Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday began rolling out recommendations for how to drive down New Jersey’s ever-ballooning costs for government-worker health benefits — but stopped short of suggesting the cuts that some top state lawmakers are considering.

Instead, the Murphy administration says the state’s health care plans should leverage their size and shorten contract lengths to save taxpayers money, according to an interim report from a task force the rookie governor convened.

Murphy, a Democrat, called the 12-page report “an excellent starting point in our ongoing pursuit of innovative solutions to improve the way we provide health benefits to public employees.”

“This is a Goliath of a task, but the blue print laid out today provides sound, actionable items that are achievable in the immediate future while we work towards long-term solutions,” the governor added in a statement.

New Jersey provides retirement and health benefits to more than 810,000 state and local government workers. But the costs are annual drain on the state budget — which is largely the result of numerous past governors, Democratic and Republican, failing to fully fund pensions.

The state’s pension and health benefits liability currently sits at about $152 billion. By comparison, the state budget for the current fiscal year is $37.4 billion.

Murphy convened this task force in May to find ways to reduce health costs. It includes state and national health policy and purchasing experts, union leaders, and experts from within the administration.

Among their chief suggestions in this report:

Leveraging the $7 billion the state spends a year on health care to “drive better health outcomes at lower costs.” That includes creating pilot programs, directly contracting with providers or vendors to test and evaluate “care delivery and payment innovations,” and more.

Shortening contract lengths with third-party administrators and network providers that “provide little to no opportunity for innovation or re-negotiation.” The panel recommends reducing contracts to three years with a one-year extension option.

Making sure health plans set “clear expectations for clinical quality improvement” and that the provider includes “metrics, goals and penalties for achieving or failing to achieve these expectations.”

Setting “detailed parameters for what constitutes network adequacy" for mental health and substance abuse.

Making sure committees that design health plans make “evidence-informed decisions” based on “payment data.”

The report does not address ways to tackle soaring pension costs.

The approach is much different than Murphy’s Republican predecessor, Chris Christie, who bolstered his national profile by cutting a deal in 2010 and 2011 with Democratic leaders of the state Legislature to overhaul New Jersey’s pension and health benefits.

That included workers agreeing to pay more for health care and Christie promising to eventually make full pension payments. Though Christie did funnel more into the system than previous governors, he later slashed pension payments and never kept his vow to fully fund them.

Christie also began calling for more cuts before he left office. Union leaders recoiled and Democratic leaders were never on board.

Murphy, a progressive Democrat who won election last year with heavy labor support, has vowed to finally fully fund the pension system.

At the same time, New Jersey’s top state lawmaker, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney — a more moderate Democrat — has convened his own, bipartisan panel to find ways to save the state money.

Its final report — called the “Path to Progress” and released in August — suggests new tolls, merging school districts, and making cuts to pension and health benefits.

State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, New Jersey’s third-highest-ranking state official, has not publicly endorsed Sweeney’s plan. But he, too, has called for state leaders to find ways to make spending cuts to rein in the budget.

Still, Sweeney and Coughlin would need Murphy’s support to enact those plans. And Murphy would need Sweeney and Coughlin to help install his health benefit recommendations.

It’s unclear what the outcome will be, especially because Murphy and Sweeney have often butted heads in the governor’s rookie year.

Murphy last week also refused to rule out another round of state tax hikes for next year. The governor instituted a set of tax increases last year to help pay for increases to pensions, education, and transportation.

But Sweeney and Coughlin have already said they won’t consider any tax hikes unless there are significant spending cuts.

At least one Republican, state Sen. Steven Oroho, dismissed Murphy’s suggestions Friday as “abstract.”

“It seems like another attempt to kick the can down the road, while ignoring real proposals in our Path to Progress report,” said Oroho, R-Sussex.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been updated to clarify that the task force is focused on New Jersey’s government-worker health benefits, not its pension system.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.