New Jersey State Policy Lab

06/25/2026

On Monday, June 22nd, the New Jersey State Policy Lab's summer intern cohort joined with students from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, the Rutgers Democracy Lab, and the Rutgers Scarlet Service Internship program as part of an immersive, one-day civics program at the New Jersey State House.

With coordination from Ginger Gold Schnitzer, Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives at Eagleton, the students had an opportunity to learn from and network with a variety of accomplished legislators, elected officials, and government workers. We would like to thank Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and Assemblywoman Tennille R. McCoy for speaking with the students, along with the following individuals: Alexis Bailey, Edan Blank, Mike Combs, Natalie Ghaul, Eash Haughton, Michael Marich, Carolina Montes, Francine Pfeffer, Emy Quispe, Gretel Rodriguez Ramos (who also is an NJSPL intern alum!), Patrick Walsh, and Sophia Vicente.

Career Exploration and Success at Rutgers - New Brunswick Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration - SPAA Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy State of New Jersey New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development

06/23/2026

🏥 Legislation advanced out of the Assembly Health Infrastructure Committee which would allow the NJ Department of Health to oversee operations of financially distressed hospitals after the abrupt closing of Heights University Hospital in Jersey City; 🚜 another bill advanced out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee which would establish a mentorship program for beginner farmers. Read these stories and more here:

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” would require manufacturers to add folic acid, otherwise known as folate or vitamin B9, to corn m...

06/22/2026

🔋🪫 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? Researcher Kiran Garimella with Rutgers University School of Communication and Information built a state-ZIP-level panel covering 22,834 units across 24 states from 2014 to 2024 and linked those places to 2,277 operational data centers with valid ZIP codes. For now, the evidence suggests that data centers haven't yet produced large, detectable increases in local electricity bills, but "not yet" is not the same as "nothing to worry about." New Jersey has the time and opportunity to design rules that protect ratepayers before the next wave of electricity demand arrives at full scale.

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 roughly 20 percent between 2021 and 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.[...

06/18/2026

🚓🚑 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. To better understand the implementation of this program and its use among emergency services teams, researchers examined press releases published by local agencies across the Garden State to identify how the program works and is being described locally.

Read more here:

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 the program is implemented locally can be found in the press releases published when a county or a....

06/15/2026

💼💼 Through labor market analysis, researchers identified the industries with the highest concentration of small businesses within Middlesex County and conducted a workforce analysis for the two highest concentrated industries: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services and Healthcare and Social Assistance. This analysis provides valuable insight into Middlesex County's workforce landscape and the potential ways AI may interact with the county's most commonly observed occupations with the highest concentration of small businesses.

Read more here: https://policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/selecting-key-industries-a-preliminary-labor-market-analysis/

Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy Middlesex County NJ Government

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) initiatives can better align with the evolving needs of small businesses. This blog post offers an e...

06/11/2026

🚲🚲🚲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. Researchers Hannah Younes and Yingning Xie conducted this survey (N=998) in Fall 2025 to adult, non-users of e-bikes in the U.S. Over 70% of the respondents were from NJ, with a smaller percentage from surrounding states, and 443 were non-owners.

Read more here:

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 surges, so do the questions: Are they safe? Who benefits? What happens when policy moves faster ...

06/09/2026

⚖️ 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 these stories and more here:

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 establish a three-year pilot program within the Department of Education to evaluate the academic and hea...

06/08/2026

The New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission recommended a "Look-Back" statute which would provide youth sentenced as adults to 30+ years to be entitled to apply for resentencing after serving 20 years, allowing the court to modify or reduce the sentence to any term that could have been imposed at the time of the original sentence. Researchers conducted a study surveying 1,529 New Jerseyans to better understand their perspective on a range of sentencing reform areas, including this possible statute. On a scale from "not at all supportive" to "neutral" to "completely supportive," the team found that participants generally favored sentencing reform; however, they were less likely to support the reform if the hypothetical crime committed was murder.

Read more here:

This is the fifth and final showcase of our selected preliminary findings on public support for sentencing reform in New Jersey across four areas. The fourth area concerns two different reforms. While the first reform focused on the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug cri...

06/04/2026

Opioid use disorder affects millions of Americans and has contributed to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the last several years. Medications for opioid use disorder such as buprenorphine are the best available treatment and prevent against relapse, overdose, and death. This report examined hospital emergency room protocols and policies related to buprenorphine treatment for reducing opioid overdose risk in New Jersey.

Read the full report here: https://policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/report-release-reducing-opioid-overdose-risk-in-new-jersey-through-emergency-department-initiated-buprenorphine/

06/02/2026

🚗 Happening now 🚘 Researchers Bob Noland and Hannah Younes with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center are presenting on their work examining automobile crash data availablility at the NJ State House in a new seminar hosting by the New Jersey State Policy Lab and Rutgers Government Relations.

The seminar kicked off with opening remarks from Executive Director Elizabeth Cooner, Ed.D. and Dean Stuart Shapiro.