| | | | |  | | By Katherine Landergan | Good Tuesday morning! Gov. Phil Murphy has conditionally vetoed a bill to expand the state's bribery laws. The bill would expand bribery laws to include candidates for office. But Murphy says he wants the Legislature to revise some of the language so as to close potential loopholes. These changes are necessary, he says, to clarify the intent of the legislation. "I am concerned that the statute as amended by this bill would allow those who offer, solicit or accept bribes for corrupt acts to find loopholes to evade criminal liability," he wrote, a move that could "result in future legal arguments and judicial decisions." Now, it's up to lawmakers to consider whether they agree. DAYS SINCE MURPHY REFUSED TO SAY WHETHER HIS WIFE'S NON-PROFIT SHOULD DISCLOSE DONORS: 84 TIPS? FEEDBACK? HATE MAIL? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com NEED MORE PLAYBOOK? — Sign up here for NJ Playbook PM and get more news in your inbox care of POLITICO's Jonathan Custodio, minus the snarky headlines HERO OF THE DAY: "Mystery man rains cash on N.J. mall shoppers, yells 'Happy Mother's Day'" | | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | |  | WHAT TRENTON MADE | |
HEALTHCARE — Bill to increase Medicaid reimbursement for assisted living facilities advances, by POLITICO's Ry Rivard: A bill that would increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for state assisted living facilities advanced unanimously Monday in the Assembly Aging and Senior Services Committee. Right now, the reimbursement rate is less than $70 per day. Under the bill, NJ A590 (22R), the rate would increase to as much as $114 a day within the next several years. Medicaid, the federal government's program for low-income Americans, has long been criticized for being penny wise and pound foolish. Supporters of this bill said it makes sense to help low-income seniors stay out of nursing homes by giving them better access to assisted living facilities. Nursing homes are far more expensive than assisted living facilities.
SEX ED — 'Transparency in Health and Sex Education Curriculum Act' advances despite outcry from parents, others, by POLITICO's Carly Sitrin: The Senate Education Committee released Chair Vin Gopal's "Transparency in Health and Sex Education Curriculum Act" on Monday, despite pushback from some parents, religious officials and conservative advocates who continue to claim the state's sex education learning standards are "sexualizing" and "grooming" children. Gopal (D-Monmouth) introduced the measure in an attempt to assuage some parents' fears and concerns about how local school districts are implementing the state's sex ed standards. But on Monday, Gopal found himself defending the measure against parents and advocates who said they "don't trust" the lawmaker and were feeling "dismissed" by their local school boards. "I think this bill is 100 percent based on transparency on the curriculum so we know exactly what is being taught in every school district across our 600 districts," Gopal said. UM HOW IS THIS NOT A CRIME??? — "Using tracking devices without someone's consent should be a crime, N.J. lawmakers say ," by the New Jersey Monitor's Sophie Nieto-Muñoz: " Apple AirTags are intended to give people a way to keep track of things they often misplace, like wallets and keys. But increasingly, those small tracking devices are being used to stalk people and commit other crimes, and legislators want to make that illegal. "There's all kinds of great uses of this technology of tracking — your packages, your furniture being shipped across the country, seeing your family on Find My Friends — but what happens with good inventions if people start using them for things other than good," said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester). Moriarty is sponsoring a bill (A1549) that would make it a fourth-degree crime to use a tracking device on someone without their consent. No statute currently exists that makes tracking a crime, he said. The Apple AirTag is a $29 disc about the size of a quarter that can be attached to nearly anything and tracked through an iPhone. Since their launch in 2021, police say AirTags and similar devices have been used for nefarious reasons, like tracking young women. Police have also reported instances of car thefts using AirTags." WEED WATCH — "' Bigger, faster, stronger': Two weeks in, and NJ legal weed isn't slowing down," by the Asbury Park Press' Mike Davis: "The first two weeks of legal weed sales in New Jersey are in the books, and the state's nascent cannabis industry shows no signs of slowing down. The 12 medical marijuana dispensaries selling marijuana for recreational use still see regular lines, though far shorter than the hours-long waits that faced many on April 21, the first day of sales. More than 12,000 customers visited dispensaries on the first day, and Curaleaf Regional Vice President of Retail Adam John said the number of transactions and customers at its flagship Bellmawr dispensary have continued to grow in the two weeks since. 'We had our team telling us what they thought we could expect,' John said. 'But what's been different is just the sheer volume in New Jersey. That's something nothing could prepare us for.'" — N.J. Supreme Court decision could change how police test weed impairment, future funding by NJ Advance Media's Jelani Gibson: "The New Jersey Supreme Court case that could decide how cannabis impairment is — or isn't — measured by police is nearing a conclusion with multiple ramifications. In question is the protocol and use of specially trained officers known as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs), who perform marijuana sobriety tests. The case, State v. Olenowski, involves the state Office of the Public Defender challenging the scientific validity of how police officers detect drug impairment, including on drivers suspected to be under the influence of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. The case could also affect other provisions in the law that require sobriety to be measured in the workplace since much of those impairment testing protocols pull heavily from the same training standards DREs receive." DEFINITELY A BETTER DEAL THAN DAVINA'S $75 MILLION LISTING — Budget watchdog: Few details on Penn Station plan make it 'impossible' to