By Senator Loretta Weinberg
April and part of May amazingly empty in the halls of our Statehouse. Budget Committee in Assembly meets Monday and Wednesday and our Senate Budget Committee meets Tuesday and Thursday. No quorum calls on those days and the halls are uncharacteristically quiet.
Then again, the “important meetings” might be taking place in other offices and buildings. Discussion of “merger” and/or consortium agreement of Rutgers & Rowen along with the Governor’s proposal on the re-organization of the state’s higher education institutions might be indicative of that. We, on the Budget Committee, have yet to be given one iota of information on the implimentation and/or cost of such an undertaking. We’ve asked at every meeting with the appropriate officials and the “answer” is a universal, “we don’t know“! July 1st (the Governor’s “deadline”) is fast approaching. The Senate President (as I covered in an earlier column) has promised that: any re-organization will be done through legislation, and in time to give residents a chance for study and input. We’re waiting (somewhat impatiently) to hear details, and to gain input.
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