that we will stay on it and we will," he said.

We will be watching for signs of progress.

'Mission is not yet done':What Murphy said about second-term plans at his inauguration

On his relationship with the Legislature, Murphy was honest about the time it took his administration to build in the first term and his partnership with the now-departed state Senate President Steve Sweeney.

"We've had a good relationship on both sides of the aisle," he said. "Of our first four years,for the past two-and-a-half or three years in particular we all had to get to know each other in that first year or year-and-a-half, but that's long in the rearview mirror."

Murphy also noted that he's counting on his relationships with new Senate President Nick Scutari whom Murphy credited for getting him over the line on legal cannabis as a social justice issue and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin,and that he's working to build relationships with Republican leaders like state Sen. Steve Oroho and Assemblyman John DiMaio.

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When asked about his efforts to contrast what he characterized as the relative functionality of Trenton with the challenges on the national political scale which some observers have suggested was a hint of his potential presidential aspirations Murphy said voters in New Jersey expect progress from their elected leaders.

"We're not always going to agree, but we're getting stuff done," he said. "I think folks, when they elect somebody, they want them to get stuff done."

I asked Murphy about what's to come on a number of other issues:

Murphy mentioned sports betting and cannabis as future revenue drivers for New Jersey in his inaugural remarks.

Sports betting, Murphy said, "is not a big money-spinner on the budget this is still a double-digit-million [industry] by the way, we'll take it."

Murphy forecast recreational cannabis to "go live" in a matter of monthsand said he anticipated that its impact on state revenues would be significant eventually.

"That has the potential not in this budget ... that's probably a multi-hundred-million state revenue business. ... God knows we need it, and we'll put it to good use."

Charles Stile: Murphy faces reality: Emboldened GOP and disorderly Dems in the Legislature

Murphy said the racial reckoning that began in 2020 after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others remains a top priority for his administration. He specifically applauded police efforts to build better relationships with their communities, but acknowledged "we have work to do."

Gun control at a time when many New Jersey cities face spikes in shooting crimes and fatalities was among the governor's priorities. Legislation he's called Gun Safety 3.0 is pending, and Murphy said he's eager for its passage and the opportunity to sign it.

"They make a difference," Murphy said of the effort. "This is not abstract. On the one hand, they don't impair your Second Amendment rights. On the other hand, they make us one of the safest gun states, if not the safest, in America."

More work, too, must be done to improve police-community relations, Murphy said.

Gun reforms, no new taxes:Here's what's on Murphy's agenda for 2022

New Jersey's 2021 election was far from smooth, especially in terms of vote counting. Voting by mail and early voting disabled county structures for vote counting. The election's results including Murphy's win took days to determine.

Our 21 counties have different methods of conveying election results, and they do so at different times. As a consequence, the traditional notion of election night is essentially dead. We're now in a reality in which voters can expect major contests to take days to call. Standardizing reporting across the 21 counties is, in my view, the next frontier in election reform.

When asked if the state would standardize vote reporting, Murphy said he would consider early counting of ballots, with steeper penalties for leaking trends something New Jersey allowed in the 2020 general election cycle.

"That's something a lot of us want to look at," he said.

Ed Forbesis a senior editor for the USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Group, overseeing opinion for news organizations inNew York,New Jersey,Pennsylvania,Delawareand Maryland.To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast,pleasesubscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:eforbes@gannett.com

Twitter:@edforbes

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Phil Murphy begins a second term. Here's what he revealed about his agenda | Forbes - NorthJersey.com