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MTNJAGMBBlock0624_2025-06-24-16-23-19

Welcome back to As Governor Murphy here on News 12 New Jersey. Governor, we have a caller right now. I want to get to Jack in Little Egg Harbor. Jack, thanks for calling in. What's your question? Hey, Jack. Yeah, hi, Governor. How are you doing, sir? Good, thank you. How about you? Yeah, I have a question. I think you would probably agree with this. There's electric bikes down here all over the place. They're going about 15 to 25 miles an hour, no helmet on. Uh, riding on, uh, riding on sidewalks, and, um, you know, at night they're out there with no helmets on. Uh, I, I was wondering if, uh, you know, maybe the legislation could put up some kind of law to make them conform to traffic laws and at least wear a helmet because somebody's gonna get hurt. It's a very good that's my question. Yeah, it's a good question. It's a very good point. And they're proliferating, uh, not just down by Jack, but they're proliferating all over the state. I, I, I like the idea, um. I, I also like the helmet idea, not just speed limits or where you can and where you can't, but also. Helmets, um, let me, uh, suggest Dennis Zeveoff Jack give you a call. Dennis bakes a lot of our policy, um, and this is one that feels like it makes sense to connect you on, but as a general reaction, I think you're on to something, uh, stay tuned, Governor, let's get to the topic of violence, uh, chaos, a little, uh, social media inspired pop up takeovers and. Other rowdiness that we've seen play out at the Jersey Shore. We saw what happened on Memorial Day weekend, uh, particularly in Seaside, uh, I mean scores of arrests, stabbings happening there. Uh, here we are, 4th of July weekend is, is literally just days away now, uh. Is there gonna be a coordinated crackdown? What kind of efforts are there to make sure that we don't see a repeat of what we saw on Memorial Day weekend? Obviously Seaside Heights just also passed their new ordinances, and you also signed the public, uh, brawl bill not long ago. Yeah, I'm, I'm an optimist. Uh, first of all, we, everybody should have a good time on the shore. There, there, there should be no prohibition on having fun and enjoying the warm weather in the summer and the sun, but you gotta behave. And we have to have law enforcement's back, period. Um, so, uh, having said that, I'm an optimist. Um, Seaside Heights is a community. I, I, I know very well. I'm there a lot. Uh, Tony Bass is a very good mayor. Tommy Boyd is the police chief. They do an outstanding job. I think they've course corrected since Memorial Day, as you reference, they've got a curfew, they've got a ban on backpacks. Uh, I, I'm an optimist, as a, not just specific to Seaside Heights, but more broadly for Fourth of July and for the summer. You did have a fatality. I mean, sadly there's a shoot, there was a shoot in Long Bridge a couple of weeks ago, which, to the best of my knowledge coming in here is still unsolved, um, so we're, we're not, uh, it's like video from that night actually you'd like to bat 1000 on, on public safety. There's no safer state in America right now based on the facts than New Jersey. That's the good news. The bad news is even your favorite baseball hitter, no, nobody's ever batted 1000 as good as they might be. So, um, we did sign this no public brawl bill. We tweaked it in a way that we think will allow it to stand up to judicial scrutiny, which was important in the legislature to their credit, um, concurred with that. As I mentioned, some steps that have been taken by individual communities, um, you know, we make it our business to be up and down the shore a fair amount. Part of that bill, by the way, also included increasing the severity of, of the crime, correct. That's a little bit we, we've done that over the past 7.5 years in a number of different venues. It's not, not just tweaking what's acceptable or what's unacceptable, but tweaking, if not even more than tweaking, uh, the severity of the, the price you'll you'll pay. We're up and down the shore a lot. We're, we're in, as I mentioned, Seaside Heights and Park. We live in Monmouth County, frankly right a couple of miles from the shore. We've been in, uh, you know, Atlantic City, Cape May, uh, up and down, um, there's no gym in America like the Jersey Shore. Enjoy folks, 4th of July. Enjoy the summer, but please God. Behave yourselves, obey law enforcement. They're out there trying to do their best. Um, we have their back. I'd like everybody out there to have their back. We got to take a quick uh a quick break, Governor, but is there gonna be any kind of statewide coordination, uh, state level coordination with the local police departments or just to say the attorney general and the colonel, the superintendent of the state police are in constant, uh, dialogue and coordination with, with county and local officials and will continue to be and we're gonna take another quick break here and ask Governor Murphy. We'll be right back.

