In late February, Gov. Chris Christie proposed what he described as a fiscally responsible budget plan. He set a specific dollar amount as governors always do. Rarely is the final spending plan as close to what was proposed as this year's budget is expected to be even though Democratic leaders are still tweaking it a bit.
Although the State Senate Budget Committee did not vote on a budget bill Tuesday as expected, the spending plan legislation should still be put to bed far in advance of the midnight June 30 constitutional deadline.
In February, Governor Chris Christie proposed a $32.9 billion State Budget, and hearings on the spending plan have been going on for months and closed-door negotiations have been taking place for weeks.
The top budget expert with the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS) says there could be a two-year State Budget shortfall of almost $1 billion.
Today would have been arguably the third most important day of the year in New Jersey's State budget process behind only the Governor's budget address and the signing of the spending plan into law.