🗳️ Gov. Sherrill signed a new law that exempts temporary #poll workers from losing unemployment eligibility in #NJ; ☎️ cuts to the NJ FY2027 budget have left 5 mental health crisis centers unopened developed as part of the state's 988 crisis response system. Read more here:

New Jersey Law to Streamline Spring Breaks for School Districts – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Public Administration Gov. Sherrill Denies Federal Request for Voter Registration Records - On July 21st, Governor Mikie Sherrill revealed that 6,600 noncitizens were registered to vote through a soft...

policylab.rutgers.edu

📚👓 #NJ recently joined more than 30 states in mandating universal #literacy screenings in early elementary grades at least twice a year. The screenings are intended to catch and address early signs of #reading difficulty for students in kindergarten through third grade:

Screening for Early Literacy Struggles in New Jersey - New Jersey State Policy Lab

New Jersey recently joined more than 30 states in mandating universal literacy screenings in early elementary grades. These screenings—required by law to occur at least twice a year—assess students in...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🚓🚑 Co-response programs, like New Jersey's ARRIVE Together program, are designed to pair local law enforcement with emergency medical staff to address mental health crises: policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/...

🚲 NJ's new restrictions on e-bike licensing & insurance have gone into effect; 🏘️ Gov. Sherrill signed new legislation regulating algorithmic rent-setting prices; 🩺 the #NJ Department of Health has been instructed to begin participating in the Global Outbreak Alert network via #WHO. Read more:

New Jersey Enacts FAIR Act to Restrict Algorithmic Rent Pricing – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Transportation New E-Bike Registration and Insurance Requirements Now in Effect – Bill S4834, signed by then-Gov. Phil Murphy in January, took effect on July 20th, establishing New Jersey’s first regi...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🪫⚡Over the coming weeks, researchers will be launching an in-depth interview study to speak directly with #NJ residents to discuss their perceptions regarding #datacenters, #energy costs, and their own utility bills:

Understanding How Residents Truly Feel About Data Centers and Energy Bills - New Jersey State Policy Lab

In our previous research published with the New Jersey State Policy Lab, we posed a question that is increasingly on the minds of ratepayers across the state: Are data centers raising your electric bi...

policylab.rutgers.edu

☀️🌡️ After the heat wave earlier this month, 29 deaths were reported in #NJ due to the extreme temperatures. Initiatives to grow tree canopies in urban areas can reduce the impacts of climate change, especially in neighborhoods that are overburdened with the adverse effects of extreme heat events:

Tree Equity and Extreme Heat in New Jersey - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Over the past 30 years, heat has become the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, with 210 million Americans at risk of health threats due to increasing extreme heat waves. Mea...

policylab.rutgers.edu

💡 Gov. Sherrill signed a bill directing the #NJ BPU to begin construction of a new #nuclear power plant; 👪 several provisions from a worker leave protection bill have gone into effect, including expanding #job protections for employees receiving temporary disability #insurance benefits. Read more:

Gov. Sherrill Signs Bill Directing New Nuclear Power Construction – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Environment & Energy Gov. Sherill Signs Bill Directing State to Procure New Nuclear Power Plant – On July 13th, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed Bill A4881, directing the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to ...

policylab.rutgers.edu

☔🌊☔ As urban areas have developed in #NJ, some water bodies have been filled in, developed over, or rerouted through stormwater systems. This new report created a dataset of historical water bodies in Union County that have been altered by human development: policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/...

NJ PBS is hiring a video editor to cut news packages, promos, and long-form programs for broadcast and streaming. Color, audio, and hitting the daily deadline. Based in Montclair, full time, $76,486.40-$84,131.83.

📚 In #NJ, less than 45% of third graders met or exceeded expectations on state English language arts assessments in spring 2025. In July 2025, the NJDOE's Office of Learning Equity and Academic Recovery released K-12 guidelines for literacy instruction as part of the state's new Literacy Framework:

What High-Quality Literacy Instruction Means in New Jersey - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Nationally, literacy rates among schoolchildren have become a growing concern, with the average reading scores for high school seniors falling to their lowest level since 1992, according to research f...

policylab.rutgers.edu

📅 RSVP today to the 5th annual Summer Internship Presentations on August 5th 10am-12pm at @bloustein.rutgers.edu: www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-njspl...

