NJ Government Watcher

On its June 2nd meeting, the State Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee voted 3-2 to move S1767 to the State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The three democrats on the committee, Jim Whelan, Ronald L. Rice, and Shirely K. Turner all voted for and the two republicans voted against. 

This is a promising sign that the bill will move to the floor.

Bonnie Watson Coleman's campaign is using some unethical tactics in the race for Democratic Party Nomination in the 12th Congressional District. Supporters put the candidate's signs on either side of opponent Andrew Zwicker's in order to block the view from passing cars.  These signs on Princeton's Alexander Street aren't an isolated incident; situations like these can be found all over town.

Bonnie Watson Coleman and Andrew Zwicker are among the four democratic candidates to replace the retiring Congressman Rush Holt. Holt, who is very popular in the 12th district,  was a strong scientist and pacifist voice in Congress.

On June 2nd, the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation will meet to consider several bills, among them S1767, which would impose a new tax on large lottery payouts. Currently, the federal government takes 25% of any lottery prize over $5,000. Additionally, New Jersey imposes 3% more, which is about 1% less than the national average. That gap is even larger if one excludes states with no lottery tax

This new tax, proposed by state senators Jim Whelan of Atlantic County and Ronald Rice of Essex, would impose a .5% tax on prizes over $600. This may not seem like much, but the $1.65 billion in prizes given out annually would draw in $8.26m in revenue from this tax. 

Steve Sweeney, the Democratic President of the Senate, introduced Senate Bill 1860 back in March that would expand Rutger's Board of Governors by four members to 19. These four new seats would be appointed by New Jersey's leading men: Governor Christie would get two and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Steve Sweeney each getting one. 

Rutgers is controlled by two committees, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors. However, the Governors are much more powerful than their Trustee counterparts. Currently, 7 of the Governors are appointed by the Trustees and the remaining 8 by Gov. Christie. With this new bill, 12 of the seats will be appointed by politicians and a comparative few by the Trustees.