Despite fierce outcry from Republicans and a loud public protest outside the Statehouse, the state Legislature on Thursday passed a plan that would end New Jersey’s 15-month-old public health emergency over COVID-19 but allow Gov. Phil Murphy‘s administration to retain some powers to keep responding to the pandemic for the next eight months.
The proposal was approved largely along party lines in both Democratic-controlled chambers — 21-16 in the state Senate and 44-28 in the Assembly — one day after the latest version was introduced. Only two Democrats voted no.
Murphy, a Democrat who helped negotiate the plan with the Legislature’s Democratic leaders, immediately announced he will sign the bill into law Friday, as well as an order officially ending the public health emergency. It will happen exactly one year and three months after the state reported its first positive coronavirus test March 4, 2020.
“New Jerseyans have proven their resilience over the past 15 months as our state has fought the COVID-19 pandemic,” Murphy said in a joint statement with state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex. “Today, we take a substantial step toward restoring normalcy to our state and to the lives of those who call New Jersey home.”
It comes as the Garden State, an early epicenter of the pandemic, sees it coronavirus numbers continue to fall dramatically while more people get vaccinated. The leaders said they are “confident that now is the right time to take this action,” adding it will allow New Jersey to “move closer to normal than at any time since March 2020.”
Murphy has already significantly eased COVID-19 restrictions as numbers have improved in recent months. Last month, he lifted the state’s mask and social distancing mandates in most public places and removed social distancing limits for businesses. On Friday, the state will eliminate all indoor gathering limits and make masks optional for vaccinated people in private workplaces.
This bill (A5820/S3866) would eliminate most of Murphy’s roughly 140 pandemic executive orders 30 days after the measure becomes law. But it would keep 14 orders in place until Jan. 1. Murphy could also revoke or change the remaining orders before then.
Moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs are among the orders that would stay. So would current rules on masks, which are still mandated in schools and on public transit, in accordance with guidelines with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The measure would prevent Murphy from installing masking and social distancing restrictions that go beyond CDC guidelines unless there’s a major uptick in the Garden State’s COVID-19 numbers.
It would also give his administration the ability to oversee coronavirus testing, vaccinations, and data collection through Jan. 11. The governor would need to get the Legislature’s approval for a 90-day extension after that.
In their statement, Murphy, Sweeney, and Coughlin said “the fight against this virus is not over,” and this legislation ensures the governor’s administration “has the tools and flexibility necessary to continue vaccination and testing efforts, ensure protections for vulnerable populations, and oversee and coordinate the health care system to address this ongoing threat.”
But Republicans vehemently opposed the plan, arguing it doesn’t do enough to curb the Murphy’s control and was voted on too quickly, with no public hearings.
Plus, protesters gathered outside of the Statehouse in Trenton to object to the legislation and call for the state to lift mask mandates in school. Their chanting — which included repeating “Murphy is not our king” — could be heard from inside the Senate chambers as lawmakers debated the bill.
“Today, we’ve suspended democracy,” Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said. “We saw a large gathering of people outside who had no opportunity to be heard.”
Assemblyman Brian Bergen, R-Morris, said “what we’ve witnessed over the past year is an aberration of the democracy we’re supposed to see here” and argued this measure fails to prevent Murphy or another governor from being able to reinstate a public health emergency at any time.
“Now when we finally have an opportunity to reign the governor in, the Legislature puts in a bill with no teeth,” he said. “The bill actually accomplishes nothing.”
Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, said the public should have “at least some say in the process,” arguing there was “zero transparency” in how the legislation was crafted.
Added state Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman, R-Somerset: “In these past 15 months, I feel like I’ve been in the outside looking in.”
But the objections weren’t enough to keep the bill from passing. Sweeney, the Senate president, said Murphy needs some powers because it shouldn’t be up to the Legislature to oversee things like testing and vaccinations.
“For the past 14 months, all I’ve heard ... is either silence or complaints,” state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said of Republican lawmakers. “Now all of a sudden because things are getting better, all bets are off.”
“I know this is an election year and everybody is angry,” Vitale added.
Both Murphy and all 120 seats in the Legislature are on the ballot this year.
The public health emergency has given Murphy sweeping, unilateral powers since March 2020 to fight the pandemic, including the ability to mandate business closings and mask orders in New Jersey, home to more than 26,000 coronavirus deaths, the most per capita among U.S. states. Republicans and other critics have long complained that Murphy has wielded too much authority without legislative oversight as he lifted restrictions more slowly than other states.
Murphy and top Democrats announced last month they cut a deal to end the emergency as the state’s outbreak has improved. The agreement: Murphy would stop extending the emergency — as he has done every month of the pandemic — if lawmakers passed a plan permitting him to retain “tools” to keep responding to the crisis and rolling out vaccines.
Coughlin abruptly canceled a vote May 20 after both Republicans and Democrats lawmakers said the measure was too soft. The version of the bill that passed Thursday makes a handful of changes.
The governor could not make the state’s mask or social distancing rules “more restrictive” than the recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unless there is a “substantial increase” in New Jersey’s COVID-19 numbers. That includes upticks in hospitalizations and spot positivity, and if the statewide transmission rates goes above the critical mark of 1. The state’s most recent transmission rate is 0.73.
In addition, the seven-day deadline for officials to answer requests for public records would be restored — but not for documents related to COVID-19.
The move was taken at the beginning of the pandemic to help government agencies that might be overwhelmed. That has severely limited the amount of information the public and journalists have been able to receive, especially related to the virus.
Republicans on Thursday said restoring the deadline for only some records is not good enough.
“That is an opaque government,” Munoz said.
Also, a controversial provision shielding health care providers, including longterm care facilities, from residents being able to file civil and criminal lawsuits would end on Sept. 1, rather than Jan. 1. Doctors and nurses handling COVID-19 testing and vaccinations would still be shielded. Critics have argued the provision protected the health care industry over citizens.
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The remaining 14 Murphy orders would stay until Jan. 1, though the governor could revoke or alter them before that. The major ones include:
- A moratorium on evictions during the crisis. (That’s another provision that has upset Republicans, who say the moratorium has hurt landlords. Proponents say it has helped people who have been out of work because of the pandemic.)
- A moratorium on insurance companies canceling policies for those who don’t pay.
- A moratorium on utility shutoffs for those who don’t pay.
- Expanded outdoor dining at restaurants.
- A requirement that health-care facilities give the state daily data reports.
- Protocols at summer youth camps.
- Shielding federal stimulus payments from wage garnishment.
If lawmakers didn’t approve this bill, Murphy would have been allowed to keep extending the public-health emergency every 30 days.
The two Democrats to vote against the bill were state Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego, D-Burlington, and Assemblyman Jamel Holley, D-Union.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
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