🔌 Gov. Sherrill signed three new energy bills into law intending to address rising #electricity rates in #NJ; 🏘️ the Senate and Assembly voted to pass a bill restricting algorithmic-based #rent pricing, sending it to the governor's desk. Read these stories and more:

Gov. Sherrill Signs Three New Energy Bills into Law – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Environment & Energy Bill Reintroduced to Establish 'Pollinator-Friendly' Label for Plants, Implement Pesticide Regulations - On June 30th, New Jersey Assembly Bill A3094 was engrossed and filed for i...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🩺 #Rutgers researchers found that half of staffed beds among #NJ hospitals are concentrated within the state's three largest hospital systems—for example, RWJ Barnabas Health owns 66% of all staffed beds in the Newark HRR, while Atlantic Health owns 75% of all staffed beds in the Morristown HRR:

Making Sense of New Jersey Hospital Consolidation in a Challenging Policy Environment - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Hospital consolidation is drawing more and more attention from healthcare scholars, policymakers, and the media. This consolidation includes hospital mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and the growth of l...

policylab.rutgers.edu

A research team with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, with support from the NJSPL, recently conducted a series of focus groups with small business owners in #Middlesex County #NJ to capture their experiences and perspectives navigating the incorporation of #AI tools into their work:

The Voices of Small Business Owners in Middlesex County - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Researchers at the John J. Heldrich Center with support from the New Jersey State Policy Lab are currently working on a project to examine how New Jersey’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives can...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🏆🎉🏆 Congratulations to both NJSPL Executive Director Elizabeth Cooner, Ed.D. and @stuartshapiroblou.bsky.social who were named in Insider NJ's 2026 Policy Makers Power List! See the full list here: www.insidernj.com/wp-content/u...

🗳️ Gov. Sherrill signed the John R. Lewis Voter Act into law, making #NJ the first to implement voter protections in the wake of the #SCOTUS #Callais decision; 🔋 both the Senate and Assembly advanced a bill to expand nuclear power generation; Read these stories and more today:

Gov. Sherrill Signs Voter Rights Act into Law – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Public Administration Gov. Sherrill Signs Off on FY2027 Budget - On June 30th, Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the fiscal year 2027 budget into law, marking it the largest budget in state history with ...

policylab.rutgers.edu

New Jersey's economic outlook for Summer 2026 presents a picture of tempered growth and a labor market that, while stabilizing, remains under pressure. Read more here: policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/...

🎊 Meet the NJSPL’s 2026 summer interns! 🎉 We’re so proud to introduce Lanae Ali, Daniel Fairman, Saarah Haqq, Jessica Korins, Ryan Lawrence, Jital Parikh, and Brigette Thompson as this year’s cohort, led by our Teaching Assistant Vageesha Sharma. Learn more: policylab.rutgers.edu/about/people...

🛻🚨🚒 NJ's own Target Zero Action plan identified a need to implement a Rapid Response program for municipalities to deploy safety countermeasures immediately after a fatal or serious injury crash. Researchers recently interviewed a variety of #transportation experts within the city of #Denver:

Building Safer Streets: Rapid Response, Emergency Streets, and Lessons for New Jersey - New Jersey State Policy Lab

The New Jersey Target Zero Action Plan, adopted in December 2025, identified a need for more immediate responses to fatal crashes. Action G.9. calls on the state to “explore a model Target Zero Rapid ...

policylab.rutgers.edu

💵 Senate & Assembly Budget Committees both voted to advance the $60.7B budget for fiscal year 2027, with a full vote scheduled for today; 🎖️ the Senate also advanced a bill which would mandate the #NJ DCA to establish hubs throughout the state for supporting veterans' and their housing; read more:

Senate Advances Bill to Strengthen Veterans’ Protections – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Public Administration Senate and Assembly Budget Committees Approve $60.7B Budget for Fiscal Year 2027 - On June 29th, several outlets reported that the New Jersey Senate and Assembly Budget Committee...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🤰👪 Researchers found that when state paid #family leave policies were in effect, like the one in #NJ, women were much more likely to take paid leave only (60.4% to 33.8%), and less likely to take unpaid or a combination of paid and unpaid leave:

Why Do Eligible Workers Still Not Use Paid Family Leave? - New Jersey State Policy Lab

New Jersey implemented paid family leave (PFL) in 2009, called the Family Leave Insurance program, and expanded it 10 years later to increase wage replacement rates, lengthen leave duration, and broad...

policylab.rutgers.edu

On June 22nd, the NJSPL's summer interns joined with students from the Eagleton Institute of Politics, the Rutgers Democracy Lab, & the Rutgers Scarlet Service Internship program as part of an immersive, one-day civics program at the New Jersey State House: policylab.rutgers.edu/new-jersey-s...

