New Jersey - Change Goin' To Come

By Carlos Rodrigues, Vice President and New Jersey Director, RPA

New Jersey's planning framework is likely to change in significant ways before the end of the year. The State's affordable housing model, state planning system, environmental protection rules, economic development incentives, and transportation infrastructure funding mechanism all hang in the balance. Whether this change will be for the worse or the better depends on the choices the new Republican governor and the Democratic legislature make in coming months.

How did the political appetite to tackle so many complex and seemingly intractable issues suddenly develop, after years of procrastination and complacency? A new Republican Administration in Trenton - headed by former prosecutor Chris Christie - a re-energized Legislature, a newly assertive business community and a restless electorate, all prodded into action by the state's dire fiscal crisis and bad economy, seem to have created a collective willingness to consider, and perhaps embrace real change.

Few would dispute that there is much room for improvement: the state's affordable housing system and the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), the agency responsible for administering it, have been bogged down in legal challenges for years and become a source of intense frustration for all parties involved, including affordable housing advocates. The State Planning Commission is on life support and seems unable to play any constructive role in public discourse. And the state's byzantine environmental protection regulations have become a straight-jacket that in the opinion of many actually frustrate improved environmental outcomes. This year, Transportation Trust Fund receipts - used to fund much needed transportation projects - will be entirely consumed by debt service, and without a state match NJ will lose its share of federal transportation dollars. Independent assessments repeatedly single out New Jersey as the state with the worst climate for business. By several accounts, the state has for years been hemorrhaging high net worth residents. And the property tax burden is the highest in the nation.

Faced with this burden of needed change, the new Christie Administration must work with a state government that is not only insolvent but highly dysfunctional. Particularly in the world of planning, state agencies have a history of openly feuding with each other, frustrating or negating each other's initiatives and investments, and failing to project a strategic vision for the state's future.

The new Administration has shown considerable gusto in tackling these issues, a refreshing change from previous administrations, which seemed content with a variety of gimmicks that postponed the day of reckoning. The new Administration's transition reports provide a window into this desire for change. They include suggestions not only for reducing the size of state government, but also for tackling some of the state's structural problems. The transition report for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection was particularly cogent in its analysis of the Department's shortcomings.

Meanwhile the Democratic legislature - having twice enacted a permit extension law against the strident opposition of many environmental groups - is tackling a wide menu of proposed legislation that would reform state planning, eliminate COAH, and overhaul municipal affordable housing obligations, as well as change some environmental programs and modify the state's planning enabling legislation. Depending upon whom one talks to, the proposed bills are seen as a promising breath of fresh air or an opportunity for bad things to happen. Possibly both. For while this legislative attention to planning matters is not unwelcome, there is a real danger that the vast and complex changes under consideration will create yet more chaos instead of providing the much needed solutions.

Perhaps influenced by the current wave of zombie and vampire movies, the Governor promised during his campaign to "drive a stake through COAH's heart," signaling his displeasure with the state's affordable housing agency. True to form, among the 13 Executive Orders he has signed in just a few weeks, EO 12 creates a Housing Opportunity Task Force with a broad mandate to propose, within 90 days, solutions for a wide range of issues involving state planning and affordable housing mandates. A tall order indeed, but a necessary one.

The Governor has also prudently asked the Legislature for a "time out" to allow this Task Force and his new Administration to sort through the myriad details and evaluate the implications of any proposed changes. This seems a wise move considering the complexity of the issues and the potentially long lasting effects of the resulting policy changes. We hope the legislative leadership will take this to heart.

It remains to be seen whether this window of opportunity will bring New Jersey much needed reforms. Initial indications are mixed. Even while manifesting a healthy openness to considering new ways of doing things, the Governor has also been hastily closing possible options for some of the state's structural problems. He has ruled out an increase in the state's gas tax (one of the lowest in the nation) or new tolls on some of the state's highways - ideas floated by his transportation transition team - as possible solutions to recapitalize the Transportation Trust Fund. Every door that is closed will make it more difficult to find an effective, lasting solution. And some doors, when closed, will hurt some people a lot more than others.

Particularly disturbing is that after less than a month in office the Governor has already demonstrated a lack of appreciation for the critical roles transit plays in New Jersey's economy and quality of life. His budget proposes cutting $33 million from NJ TRANSIT's budget, the equivalent of 1.5 months of state subsidies. While this is not the end of the world, it does set a certain tone. In his budget address, the Governor stated that "the state cannot continue to subsidize NJ TRANSIT to the extent it does. So I am cutting that subsidy. NJ TRANSIT will have to improve the efficiency of its operations, revisit its rich union contracts, end the patronage hiring that has typified its past, and may also have to consider service reductions or fare increases. But the system needs to be made more efficient and effective." Significantly, no reduction is proposed for NJDOT's much larger budget. Apparently transit patrons (3/4 of which ride the less than glamorous NJ TRANSIT buses) are better able to afford fare increases than motorists can bear an increase in tolls or the gas tax.