Governor Murphy said he'd deliver property tax relief during his budget address today he set out to prove it holding an event in New Milford earlier with the state treasurer to announce nearly 1.7 million residents applied for New Jersey's anchor property tax relief program now more than a million of those were filed by homeowners the Rest by renters the program replaces The Familiar Homestead benefit eligible homeowners could receive up to fifteen hundred dollars in relief while tenants could get a 450 dollar check to help offset rent prices affordability was a Cornerstone of the governor's budget address Tuesday but the budget also set a record high in spending more than 53 billion dollars and not everything included will make it to the July 1st Finish Line Governor Murphy joins me now Governor Murphy good to get an opportunity to talk with you very large budget there's money for seniors there's tax credits for folks with children there's property tax relief is your Administration satisfied with the 1.7 million applications that were submitted for this anchor program Good To Be With You Brianna um the answer is yes uh apparently as compared to any historical Benchmark particularly in the first year of a program getting 85 plus or minus of the folks who are eligible to actually sign up uh is a really good result as you saw in the budget speech we're proposing the same uh relief for this coming year it's historic property tax relief and we'll tweak how we do it we'll probably have more bodies on the phones early on my guesses will start to promote it earlier and I would hope and expect that that number will only go higher in the years ahead Republicans as you know have been talking about this being an unsustainable level of spending they've been requesting more direct property tax relief more of those checks similar checks to be going out and particularly criticizing this Surplus this 10 billion million dollar Surplus did you work in a bipartisan way in looking at these property tax proposals but we always try to um and and I'm proud of the fact that before we unveil our budget we sit with Democratic Leadership and Republican leadership uh and we've got a good relationship uh across the aisle for sure and remember Brianna this is our proposal and it's it's been widely uh uh supported by many so I would hope that 121 days from now the budget Plus or minuses looks like the one I presented yesterday but I have to say two things if I made of my Republican friends number one uh this state was a wreck five plus years ago uh property taxes were out of control uh they had their governor they had plenty of opportunities to deliver real relief they did a lot of talking uh we're the guys who actually have come in and delivered property tax relief at a historic level secondly that Surplus is big for a reason really for two reasons number one it's part of it's not the only element but it's part of our strategy to continue to get positive outlooks and upgrades from the credit rating agencies and those upgrades mean we save money and every single taxpayer saves money secondly I think even more importantly I don't know what the economy looks like around the corner um and we could easily see that Surplus cut in half if we get a scenario like we had in 2008 eight or nine at least in half I hope I don't expect that scenario I serious heck hope it doesn't happen but we inherited a state with a 400 million dollar Surplus we're now over 10 billion dollars the same people who complain about 10 billion dollars used to complain the other side of the argument when it was only 400 million in defending that we were practically in junk credit status today we are seen to be one of if not if not the state that is on the rise as it relates to fiscal responsibility well you mentioned it so I'll ask the process that this budget has to go through now do you have concerns then about those legislative add-ons that we inevitably see uh to the original budget proposal in order to get this agreed upon listen I think we've seen over the past uh several budgets last years in particular we've got a really good working relationship with the Senate President speaker I can't say enough good things about them I think we all enter this with a with a certain level of responsibility I know we have in terms of the budget we've presented it I know they they have and they will continue to so it's a reality as part of the give and take uh but I'm confident that when we end we'll end in a very good place on behalf of New Jersey's taxpayers okay let me ask you about the corporate business tax um you are allowing it to Sunset there is of course uh some groups who are are of course some groups who are unhappy about that given the revenue raiser it is um you're increasing spending but getting rid of what your Treasury Department says would be a little over 300 million dollars in Revenue by allowing that to go explain that yeah I mean let's start Rihanna by saying it deals a deal we committed to the to this community that this was temporary and and part of the reason why our state got this such a mess that it got into before we got here and I'm not Pat myself on the back it's just a fact because nobody trusted us anymore are are workers at retirees didn't trust that would make the pension payment our bondholders didn't certainly like things because we were downgraded 11 consecutive times uh we didn't fulfill and fund the school funding formula we didn't fulfill and fund the property tax relief that was first discussed and proposed in 2007 so I'm not going back to those days I want to draw a line under that behavior and this is on that list we said we needed this for several years to get us through a really difficult transition we've come through that transition um and yeah don't do I do I want do I like seeing a revenue Source go away certainly not but it's the right thing to do to make us competitive and I would say even with that Source gone we have a budget unlike in Washington and unlike in the old New Jersey where the money we bring in is more than the money we spend it's a positive Surplus in terms of the actual income and expenses uh and and that that's the way it should be and that's the way it will be as as long as we're here it's a tax you signed into law so is it fair to call it a tax cut yeah I wouldn't say it as much as a tax cut as letting a surcharge expire and make us as more competitive to me it's about competition and that's not the