Gov. Murphy signs $54.3 billion state budget into law
The budget had become controversial in the rush to pass it in the last few days.
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Gov. Phil Murphy signed the $54.3 billion state budget into law a little more than three hours before the midnight deadline.
The final budget came together at the last minute in a process a top Democrat admitted was “hectic.” It caused some errors in the spending plan, errors that Democratic state Sen. Paul Sarlo said were corrected.
[twitter]https://twitter.com/GovMurphy/status/1674929732125884416[\twitter]
The state Senate and state Assembly passed the budget Friday afternoon.
“Very respectful, tough, fair, respectful back and forth committee hearings, sidebar conversations, going around the state having open discussions. In the totality, I think we do it really well. But most importantly it’s a great, great game-changing budget,” Murphy said.
Some Republican lawmakers voiced concerns over the budget, especially what they said were hundreds of last-minute add-ons. All Democrats and three Republicans voted for the bill in the state Senate. All Democrats and six Republicans voted for the budget in the state Assembly.
If lawmakers did not meet the midnight deadline, the state government would have shut down.
