gwbupperleveltollplazajenbrowns-ljpg-3fdf21560e7a13cb.jpg

Legislation to reform the Port Authority in the wake of the George Washington Bridge lane closures will be the subject of a hearing Monday, when the agency's chairman will be asked whether a single chief executive should be in charge of projects and day-to-day operations in both states. (Jennifer Brown | Star-Ledger file photo)

TRENTON -- Is it a good idea to let day-to-day operations of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey be run by a single executive for both states? Two key players in the post-Bridgegate reform era agree on at least that one point.

Port Authority Chairman John Degnan, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie, will testify Monday morning before the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee. The committee chairman, Assemblyman John Wizniewski (D-Middlesex), who has introduced bill that would mandate a single executive, said he will ask Degnan what he thinks of his and other reform legislation pending in New York and New Jersey.

Degnan also supports a single executive, and recommended adopting the change as co-chairman of reform panel appointed last year by Christie and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. He called a single executive, "the single most important reform element," of the many that have been proposed.

Agency custom over the past two decades has allowed the governor of New York to name an executive director, while the governor of New Jersey appointed a deputy executive, and the two have acted largely as joint-directors in charge of operations and project in their respective states.

The custom was intended to insure equity between the states. But critics say the joint directorship has led to interstate rivalry and even abuses. For example, a former deputy executive director is charged with conspiring to orchestrate the George Washington Bridge lane closures in 2013 as a form of political retribution in a plot hidden from the executive director.

A single executive is mandated in a bill introduced in New York last week and endorsed jointly by both governors. Port Authority legislation must be adopted in identical form by both states, and New Jersey's Senate minority leader, Sen. Tom Kean Jr., (R-Union), said he would introduce a mirror bill sometime this month.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow hin on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.