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MTNJAGMCBlock0624_2025-06-24-16-32-34

Welcome back to Ask Governor Murphy. Governor, we have a social media question right now. Uh, Sharon posted this one on Facebook. Uh, wants to know why are we forcing towns to use every bit of open space to accommodate the state of New Jersey affordable housing requirements. She continues to add towns do not have the infrastructure, water, gas, electricity, or roads to accommodate the building, uh, and their schools are already bulging at the seams. Is it Sharon? Yes, Sharon. OK, I will get, uh. Sharon, good question, um. I signed a law last year that was literally decades in the making. I think it's the most far reaching. Um, affordable housing bill probably in 4+ decades. Dating almost as far back as the mountain, the, the, the landmark Mount Laurel decision. And it, it, this thing was gummed up in the courts and it has taken it out of the courts. There's a process and I think there's, among other things, relief, uh, that that bill was, was passed and signed by me. Um, why? Well, the basic question, why do we need affordable housing is we've got a huge shortage. We are one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. We do a lot in the direction of affordability. But we're still not cheap. Uh, and we've got a huge supply demand balance. The experts will tell you we're about 200,000 units short. And so that's the first sort of context. And what this bill does, it allows sort of a sane process to play out in each one of these, each one of our communities. Many hundreds of communities had already sort of settled their so-called Mount Laurel obligations, so this is not for the entirety of the state, but this is for the balance of the state that still had not gotten there yet. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary a couple of months ago, the Mount Laurel decision. And I think that the other part of Sharon's question, again, I, I think Natalie, I'm gonna ask Dennis, uh, Zaballo to follow up with her, is you gotta do it thoughtfully. Um, it does, you know, I mentioned a few minutes ago that we have more people living in New Jersey than ever before. That's, that's like, that's a good thing. That's a, you wear that as a badge of honor. People more people are coming than going any state would want that. And, and we, as I say, we wear that as a badge of honor, but it stresses the system, not just in affordable housing, but generally seats in schools. Sharon mentioned public transportation, roads. We saw the sinkholes in 18 180 and I-80 rather, uh, have now solved. I'm happy to say, but part of that is not just the abandoned mines under the road, but more traffic. You get more people in, in, in and around New Jersey. So we take that obligation, that responsibility that goes with that great point of pride that New Jersey's a hot state. We take that very seriously, uh, whether it's in the affordable housing arena or more broadly. Governor, we actually have a call that's related to affordable housing. Uh, Louette from Carterett is on the line. Lotte, thanks for calling in. Hi Lotte, thank you. Good Governor Murphy. I'm concerned about the property and cranberry, the 175. year old farm and I was hoping that you could have some influence and help. They're having a meeting tonight and you know we just need help and I voted for you twice and I was hoping that you could please end your term by helping this family and helping the farm. Are you, are you from Carterett or Cranberry? No, I'm from Carvet, OK. Yeah, I'm originally from um Avenel, but I've been following the story on the news and I just, I just and a lot of what many other people would like to see this far stay the way it is. The, the agriculture secretary has also been following this, uh, and saying that they're trying to see if if they could weigh some legal options to keep this property from being taken by eminent domain. Um, let me just get this off my chest for Carterrett. Three of the founding members of the Smithereens were from Carterett. I saw them the other night at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park. I had to get that off my chest. Uh, we are, uh, very much aware of this. So this is a good example where Cranberry's trying to meet their. Affordable housing obligations and they're looking at eminent domain on a farm. Looks like you've had that teed up there. Um, our agricultural secretary Ed Windren is going out to meet with the family, um, and so to get a sense from them we're in constant touch with the mayor and our team in constant touch with the mayor and. And, and, and their team trying to find a, a, a, a, a good resolution here. I'm not on the surface. I'm not wild about using eminent domain to solve your affordable housing, um, obligation. I, I am wild about finding a, a smart way to solve your obligation, but you'd like to think you could do it without taking somebody's farm, and that, that I have to say on the surface is concerning. Louette, I'm gonna ask Rob Field who's on my team who's been bird dogging following this very closely. For us to follow up with you, um, and just sort of go through what we've been doing and again I'd like to have it both ways in this one solve their affordable housing obligation without questioning Cranberry and not pulling the rug out from under a a family owned farm. Governor, we're gonna take another quick break. We'll be right back with more of your questions here and ask Governor Murphy.

