Poll: Drivers OK with pumping gas, if full service is an option

Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Jerseyans.

Apr 11, 2022 View in browser   By Jonathan Custodio More than half of New Jerseyans are open to pumping their own gas, provided there is a full-service option available, according to a Monmouth poll released today. Fifty-four percent of 802 respondents said they favor allowing self-serve gas stations as long as there is an attendant on-hand for full service gas, while 43 percent oppose it. The support dips to 37 percent with removal of the full-service option, with opposition coming in at 60 percent. The poll's results come after several legislative attempts to allow self-service failed, including a bipartisan bill shut down in March after Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said he wouldn't put the legislation up for a vote because, he said, New Jerseyans opposed the idea. The bill would have required attendants at stations with more than four pumps between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The mandate would not have applied to smaller stations. The gas station industry said the measure would have saved drivers 15 cents a gallon. But 76 percent of respondents in the Monmouth poll said they expect the price of gas to remain the same. However, if the cost did indeed drop, 70 percent would be in favor of pumping their own gas. New Jersey remains the only state that does not allow self-serve gas stations, a source of local pride for some residents. .HAPPY MONDAY AFTERNOON — Hi there, I'm Jonathan Custodio, new Playbook PM author for the next few months . I've covered the 2021 race for mayor and comptroller in New York City, world and national security policy, and energy issues for POLITICO. I'm excited to helm this newsletter. You can send eastern goldfinch photos to jcustodio@politico.com. We'll be here with the latest from Trenton and elsewhere as New Jersey moves ahead in the budget process and the Legislature conducts hearings on Gov. Phil Murphy's spending plan. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY MAKE IT AFFORDABLE — Gov. Phil Murphy, Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver and U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) held a press conference to discuss Murphy's proposed Affordable Housing Production Fund that would earmark $305 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding to create over 3,300 new affordable housing units. Democrats have been generally supportive of efforts to bolster affordable housing. The money is supposed to be subject to approval by a legislative body. But the governor stripped out language in his spending proposal that would require a legislative panel to sign off for the next fiscal year. Lawmakers are adamant that it will be put back in and state Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio has said the governor plans to work with lawmakers on the use of federal funds in the budget. — Katherine Landergan  SIGNATURE MELEE — Congressional candidate Greg Mele failed to make it onto the 6th district Republican primary ballot after a district judge found that 45 signatures were invalid, reports New Jersey Globe's Joey Fox . Republican primary contender Rik Mehta's campaign and the NJ Parental Rights State Director Victoria Jakelsky challenged 78 of Mele's 232 signatures. Since at least 200 signatures are required to make it onto the ballot, Administrative Law Judge Kim Belin's ruling places Mele under the qualifying threshold. Mele plans to run as an independent. He ran for governor on the Libertarian line in 2021. COVID NUMBERS — New Jersey reported four Covid-19 deaths and 1,012 confirmed cases. The state's seven-day average jumped 42 percent from last week and 83 percent from a month ago to 1,419 cases. ON THE BEATS ENERGY — Several New Jersey environmental groups warn that Murphy's administration is in danger of blowing past the governor's goals to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Murphy has set the goal of halving the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. A new report by EmpowerNJ points to new natural gas pipeline projects, power plants and highway expansions that, if built, could add tens of millions of tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Statewide emissions were about 97.7 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2019, the most recent year for which state data is available. EmpowerNJ warns if all the new projects were approved, they could add some 37 million tons of greenhouse gases to the air — a rather stunning figure that represents nearly a 40 percent increase in emissions. — Ry Rivard EDUCATION — Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan and representatives from the state Department of Education made a rare appearance before lawmakers today. Assemblymembers pressed Allen-McMillan about how districts are spending their federal Covid-relief funds, how Murphy's budget proposal for school funding still means cuts for some districts and why the DOE has not yet presented a statewide plan to address pandemic-related learning loss. Allen-McMillan didn't offer any such learning loss plan, but told lawmakers her office would get back to them about many of the issues they raised. By the end of the more than four-hour hearing, Assembly Budget and Appropriations committee chair Eliana Pintor Marin (D-Essex) complimented Allen-McMillan for her service and said "this is not an 'I gotcha' hearing….but we have got to do better," for students. — Carly Sitrin WEED WATCH —  Recreational cannabis sales are about to begin. The Cannabis Regulatory Commission this afternoon authorized seven existing medical cannabis operators to expand into the adult-use market. The CRC's vote means that New Jerseyans are a major step closer to legal sales of recreational cannabis. The seven operators given the green light to soon begin sales are Acreage Holdings, Curaleaf, Columbia Care, Verano, Ascend Wellness Holdings, Green Thumb Industries and TerrAscend. The commission had declined to authorize recreational sales during its March meeting, a surprise move that triggered calls for legislative oversight hearings.  — Daniel Han  Around New Jersey "Censure, disqualification recommended for ex-judge accused of groping woman," by New Jersey Monitor's Dana Difilippo: "A state panel on Friday recommended a retired municipal judge accused of groping a woman in his law office be censured and permanently disqualified from judicial office. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct also referred ex-Judge Nino F. Falcone to the state Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Ethics for possible discipline, the panel said Friday. Falcone was suspended and criminally charged two years ago with molesting a woman at his North Bergen law firm when she visited him in August 2019 in her role as the office and billing manager for one of his law clients. At the time Falcone was a municipal judge in North Bergen." "NJ spending $200M to help crowded schools but has no long-term plan for most SDA districts," by North Jersey's Dustin Racioppi: "In the absence of a long-term funding plan for the Schools Development Authority, the Murphy administration is tapping the state budget and money borrowed in the COVID-19 pandemic to build new schools to ease overcrowding in New Jersey's poorest communities. The patchwork approach avoids adding new construction debt for taxpayers, who are already paying back more than $1 billion a year for money borrowed by the authority more than a decade ago. Gov. Phil Murphy named a leader responsible for securing a new round of multibillion-dollar borrowing for the agency four years ago, but a political patronage scandal derailed those plans." "Merger plans abandoned: Hackensack Meridian, Englewood Health terminate agreement," by North Jersey's Lindy Washburn: "It's over. Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood Health have officially dropped their plans for a merger, in a move that could have reverberations across the U.S. health care system. The two institutions will no longer fight the Federal Trade Commission's objections to their plan for one of the state's largest health system to acquire the Englewood hospital, a proposal that was announced with great fanfare — and promises of a $440 million investment by Hackensack Meridian — in October 2019." Odds and ends — Chris Carlin, the radio voice of Rutgers football, has a new gig with former Giant Chris Canty on ESPN radio.  — There's always a local angle: Scottie Scheffler, winner of this year's Masters golf tournament, was born in Ridgefield Park, the first native Jerseyan to win the fabled tournament. Scheffler now lives in Texas, where he can practice in the winter. — Officials in Bergen County are calling on Suez Water, a local water company, to address flooding concerns.  — Concerns about hotels on the boardwalk in Ocean City are playing out in the shore town's mayoral race.  — Jersey City is seeing yet another growth spurt.   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  California Playbook PM  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  New York Playbook PM View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.