Murphy outlines response to rise in hate crimes

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Jun 21, 2022 View in browser   By Jonathan Custodio Gov. Phil Murphy called for community engagement, education, reporting, law enforcement and creativity today as he addressed the rise of hate crimes and incidents of bias at a statewide summit on the campus of Rutgers University-Newark. Hosted by acting Attorney General Matt Platkin, the summit was put together in response to the recent string of mass shootings, including a racist attack that killed 10 people in a majority Black neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y., and an elementary school shooting in majority-Latino Uvalde, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two educators. "The first part of any problem, as the saying goes, is acknowledging that one exists. And through this gathering, there is certainly none among us who needs to be convinced," Murphy said. "Harder, though, are finding the strategies through which we can push down these numbers. Community engagement, yes. Education, yes. Reporting, yes. Enforcement of our laws, yes. But we should not be afraid to be creative." Among some of the concerns Murphy noted were bias in schools, "racially motivated hate," anti-Semitism and hostility against the LGBTQ+ community, especially regarding trans youth. According to preliminary data Platkin released in April, New Jersey had a record high of 1,871 incidents of bias reported to law enforcement, a 400-percent rise since 2015. HAPPY TUESDAY AFTERNOON — Hi there, I'm Jonathan Custodio, your Playbook PM author. We're adding New Jersey political trivia to this newsletter and will shout out one person who correctly answers the question in the following day's edition. Today's shout out goes to Anita Daniel for correctly answering that the late Ronald Owens was the State Assembly's first Black Speaker Pro-Tempore. Today's question: Who was New Jersey's first female Attorney General? Send answers and tips to jcustodio@politico.com. We're 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 HUMANS ARE OUR BEST RESOURCE, AFTER ALL  — Eighty percent of raises doled out to NJ Transit employees in its human resources department in the past year went to just eight people, report The Record's Dustin Racioppi and Colleen Wilson. According to records obtained by the USA TODAY Network New Jersey, the authority handed out $265,000 in salary increases, with pay rising for certain employees by up to $50,000. The agency is operating at a $727.5 million loss and has dealt with issues of pay equity, allegations of discrimination and questions of transparency over the past several years. COVID NUMBERS — New Jersey reported 1,862 confirmed positive Covid-19 tests and 10 deaths from the virus today. The state's seven-day average was down 11 percent from a week ago and 46 percent from a month ago. ON THE BEATS WATERFRONT FIGHT — The U.S. Supreme Court wants New York and New Jersey to file a flurry of legal briefs laying out their fight over the bi-state agency created to police the harbor. This spring, the high court blocked New Jersey's plan to exit the Waterfront Commission, which both states created in 1953 to combat widespread mob activity and union corruption in the shipping industry. The Supreme Court order, which followed a conference of the justices last week, adopts the states' preferred way of settling the matter. New York and New Jersey agree their dispute involves a purely legal argument over the language in a deal they signed to create the commission and that they don't need a lengthy period to gather evidence, as some fights between states require. Politically, New Jersey argues the commission is antiquated, while New York says it remains vital to keep crime in check. The legal issues at the heart of the dispute are simple — does the language of the deal the two states struck allow one state to leave the agreement without the other's consent? The Supreme Court set dates for the states to file motions. New Jersey is allowed until Aug. 22 to answer a filing by New York. New York files another brief by Oct. 21, New Jersey responds by Nov. 7 and New York replies by Nov. 22. After that, the court may hold oral arguments. — Ry Rivard Around New Jersey BILLS WOULD CHANGE GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS — New Jersey Monitor's Sophie Nieto-Munoz: "Lawmakers are on the brink of finally making long-sought changes to a 40-year-old statute requiring 11th graders to take exams in order to graduate from high school. During a Senate Education Committee hearing Monday, senators moved two bills aimed at revamping the requirement. The first (A3196) would halt the use of the test as a graduation prerequisite for the class of 2023 and use test results to study learning loss instead, while another measure (S50 ) would direct the Department of Education to find an alternative to the test starting with the class of 2026. 'We're aiming to now redirect the challenge and the responsibility to the Department of Education to come up with a comprehensive solution so that we can eradicate and change the statute once and for all,' said Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), sponsor of the second bill. 'I'm just trying to have a remedied, long-term solution.'" AUTISM EXPERTS DOWNPLAY IMPACT OF SENSORY ROOMS — NorthJersey.com's Gene Myers: "As students climbed, bounced and jumped their way around the brightly colored sensory room at Denville's Riverview Elementary School, Principal Tina Theodoropoulos beamed at how far the project had come. … Theodoropoulos started the sensory room at her Morris County school from scratch in 2017, with donated items in an empty room. But using grants and PTA funding, the effort has grown into a $38,000 facility as big as Riverview's gymnasium, complete with monkey bars, swing, rock-climbing wall, tunnel and more. … But it's not money well spent, say clinical experts and autism advocates. There's little independent research to show that sensory rooms work, these critics say, just a sea of industry blogs relying on studies published by manufacturers." Odds and ends — A Staten Island man has been charged with assault for attacking a 72-year-old baseball umpire in Branchburg earlier this month.  — It's not just a Shore thing: Cops busted up a pop-up party in a vacant commercial building in Wayne. — Gun ownership is up in Hudson County. — The CEO of United Airlines blames cancellations at Newark Liberty on overbooked flight schedules and understaffed control towers.    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

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