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MTNJAGMDBlock0624_2025-06-24-16-45-09

Welcome back to Ask Governor Murphy here on News 12 New Jersey. Uh, remember you can continue to ask your questions. You can give us a call also. Here's a way that you can ask those questions. Post your questions on the News 12 New Jersey Facebook page. You can also get to us on X. Just use the hashtag #Ask GovMurphy and give us a call please 888-639-7126. That's 888-912NJ. Governor, uh, the world has been watching. The Middle East all week, uh, actually for the better part of the past couple weeks in particular right now, um, that said, I want to play a very quick sound bite and, and this is from somebody who, who I have known and I've interviewed and have a great amount of respect for, I've known him for the better part of the past decade. He's a national security analyst, retired Marine Corps intelligence officer. His name is Hal Kemfer, and he's speaking about, uh, the US strikes against Iran's nuclear program. There are elements covert clandestine elements of that network, that proxy network, the terrorist network all over the world, all over the place to include places like New Jersey, New York, and other places, and the, the concern has always been that they act kind of like a sleeper network and that if things got to a certain point, they might actually. You know, hit it, use it or lose it situation and actually uh activate them to do some attacks and they have been planning this for a very long time. So that's certainly got the FBI, Homeland Security, you know, leaning forward. Now Governor, his statements in mind and given, I'm sure you saw this report given Iran's reported warning to the president of the G7 about activating sleeper cells. What are you hearing from Homeland Security and the FBI? Um, first of all, perilous times, let, let there be no question about that. Uh, there is no specific threat, um, no credible threat right now in New Jersey, but we are watching it, uh, to the, your, your friend's point, we're watching it, uh, like a hawk as you would want us to do. The attorney general put out a statement, uh, after the bombing of the nuclear sites in Iran that. We were amping up even further and we were already at a historic high of protections around uh houses of worship, especially, uh, both Jewish and Muslim houses of worship, but more broadly religious institutions, community centers, federations, etc. and that level will remain high, but this is clearly something that we're monitoring extremely closely not just within our state resources. But also with our federal partners we're hosting this club World Cup right now so we were already at the table if you will. I visited our command center which includes all ranges of state and regional folks but also the federal uh partners, Homeland Security and FBI among them. Um, this is gonna require vigilant monitoring minute to minute, uh, until further notice. There's the president is saying that there is some form of a truce. I'm not sure either side over there is acknowledging that or accepting that yet. That obviously we would be a good fact. Um, but, uh, we're, we're, I just want folks out there to know there's no credible threat, no specific threat in New Jersey, but that doesn't mean we're not watching this, as I said, like a hawk, and I would just like with the heat, but in a different realm, use your head, particularly if you're in a what you, what we all colloquially call soft targets if you're just sort of out there. Where there's no security to get you inside of a venue or a stadium or a theater, whatever it might be, use your head. If you, as they say, if you see something, say something. All right, Governor, uh, let's get to another topic right now. This is another social media question. Mike posted this on X asking what makes New Jersey a sanctuary state? He says, if I enter the country illegally and when caught, I say I'm afraid of persecution where I live. Can I ask for sanctuary in New Jersey and will it be granted? And and just to kind of add to that. Uh, we should talk about what the escapees from Delaney Hall. Obviously they're 3 caught. Is there any update on that final detainee? Uh, I'll start with the last question. I've got no, no update on the final detainee. Three of the 4, were back in there. I'm not sure about this gentleman. This is the one who's still missing? He's the one who's still out there. Was it Mike? Yes, Mike, uh, Mike, I'm gonna ask Kate McDonald, who's our, uh, chief counsel, to follow up with you, Natalie, if you could help me out with that. Um, contrary to what folks might think, we're actually not technically a sanctuary state. Uh, there were sanctuary cities and communities in New Jersey, but we're not a sanctuary state. I think where folks maybe draw the connection is because, um, then Attorney General Gabrier Graywall in 2018 put in place what has turned out to be extremely prescient and