Gov. Phil Murphy will deliver the New Jersey State of the State address Tuesday afternoon.
Murphy is expected to talk about his priorities for 2019, his second year in office, including bills he wants to see passed in the state Legislature.
“Because we didn’t see everything get done in the first year, we are going to hear some of the same themes [Tuesday,]” says Micah Rasmussen, of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
Rasmussen says that the governor will likely revisit priorities from last year's budget address that weren't accomplished in 2018, such as the legalization of recreational marijuana and increased minimum wage.
“He's a progressive governor, he wants to set an agenda so I think it's going to be irresistible to him to try and promote some new ideas,” Rasmussen says.
Some of the new initiatives Murphy could highlight may be about how the state is resisting moves by the Trump administration. The governor will be able to point to accomplishments made between March's budget speech and now.
“Red flag legislation, reducing magazine ammunition capacity, and requiring background checks for private gun sales,” Murphy said at the March 2018 budget speech.
The governor signed new gun control measures into law in June and again in November. The state rejoined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to fight climate change, and the governor signed a promised Equal Pay law last April.
But political experts say that what happens in 2019 may hinge on the governor's seemingly escalating feud with fellow Democrat, Senate President Steve Sweeney.
“A lot of people don't pay attention to that inside baseball, but we do pay attention to whether we're getting things done,” Rasmussen says.
News 12 New Jersey will air the governor’s State of the State address Tuesday at 2 p.m.