A Review of Gov. Murphy’s 2023 State of the State Address

On Tuesday, Governor Murphy delivered the first in-person State of the State address since January 2020 at the State House in Trenton – Murphy’s fifth State of the State address since the start of his administration.

The governor highlighted accomplishments of the past five years, announced upcoming projects, and committed to making New Jersey “the best state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family.”

Some of the achievements Governor Murphy spoke on include:

• Property tax relief through the ANCHOR Program, with up to $1,500 in rebates for eligible homeowners and up to $450 for eligible renters.
• Child Tax Credit of up to $500 per dependent and a School Sales Tax Holiday.
• Raising the minimum wage and putting it on a path to $15 an hour, with the minimum wage hitting $14.13 on January 1 of this year.
• Providing funding for license plate recognition technology, explicitly allowing police pursuits of stolen vehicles, and growing the State Police’s Auto Theft Task Force, resulting in significant year-over-year decreases in thefts during the final months of 2022.
• Upgrades to transportation infrastructure like breaking ground on the Portal North Bridge project and securing additional funding through Amtrak for the Gateway Program.
• Supporting small businesses, start-ups, and other important businesses within New Jersey communities by allocating an additional $50 million in funding for the ongoing Main Street Recovery Program this fiscal year.
• Implementing policing reform initiatives by creating a police licensing framework and launching a program that partners police with mental health screeners when they respond to applicable emergencies.
• Addressing the spread of infectious diseases and combatting the ongoing opioid epidemic – leading to a decrease in drug-related deaths in 2022 and the lowest statewide total since 2017.
• The pursuit of environmental justice and expansion of green spaces in overburdened and underserved communities through actions such as purchasing land to create a new park – the Garden State Greenway – that stretches throughout communities from Montclair to Jersey City.
• Enshrining the right to reproductive freedom into State law and expanding access to critical reproductive health care services.
• Signing gun safety laws, like the new concealed carry laws in NJ.
• Encouraging the growth of industries to boost the economy and create more jobs, such as the life sciences, offshore wind, cannabis, financial technology, and film/television
  – the last of which created 5,500 jobs and contributed more than half a billion dollars to the State’s economy in 2021 alone.
• The economic success of our state, such as NJs three credit rating upgrades in 2022, job retention and growth for 31 consecutive months, GDP growth among the top 10 states in the nation in the last recorded quarter, and a current unemployment rate lower than the national average and nearly as low as it was before the start of the pandemic.

During Murphy’s address, the Governor also spoke to several of his administration’s priorities for the upcoming year, such as:

• Extending the application period for the ANCHOR Program by another month, to February 28, 2023, so more renters and homeowners have the time they need to apply.
• Urging the passage of a legislative package to strengthen laws against car thefts.
• Incentivizing the creation of new jobs in our state while recognizing the changing work landscape that entails more remote work than it once did.
• Reforming New Jersey’s antiquated and confusing liquor license laws on behalf of numerous restaurants by relaxing and eventually ending current restrictions and providing a targeted tax credit to businesses that already invested in a license of their own – a plan which is ultimately estimated to generate up to $10 billion in new economic activity over 10 years and create upwards of 10,000 jobs annually.
• Removing outdated licensing and operating restrictions on NJs breweries and distilleries to enable the continued renaissance of these businesses.
• Helping New Jerseyans impacted by the opioid epidemic by adopting a new policy
  to allow any resident to anonymously obtain the lifesaving, overdose-reversal medicine Naloxone for free from any participating pharmacy, at any time.
• Supporting our Shore towns and coastal cities through the creation of a Boardwalk Fund that would enable upgrades to the boardwalks that define these communities and support their local economies.
• Preparing New Jersey to host World Cup games in 2026, after the State successfully worked to bring this global event to our corner of the world.

For the Governor’s full address, click here.

For the biographies of the special guests at this year's State of the State address, click here.

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