successful, something called the Immigrant Trust directive. It's actually one of the reasons I mentioned earlier that by many metrics we're the safest state in America. This isn't the only reason, but it's a, it's a critically important reason. And that is when, when folks are reporting crimes. They are not putting their immigration status at risk by doing so. So for instance, you've robbed the bank. Um, you got me. You got you. I am, my status is unclear, let's put it that way. Because of the immigrant trust directive, I have no, I'm, I'm basically in a safe harbor. I can go to policeman X and say that guy over there is your guy who robbed the bank that has allowed an enormous amount of cooperation to go on between communities on the one hand and law enforcement on the other hand, um, that's been extremely valuable in keeping our state safe again, I said earlier, you never bat 1000, but based on a whole range of metrics we are the safest state in America. That's where I think people get confused. We're not the, the feds grant asylum, not, not a state, um, and by the way, if you've been, if you've pursued asylum and you were rejected and you're still here, not a lot of support to protect you if you've committed that bank robbery or some other ser serious crime, but you haven't had your case adjudicated, not a lot of support to uh to keep you here or if you've got a tourist visa, you've overstayed your welcome, um, so. those are all different dimensions of a similar uh of a similar question, but that Mike is the That's the fact, and I'll, I'll ask my colleague Kate to follow up with you. I wanna start a topic now, Governor, and, and I hope we have time to finish it at least moving around, yeah, yeah, we're jumping around. Hope we have time to finish in this block. If not, we'll continue it, um, and this is about the budget. We're, we're coming up against deadline. It's, it's Monday night, I believe is a budget deadline. um, Republican senators released a statement just a few days ago. They said while we have come to the sad realization. That we will have to wait until after the next election to be able to work with the governor will give us a seat at the budget table. It's not too late for you to finally take our proposals seriously and fund the bulk of our priorities this year while reducing the state's structural imbalance. So first and foremost, I want your response, and then I want you to talk about the the the budget deal that has been reached. Yeah, I'm not gonna give, I'm not gonna, uh, make you happy on that last one because, uh, the deal is, is a framework which I think is a good one. Not not perfect, but a very good one, but they still have to go through committees over the next couple of days and as you suggest, sign that budget by by Monday June 30th at midnight and I'm confident all of that, uh, will happen, uh, and, and I think what you'll see is it is it is a budget that, that is respectful of the broad parameters that we've talked about from day one fiscal responsibility, shrinking inequities, growing the economy. Investing in our future meeting our obligations, full pension payment, fully funding public schools, fully funding property tax relief, reducing sorry Republican senators apologize, uh, don't let the facts get in the way reducing meaningfully the structural deficit, increasing meaningfully the surplus with this all the the the noise and craziness in Washington. We need a big fat surplus going into the next year. Every story that's that's actually spoken about this budget has has noted that there are tax increases involved in here on things like cigarettes, higher uh homes that are higher in value, higher home prices, online gaming. You didn't get things that that were in the original proposal though here, um, the taxes on like fund taxes, uh, laser tag, bowling, batting cages, things along those lines, um, members of your own party actually fought against that. Yeah, again, no comment on the specifics of the deal, but I had a fair amount of relief in our household on a few of those, um, but again, I think this is gonna land in a really good place and again with respect to the Republican, by the way, many of them come to us privately at the last minute and ask us, me personally, to carry some of their priorities which we, I think, have said yes to virtually every time, uh, over the years, uh, maybe not in the months they wanted, uh, but guys, come on, um. I think the process in total is a really good one. I do agree at the it's too much at the end, the last minute. That's the part that I think is it, it always is, and, and, and we say it every year. That's the part that I'd love to see get fixed the entirety of the process. 99% of this budget is, is what folks saw in late February. It's only at the edges at the end. I'd like to see at the end fixed as well. All right, we're gonna take another quick break. Uh, keep it right here and ask Governor Murphy. We'll be right back.

