Lame-duck dash: NJ lawmakers rush to pass bills on final day

well Congress has a deal to fund the government and potentially avert a shutdown but not a lot of time to pass it Congressional leaders on Sunday announced a fiscal year 2024 agreement a roughly $1.6 trillion spending plan that looks a lot like the bipartisan deal struck last year between President Biden and former house Speaker Kevin McCarthy it keeps intact money for the military and key social safety net programs despite GOP demands to cut the budget but lawmakers have a lot of work ahead to get the bill over the Finish Line less than two weeks to allocate the money write the bills and pass them meanwhile in Trenton state legislators are also up against the clock today is the final day of the lame duck session with more than 150 bills up for votes and measures carrying significant consequences that might not make it before the term expires senior political correspondent David Cruz reports from the State House [Music] the 220th session of the New Jersey state legislature ends with more of a whimper than a bang the Senate Judiciary Committee did approve a slew of new judges but that was the only committee work before this afternoon's final voting session affordable housing a heavy lift too heavy for this session says the Senate's sponsor I'm excited actually because we're taking the time to be thoughtful about affordable housing um this will be transformational it is something of such consequence that when we all got collectively around the table to really work through the issues we realized we'd be doing a disservice by trying to advance it in an expeditious manner uh so I'm excited about the prospects and it's literally going to be the first thing I'm going to do in the new session the details on today's bills have already been hammered out in the Democratic caucus so today's Final voting session is not expected to include any last minute surprises although technically speaking a bill could find its way to the floor without a Committee hearing but that's extremely rare and unlikely to happen without significant support from the minority party still says one prominent Republican lawmaker you never know well I think we have a 100 bills on so it's not Yogi bar it's not over until it's over things move pretty fast you know if it's a controversial bill it was probably introduced last week and we'll see it today that's um you know some some of these bills are Dracula bills you know they don't see the light of day for years and then the other ones pop up out of nowhere go you know like Houdini there are actually well over a 100 bills on the agenda today covering everything from subsidies for the horse racing industry coverage for fertility treatments schools construction a bill to allow certain retired public officials to still hold public jobs while collecting public pensions and pay increases for Governors cabinet members and lawmakers but it's really not about the legislators it's really about the cabinet officials we've really struggled to get really influential and important cabinet members and officials and that's a long time coming because uh you know many of these folks are opting to go into the private sector uh and and the think about a a a cabinet official who is making $175,000 and running a department like the Department of Transportation with over 10,000 employees uh and and a $3 billion budget so uh long time coming on the cabinet but over a 100 bills on the final day of the session critics complain that this leads to bills getting pushed through the legislature without enough public scrutiny it's something lawmakers hear all the time but is that something that might change in the 221st session it's important for us to make sure that as we end the session that we're doing that with a great deal of pause consideration and and doing the right thing at the right time so yes would I have probably liked to see some of the of uh the legislative initiatives that we took or did not really get to this the Finish Line you know be uh today considered um no question about it so this session's in the books the governor gives his annual state of the state speech tomorrow and then the work of the new session begins and it comes with a warning I think the budget budget process is going to be a little tight next year you you know uh I know I know everybody is we're we're confident about the the revenues uh we're confident that post inflation increases you know post interest rate increases we should be okay uh there's a transportation trust fund renewal uh there's some some items that need to be G there's the affordable housing component that the speaker is important to the speaker um ttf renewal and of course we February we start budget all over again I'll see you there whether that's a promise or a threat we'll find out starting tomorrow in Trenton I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight [Music] news