Spending spree ends legislative session
GOP leader: Last-minute moves are 'insanity'
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Legislation that would provide $128 million to more than a dozen projects across New Jersey cleared the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee in a last-minute flurry as the state Legislature's lame duck session draws to a close.
.....
The bill, introduced January 8 [2026] appeared before committee at about 7 PM. without being made available to the public for review.
..... This last-minute push-through process is typically reserved for the slew of special line items, commonly called pork, added to the budget in the waning days of the fiscal negotiation each June.
..... Titled as shut a bill that <males FY2026 supplemental appropriations for various purposes," the legislation is sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari and state Senator Paul Sarlo, who serves as the budget chair.
..... The bill includes $54 million for various county projects, including $12 million for the Bergen County Improvement Authority, $13 million for the Southern New Jersey Regional Rehabilitation and Reentry Center in Camden County and $4 million for the Network Operations Center in Middlesex County.
..... Another $10 million is going to Hudson County Schools of Technology for capital improvements and $25 million is being used for support and advancement of the state's "AI supercomputer initiative."
..... More money is headed tot he regional World Cup host committee as well.
..... There's $20 million being spent through the Economic Development Authority for the "implementation of a series of events that promote statewide tourism and drive economic development by attracting visitors, stimulating local business activity and generating revenue that leads to job creation and community investment."
..... The state is already on the hook for more than $300 million in taxpayer money for World Cup preparations since eight matches for the tournament will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford this summer. [2026]
Lack of transparency challenged
..... Sarlo said the bill is a "supplemental appropriation bill that funds some of the appropriations that have been done in the last few weeks" and that some were "requested by the administration." The state Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O'Scanlon called the process "insanity."
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"This batch of 18 line items that apparently weren't important enough to be jammed into the budget when it was being enacted, now midway through the budget year suddenly are important enough for us without any scrutiny and without any explanation to ram through in the last moment of the legislative session," he said.
..... The quality of the actual projects can't be known when the process allows for a lack of scrutiny, he said.
..... The lack of transparency was also an issue for Peter Chen, an analyst for New Jersey Policy Perspective who provided testimony on other bills throughout the meeting.
..... "It's disappointing to see the budget committee approving over a hundred million dollars in public spending with no publicly available list of the items being voted on and no opportunity for public testimony," he said. "Some of these programs may well be worthwhile, but they deserved a full hearing in the light of day, not a rushed vote in the dead of night."