@policylab.rutgers.edu was featured on NJ.com on efforts to reform sentencing laws, including proposals to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses & address racial disparities in the criminal justice system: https://loom.ly/5w2oYSM

🏥 Legislation advanced out of the Assembly #Health Committee which would allow the #NJ Department of Health to oversee operations of financially distressed hospitals; 🚜 another bill advanced out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee which would establish a mentorship program for beginner farmers:

Bill Advances to Allow Department of Health to Oversee Operations of Financially Distressed Hospitals – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Health Bill Advances to Add Vitamin B9 to Corn Masa Products - On June 15, Bill A5119 unanimously passed the bipartisan Assembly Agriculture Committee with amendments. The “Fortifying Corn Masa Act” w...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🔋🪫 When a data center begins operating in a new ZIP code, do local household electricity bills rise relative to those not near the data center? #Rutgers researchers built a state-ZIP-level panel and linked those places to 2,277 operational data centers with valid ZIP codes:

Are Data Centers Raising Your Electric Bill? Mostly Not. Yet. - New Jersey State Policy Lab

If you have opened an electric bill recently, you have probably noticed the same thing many households have: it is higher than it used to be. Nationally, average residential electricity prices rose by...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🚓🚑 Publicly available data provide a statewide snapshot of the ARRIVE Together program in #NJ, but they say little about how the program works locally. To better understand the implementation of this program and its use among emergency services teams, researchers examined municipal press releases:

What Press Releases say about the ARRIVE Together Program - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Publicly available data provide a statewide snapshot of the ARRIVE Together program in New Jersey, but they say little about how the program operates at the municipal level. Some information about how...

policylab.rutgers.edu

💼 Through labor market analysis, researchers identified industries with the highest concentration of small businesses within Middlesex #NJ & conducted a workforce analysis for the two highest concentrated industries: Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services and Healthcare & Social Assistance

Selecting Key Industries: A Preliminary Labor Market Analysis - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Researchers at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development are currently engaged in a project with the New Jersey State Policy Lab to examine how New Jersey’s artificial intelligence (AI) in...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🚲🚲🚲Sixty-four percent (64%) of respondents from a recent survey on e-bike use and perception agreed that the government should do more to support e-bike use. Over 70% of the respondents were from #NJ, with a smaller percentage from surrounding states, and 443 were non-owners:

What Do People Think of E-bikes? A Closer Look at Perception, Safety, and the New NJ Law - New Jersey State Policy Lab

E-bikes are having a moment. They’re showing up in neighborhoods, on trails, at work and transit stations, and in the hands of people who never saw themselves as “cyclists.” But as their popularity su...

policylab.rutgers.edu

🚲🚲🚲Sixty-four percent (64%) of respondents from a recent survey on e-bike use and perception agreed that the government should do more to support e-bike use. Over 70% of the respondents were from #NJ, with a smaller percentage from surrounding states, and 443 were non-owners:

What Do People Think of E-bikes? A Closer Look at Perception, Safety, and the New NJ Law - New Jersey State Policy Lab

E-bikes are having a moment. They’re showing up in neighborhoods, on trails, at work and transit stations, and in the hands of people who never saw themselves as “cyclists.” But as their popularity su...

policylab.rutgers.edu

⚖️ Gov. Sherrill directed $12M in additional funding to support a state immigrant defense initiative; 🏘️ the Assembly advanced a bill allowing homeowners to build accessory dwelling units; 🦮 the Senate advanced a bill to create a therapy dog pilot program within #NJ public schools. Read more here:

Gov. Sherrill Directs $12M in Funding to Immigrant Defense Initiative – NJ State Policy Updates - New Jersey State Policy Lab

Education Senate Advances Therapy Dog Pilot Program Bill - On May 28th, the New Jersey Senate unanimously passed Bill S-3453, sponsored by Senators James Beach and Anthony M. Bucco, which aims to esta...

policylab.rutgers.edu