say if it's a good deal, by POLITICO's Danielle Muoio Dunn: In a few months, a state entity could vote on the largest development project in city history — a controversial bid to redevelop Penn Station, the busiest rail hub in North America. Yet it's "impossible" to say whether it's a good deal for midtown Manhattan, the heart of New York City's tourism and office sectors — according to a highly anticipated report by the Independent Budget Office, a nonpartisan watchdog for the city. The state has provided such "few details" on the plan that the group can't "evaluate the financing proposal and quantify its impact on the city and state," according to the 21-page evaluation. COMMENCEMENT SEASON — "You need a tough skin to be a responsible adult … and citizen," by George E. Norcross, III: "My advice to you is come into it with your eyes wide open to what our society is becoming — in New Jersey. In the United States and throughout the world. Being blunt — you need to have a thick skin because the culture we live in is increasingly unforgiving, even for minor errors — even for those who are just moving forward with their lives. … News organizations are held to a correctly high libel standard under the law. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Both as a subject of the media's attention and as a publisher as I used to own The Philadelphia Inquirer. In let's call it the mainstream media, it is very hard to attack with no basis when there is a libel standard. But the protection isn't there on today's social media platforms. It's a terrible mistake that Congress made in 1996 to exempt online platforms from liability based on content that people post on their sites. This must be corrected. Why? Because Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by not taking responsibility for the content posted on their sites are undermining democracy and making the lives of so many people truly miserable." | | BIDEN TIME | |
ROE V. WADE — "When choosing life leads to abortion: NJ mother of 3 who survived catastrophic pregnancy tells her story," by NJ Advance Media's Susan K. Livio: " A catastrophically complicated pregnancy 22 years ago nearly cost Monica Attias her life. Doctors saved her by delivering her twins, five weeks premature, by cesarean section. First, her lungs collapsed. When a massive hemorrhage caused her heart and kidneys to fail, doctors placed her in a medically induced coma. They told her husband, Philippe, she had a 25% chance of survival and 'to prepare for the worst.' She survived, but with a damaged heart. Attias said she used in vitro fertilization to become pregnant with their oldest daughter Stephanie, and again two years later with Amy and Jake. But then, remarkably, she got pregnant again nine months later without fertility treatments. The couple agreed fairly quickly the right decision was to get an abortion, she said. … These memories flooded back Monday night, Attias, 56, of Millburn said, when word leakedof U.S. Justice Court Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion that appears to end abortion rights under the U.S. Constitution."
RIZZO WORLD — " After his own primary, Cawthorn will raise money for Rizzo," by New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein: " Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-North Carolina) will headline a fundraiser for Phil Rizzo's campaign for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey's 7th district on May 26. The fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster comes nine days after Cawthorn faces votes in the May 17 North Carolina Republican when the controversial freshman congressman faces voters in his own re-election campaign. 'By then he will have lost his primary,' said Rick Shaftan, a prominent conservative political consultant who moved from New Jersey to North Carolina a few years ago. 'He has no support left here, maybe outside North Carolina but not within.'" | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | EVERYTHING ELSE | |
PUMP IT UP — "Gas prices hit new record highs. See how high they are in your N.J. county." By NJ Advance Media's Katie Kausch: Gas prices are back up again with a gallon now more expensive than in mid-March, when prices spiked to historic highs.The average cost for a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey is $4.472 as of Monday. The average price nationally is $4.328. Drivers in Somerset County are paying the most, with a gallon averaging $4.56. Sussex County is the cheapest place to fill up, with gas averaging $4.38 a gallon. Drivers in Somerset County are paying the most, with a gallon averaging $4.56. Sussex County is the cheapest place to fill up, with gas averaging $4.38 a gallon."
PANDEMIC — What will COVID-19 look like this summer? Health experts say the virus won't be endemic, yet., by USA Today's Adrianna Rodriguez: "The past two pandemic summers saw a spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and death, but this season may be different. Though health experts expect cases to rise, they said the wave won't be as devastating as the previous two summers or the surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Unlike the previous summers, most of the U.S. population has some immunity against the coronavirus from vaccines, boosters and previous infections. People have access to antivirals that can prevent hospitalizations in the unvaccinated. However, immunity wanes and new variants could evade what protection remains." CAREPOINT — CarePoint Health completes move to nonprofit status, by Ry: " CarePoint Health said Monday that it has completed its transition to a nonprofit. The system announced that a new 'community based' nonprofit entity owns a majority interest in its three safety hospitals: Bayonne Medical Center, Christ Hospital in Jersey City and Hoboken University Medical Center. The new nonprofit entity — formed several years after the system's owners used a network of shell companies to siphon more than $150 million from their three hospitals — is controlled by CarePoint CEO and physician Achintya Moulick." — POLITICO: Report: Businesses owned by disabled veterans missing out on state contracts, despite 2015 law — NJ Advance Media: " Two thirds of N.J. now has medium levels of COVID transmission, CDC says."
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