only way we compete but making the math work and having a fair deal we had the highest corporate tax rate in the United States I think we're still top five even with this expiration we got to make sure that the math works because we want to keep companies here and attract attract new ones let me just shift gears slightly to another item that was sucking up a lot of oxygen in Trenton this week which was a bill that would significantly change election spending and enforcement it would also give you your branch of government the power to appoint the commissioner for elac some are saying this is uh direct retaliation for the director criticizing use of dark money within your campaign is it it is absolutely not first of all that's that that is for sure but I I don't want to get into any Personnel matters uh that we may or may not have but certainly has nothing to do with with dark money I promise you that uh uh I don't know where that bill is going to end up it was pulled as I recall was pulled on Monday and the sponsor said they were going to make some changes to it I have no insight as to what those changes are but having the nation's most open transparent and easy to use democracy is an obsession of ours we've made a lot of progress toward that and making sure it's fair and people play by the rules is also an obsession and having an independent entity that sees to it that everything I just said in fact is the case uh is extremely important to us and it always will be and the election law enforcement commission is praised for his independence do you fear that it would send a different message to voters if the commissioner is someone who is appointed by the governor it's a it's a bill I don't know what changes are being made it's not our bill per se so and it's not on my desk so for all those reasons uh I I don't have any comment beyond what I've said but I I promise you as it relates to voting uh in democracy and transparency and play by the rules we are and we'll continue to be on the right side of History your Administration Governor has been involved with the Rutgers Union situation where they are looking to they're starting this 10-day period to authorize a vote on on a strike is there progress being made there and and how involved and engaged is your Administration on that well on the health care side we have been deeply involved and I have been involved personally um and then Rutgers has some broader Labor Relations uh issues that it's that it's going through we are I think we're unabashedly I've said this hundreds of times we are a proud organized labor State this Administration is a proud supporter of organized labor and I would just say to all parties get at the table get into the room and figure this out it doesn't do anyone any good uh to have this sort of tension uh at Rutgers or elsewhere let's be fair to our Workforce let's respect collective bargaining always and let's get this resolved I know I've got I'm I'm all over the place here but since we have the time with you the Supreme Court today uh was hearing oral arguments about the Waterfront commission are you confident or do you have any confidence that the justices will rule in New Jersey's favor to leave this Commission well first of all we had confidence before today because we believe the facts are on our side the Waterfront commission is outdated 90-ish percent of the cargo is in Jersey not New York uh we're completely committed to vetting all employees and all participants and doing right by law enforcement but the current model is from the 50s and it behaves that way in the year 2023 so we had complete confidence then you look at what happened in the Supreme Court today and I now have Supreme confidence uh Jeremy feigenbaum who's our solicitor general hit the cover off the ball according to all reports that I've gotten including several from inside the the chamber witnessing it firsthand so I don't want to do the Supreme Court's job for them but boy I'll tell you something uh it feels like this is gonna at long last end up uh in the place it should end up uh governor in actually just a few minutes I'm going to be talking to commissioner La Tourette and and a number of environmentalists a lot of folks have been bringing to my attention this call for a constitutional green amendment I won't ask you about that specifically but I do just want to get your take on the constitutional right and if you believe in a constitutional right to clean air and clean water I'm not sure before about a constitutional right but for sure people have every right to a whole series of things much of which are under attack in America but not New Jersey and that includes a clean air clean water the right to reproductive Freedom the right to vote the right to of of responsible gun laws etc etc uh and I would put our track record over the past five plus years up against any American state on defending all those rights including environmental rights and the right to clean water and clean air did the incident in Ohio that the train derailment there give you any pause to some of the development that's being proposed in Gibbs town there were a lot of parallels being drawn between New Jersey our aquifers our watersheds their proximity to these trains that carry these toxic materials if there were to be a derailment did it give you any pause about that development proposal you know the development proposal not specifically but we have a whole lot of rail traffic that goes through New Jersey carrying stuff uh and it's happened here it happened down south I think in Salem County if I'm not mistaken 11 years ago we had a similar situation uh when I drive up the turnpike I'm in Newark right now from my home I'm passing by invariably scores if not hundreds of tanker cars uh it's something whenever you see something like this happen it causes you to look in the mirror and ask yourself not just let's pray for the people in Ohio but what's what are we doing in New Jersey to make sure that we're as safe as we can be in in and I've asked our team to do just that would you support a ban on Movement Like That Ohio Pennsylvania Representatives rather have Federal Representatives have proposed that to the Biden Administration I don't know about a van I mean that that's going to be very very hard given how much stuff goes through New Jersey it's something I'd be open-minded to but I'm not sure it's practical Governor Murphy I really appreciate your time thank you so much