Fewer deer. More trees. A utopian vision of Murphy's New Jersey emerges

In Gov. Phil Murphy's New Jersey, children would spend less time preparing for tests, fewer people would commit crimes after getting out of prison, and fewer deer would chomp through the state's valuable crops.

More trees would spring up in cities, employers that don't provide health insurance would pay more to subsidize care, and people out of work for long periods would receive additional assistance to get back into the workforce.



That vision for the Garden State emerges in 14 reports prepared for Murphy's administration by transition committees appointed to assist the Democrat as he took office after eight years of Republican Chris Christie. More than 500 people sat on the committees.

The 14 groups assigned to areas such as healthcare, education and urban growth worked for about six weeks between Murphy's election in November and the beginning of the year. Murphy was sworn in Jan. 16.

The governor, who hand picked the committees, is under no obligation to implement or even accept the recommendations, which read like a wish-list for a utopian vision of New Jersey.

“Short-sighted decisions based on what could happen in the next election have left many New Jersey agencies without strategies that ensure the state’s competitiveness and viability in the 21st century, but the era of ad-hoc policy making is over in New Jersey,” Murphy said in a statement accompanying the reports. “We have thoroughly reviewed the transition reports and have already started acting on some of the recommendations. ”

Many of the reports recap pledges Murphy made during the campaign, such as raising the state minimum wage to $15 an hour and legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Others paint a more idyllic vision for New Jersey, where tech startups flourish in vacant buildings, technology makes trains run on time, and health consumers are protected from high out-of-pocket charges for emergencies.

Here are some highlights:

Transportation and urban development

The Gateway rail tunnel and the Port Authority Bus Terminal expansion would be top priorities, with a high-level gubernatorial aide in charge of making them happen.

An emergency manager would improve the relationship between NJ Transit and Amtrak and serve as a voice for the state’s interests.

NJ Transit’s executive director would review the factors that have led to the agency’s decline, including the performance of upper management and the large number of vacancies of critical jobs.

NJ Transit and the state Department of Transportation would consider more bus rapid transit projects. With dedicated lanes, less frequent stops and off-board fare collection, rapid buses mimic trains but at less cost. They could help reverse a recent decline in bus ridership.

Housing

State officials would provide legal help to people facing eviction or foreclosure to bring down the rate of foreclosures, which is currently the highest in the nation.

Murphy would reinstate the Senior Deputy Commissioner of Housing and the statewide Commission on Housing through executive action and incentivize housing production to meet the need for affordable homes.

New Jersey communities would combine homeless programs to use funds more efficiently. Homeless Trust Fund programs would be expanded to provide money to cover gaps in services and give additional funding for shelters or emergency assistance. The ultimate goal would be to end homeless in the state.

Environment

New Jersey would rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program by New England and mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. Early in his tenure Christie pulled New Jersey out of the group.

Offshore wind farms would help Murphy realize his goal of all of New Jersey's energy coming from renewable sources by 2050.

The state would take it's portion of the recent Volkswagen settlement money to “serve as a springboard for the electrification of the state’s transportation system.”

Budget and economy

New Jersey would look at budget challenges over a longer horizon, rather than simply managing year-by-year, and would put more money into its rainy day fund.

The state would raise revenues by legalizing and taxing marijuana for recreational use, by raising the income tax on people who earn $1 million or more, and by ending the ability of multi-state corporations to claim lower tax rates in other states if they're located in New Jersey.

New Jersey would support federal legislation to apply sales taxes to purchases by residents to companies that have no physical presence in the state.

The state would harness technology to more efficiently deliver services to residents, while reviewing all state programs to make sure they're still necessary and well-run.

The state pension system also would revisit the practice of paying Wall Street managers to invest its assets, which carried $659 million in fees in 2016, up from $125 million in 2009.

The state would improve services to unemployed residents by pairing them with job coaches, rather than simply providing unemployment insurance. Such assistance also could apply to people who don't qualify for unemployment insurance, such as Uber and Lyft drivers and other participants in the "gig" economy.

State government also would identify key areas for economic growth — such as logistics, life sciences, technology and renewable energy — and target incentives to businesses in those areas rather than granting massive tax breaks.

The state also would work to attract more foreign investment in its companies.

Healthcare

Murphy's administration would end surprise out-of-network bills, restore funds for family planning to the state budget, and preserve and improve the insurance gains made under the Affordable Care Act.

The state would lead efforts — defunded by the Trump Administration — to boost enrollment in Obamacare plans and Medicaid. It would explore the potential for "incentives" and "shared responsibility" payments to encourage individuals and businesses to have health coverage. And it would look into holding premiums down through creation of a state reinsurance program.

The governor would direct attention to the social determinants of health, such as housing, education and employment, with the goal of addressing the "systemic racism and discrimination" that leads New Jersey to have the nation's highest gap between black and white infant-mortality rates and other markers of racial disparity.

Education and opportunity

The state would fully fund public schools under its funding formula, put a pause on creating new charter schools, expand vocational-technical education and reduce the role of standardized tests in the classroom.

The state also would expand its Tuition Aid Grant and Educational Opportunity Fund programs to make college more affordable while moving New Jersey toward offering free tuition at community colleges.

Other ideas

New Jersey would create incentives for winegrowers in a Coastal Plains Wine Corridor, help farmers manage the herd of deer that prey on their crops, and provide low-interest loans to farmers for measures that reduce pollution.

The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs would split into two separate agencies, one responsible for the National Guard and the other for veterans.

The state would work to ease the transition of prisoners back into society to reduce the rate of recidivism, which currently is 70 percent. The state would explore and in some cases lift barriers to reintegration such as driver’s license suspensions, employment restrictions, bars to certain professional licenses, and access to government assistance, including housing.

Staff reporters Curtis Tate, Megan Burrow, James O'Neill, Lindy Washburn and Nick Pugliese contributed to this report.