By Patricia Alex. Staff Writer. The Record.
State lawmakers are hashing out a plan to put a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to approve $1.3 billion for capital projects at the state’s colleges and universities, a legislative aide said Friday.
Higher-education advocates, who have been pushing for a bond issue for a generation, said they are hopeful that a tax-weary public would see the need for the improvements.
“I know it will be a challenge to get this bill approved by the public but I think it’s doable,” said Paul Shelly, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities. “I’m trusting it has momentum in the Legislature.”
The bond referendum is viewed in part as a bid to gain statewide legislative support for a controversial and complex reorganization of some of the state’s largest public universities. Legislators, including a contingent from North Jersey, had argued that capital investments in all of the state’s colleges and universities had to be considered in return for their support for the reorganization, which is likely to be costly and will affect Rutgers and Rowan universities and the state’s medical schools.
The two bills that would put the initiative on the ballot were still being drafted Friday evening but they are expected to be introduced and get a first hearing before the Senate Budget Committee on Monday, said the aide, who declined to be identified.
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