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MTNJAGMEBlock0625_2025-06-24-16-54-40

Governor Murphy, my question to you is Jack Chittarelli won the Republican primary by a sweeping margin and how concerned are you that the state might be heading towards a Republican shift? Is that Gregory Gregory from Jackson? Gregory from Jack Jackson. Sorry, I apologize. Uh, yeah, listen, I mean the primary elections just happened not long ago, so, uh. So, uh, a couple of observations I would make. I spoke each to each of Mikey and Jack on the night of the election. Um, obviously I'm, um, I've endorsed enthusiastically Mikey, uh, as I would have whoever had come out of the Democratic side. So I'm, I'm now gonna sort of play, uh, pundit, not, not as a governor and not as a Democrat. Um, if you're looking for optimism on Jack's side, he, his, his percentage was very high. He was in the upper 60s like that margin, I think you'd agree with me, was a much wider one than even the polls had suggested, and those polls had suggested a pretty good margin for Jack, um. And then secondly, putting aside where they stand on issues and again I'm with Mikey let there be no doubt about it, it's hard to staple three terms together of the same party, you know, it was hard enough to staple two together. Uh, I was the first Democrat in 44 years to win reelection and I believe it's been since the mid-60s that one party was able to staple three together. On the other side, Mikey also outperformed meaningfully the polls, um, in a much more crowded field. And secondly, 300,000 more Democrats voted in the primary than Republicans. So while Republicans have made consistent, uh, to their credit registration improvements over many, many months now. Uh, the turnout was much more meaningful on the Democratic side, which tells me Mikey's job number one is to consolidate those votes because that they were spread across herself and five others, um, and then the last thing I'd say is President Trump's gonna play in this election one way or the other, one way or the other, uh, and probably both ways in fairness, um, his endorsement clearly helped Jack win the primary. How that plays in a general is to be determined. And what Washington policies and politics look like over the next 4 or 5 months. When I ran the first time, uh, President Trump had just been in office for the same stub that he's in now, and we won by a couple of touchdowns, um. We'll see if that same reality plays out. I think it's gonna be a very close race. I hope it's policy. I hope it's high-minded. I hope everybody stays out of the mud and It gives New Jersey what they deserve, which is a full airing of the issues. We got a bunch of questions on, uh, construction and infrastructure projects. Governor. We're moving around. We're moving around. We're jumping. Uh, this one is from Gene who asks what's going on with transportation construction in South Jersey. Impossible to go drive west to east in South Jersey due to multiple bridge construction. Projects, is there a task force monitoring the traffic patterns and the road closures as this is now peak shore travel season? Yeah, man, I literally just was at a groundbreaking of a bridge literally today. That was our next topic, the Raritan River Bridge. Uh, I missed the, the, the name here is Gene Gene, Gene, I'm gonna ask Fran O'Connor to give you a call. Fran is our commissioner of the Department of Transportation doing an extraordinary job. He's the miracle worker that got I-80 opened again. He was with me today. In fact, I think he's in that shot. Uh, um, you, you noticed I was the only guy dressed for a triple-digit weather in that crowd as well. Um, yeah, we're obsessed with South Jersey. I mean, we, Uh, it's, it's funny that there's an impression that if the governor isn't from the South, they won't care about the South. And from moment one, frankly back on campaigns I said we're gonna be different. We, I may be from central Jersey, but I'm, I'm gonna be South Jersey's governor, uh, and transportation and infrastructure are a big part of that. I mentioned the nuclear plants at the top of the show. That's a huge job spinner. Exclusively South offshore wind is almost entirely a South Jersey reality whether it's NJ Transit or the roads, uh, rails, buses, roads, um, I promise you, uh, Gene, we're committed to it. I'll have Fran go over each one of these bridges that you're talking about, uh, and, uh, hopefully there's a good plan for each one of them. I know Route 71 is, is a problem, and let's get to that bridge, Governor, because we're talking, it's Shark River Bridge, yeah. Connecting Avon to Belmar and uh there's a shot in the up position it's, it's got the emergency repair work that's going on. Do you have any idea how long the emergency repair work's gonna take and what can you tell us about this bridge replacement project that's slated to begin in 2028? Yeah, uh, the last part is it'll happen. This is a good example. The Raritan River Bridge I was at today, groundbreaking for the new middle expansion piece, 1, 16 years old. William Howard Taft was president. Uh, the Portal North Bridge, uh, similar vintage, I think Teddy Roosevelt was president for that one. Shark River Route 71, uh, is over 100 years old. It's missing a part, the part we're scouring the world for the damn part, um. And I'm confident that we'll get the part and it will be sooner than later, but of all months to go down in the month of June, uh, with the heat in the summer and the shore and whatnot, um, we're chopping through all these legacy infrastructure challenges, but unfortunately you can't flick a a light switch. All right, Governor, it's gonna take another quick break right now. We'll be right back with more. As Governor Murphy.

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MTNJAGMFBlock0624_2025-06-24-17-01-08

FIFA Club World Cup going on right now. Test run for the World Cup next year. Talk about how it's gone really well. 5 1st round matches already behind us. We have left July 5th, 4 o'clock, a quarterfinal. July 8th and 93 p.m. each semifinals, and the final of the first ever Club World Cup Sunday, uh, July 13th at 3 o'clock. Huge excitement, incredible atmosphere. It's being hosted all over the United States, but we've got both semis in the final, which is a big deal. What is this teaching us? What, what can we learn from this when it to be applied to the World Cup next year? A lot of stuff. We've got great command Central. I visited our, our, uh, our Central Command in Kearney, New Jersey law enforcement, transportation, stadium experience. Uh, fan experience learning a lot. It's one of the principal reasons we went out of our way to get as many of these matches this year, so we'd be able to apply that learning to next year. Of course we've got the World Cup final next July 19, which would be the most watched event in human history, not even sporting event event period, uh, but incredibly exciting. FIFA.com if you want to get tickets to any of the remaining matches. Final thoughts, Governor. Great to be with you. Please stay cool out there, folks. 211. Uh, if you've got any issues in the heat, but stay indoors, keep your, your blinds shut and stay well, everybody. Good to be back with you. Good to have you, Governor. Thanks so much for being here and thank you for watching our latest edition of Ask Governor Murphy right here on News 12 New Jersey. I'm Eric Lerner, and we'll see you again next time.

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Gov. Phil Murphy answered viewers' questions on News 12 New Jersey's “Ask Gov. Murphy” program.

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