News & Events
‘Secretive’ N.J. governments would be even less transparent under proposed laws, some say
Tucked in desk drawers and filed away in email inboxes in every local and county office in New Jersey are government secrets. To find them, news reporters, attorneys and even local gadflies, using access laws like the Open Public Records Act, sift through the contracts, permits and memos piled atop desks or stashed on hard drives. But some state lawmakers...
Marc Pfeiffer Participates in Eagleton Podcast on the Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence
Marc Pfeiffer, Assistant Director, Bloustein Local (CUPR), Doctor Lauren Goodlad, and Senator Andrew Zwicker discussed the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on democracy, government, and higher education. The podcast was presented by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, “This Moment in Democracy,” which analyzes...
Gov. Murphy vetoed a 20-year service pension bill for police and firefighters. Here’s why
A bill to allow police officers and firefighters with 20 years of service to retire early with a reduced pension, regardless of their age, was conditionally vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy, who said he wants more clarity on how the legislation would impact the state pension system. Murphy returned the proposal to the state Senate on Monday and recommended...
Your tax dollars at work. The 2023 budget details for Warren County’s biggest towns.
Warren County municipalities had until April 28 to set their spending plans for 2023, including general fund budgets covering the costs of public services. By and large, property taxes pay for most services, and budgets are kept fairly unremarkable, but one consistent trend we noticed, across municipalities, was the approval of relatively flat or low tax...
Herb Op-Ed: It’s time to review laws on hazardous materials
The Ohio train derailment should prompt a review of measures that are supposed to protect people and the environment. Many New Jerseyans followed the Feb. 3 derailment of a train operated by Norfolk Southern, near East Palestine, Ohio, that triggered a fire sending fumes from several toxic chemicals into the local environment. Chemicals released...
Some NJ officials will no longer have to disclose their addresses. This is why
Legislation removing address disclosure requirements for New Jersey local elected officials cleared its second major hurdle Thursday. What the legislation says: The bill would no longer require local elected officials — and some non-elected public workers, including zoning officials, members of independent municipal authorities and certain high-ranking...
Can NJ Fix Its Messy School Funding Formula?
It’s a complicated situation. New Jersey’s school funding formula, which is supposed to equally provide all students with the chance to get a good education, is constantly being tweaked because some school districts wind up getting more or less than they need based on a variety of factors that change frequently. After the allocation of funding was modified...
Deep cuts to NJ school funding could be partially reduced
Lawmakers have fast-tracked a bill that would restore two-thirds of the state aid that school districts were set to lose in the upcoming year. Schools throughout the state were collectively preparing for a loss of about $157 million. The proposed legislation would restore $102.8 million and provide a one-time payment to districts that were losing funding...
Murphy’s New Jersey budget plan would beef up reserves, pay down debt
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled his executive budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, a record $53.1 billion plan that takes into account the state’s expectation for a shallow and short recession by holding off on large new initiatives while boosting reserves and addressing long-term obligations. “This budget will better prepare New Jersey for any...
These North Jersey taxpayers may not get their full SALT deduction this year
The average property tax bill in six North Jersey towns rose to over $10,000, making it impossible for residents with bills higher than that to deduct their entire tax bill from their federal taxes. That’s thanks to a $10,000 Trump-era cap on deducting state and local taxes from federal tax returns. Between 2021 and 2022, the average property tax bill...
Recent Products
New Jersey Energy Code Compliance Study
DNV and its study partner NMR completed the New Jersey Energy Code Compliance study for Rutgers, The State University and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU). The ECC study was completed between February 2021 and June 2022 to assess energy code...
Draft Report: New Jersey Non-Residential Lighting Market Characterization
Abstract DNV completed the New Jersey Non-Residential Lighting Market Characterization on behalf of the Rutgers Center for Green Building (Rutgers), and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU). The primary objective of this study was to assess the status of...
A Global Building Occupant Behavior Database
This paper introduces a database of 34 field-measured building occupant behavior datasets collected from 15 countries and 39 institutions across 10 climatic zones covering various building types in both commercial and residential sectors. This is a comprehensive...
State of the Climate: New Jersey 2021
Global climate change will present unique challenges to the state of New Jersey. This report by researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist, and the University of Delaware summarizes the current scientific...