The State Senate this afternoon passed the whopping, record $58.8 billion FY 2026 Budget this afternoon by a vote of 26-13.

The business community released a statement.

"We are deeply disappointed in this year’s budget," said Tom Bracken of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, "It marks the eighth consecutive year of overspending and continues to show a troubling lack of focus on growing New Jersey’s current and future economies. This budget makes the state less affordable, less competitive, and less business friendly. Rather than driving progress, it maintains a status quo that has failed to deliver real economic success – and it’s not what New Jerseyans want, as reflected in a recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll showing widespread dissatisfaction with the state’s economic direction."

NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka issued the following statement regarding the $58.78 billion budget for FY 2026 approved by the Senate this afternoon and presumed to be advanced by the Assembly later today.  

“As with any major spending plan that attempts to satisfy the needs of so many different interests and programs, there is much to appreciate and much to criticize in this budget.

“We applaud the Legislature for working toward a budget that is by-and-large an improvement from what it was handed in February. But at the end of the day, there is another structural imbalance, more than $700 million in additional, last-minute spending and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases – particularly for the business community - for one of the highest-taxed states in the nation.

“Obviously, we didn’t get here overnight with a budget that has grown nearly 70% under Gov. Phil Murphy. But it is high time our policymakers look forward with a new approach under a new administration, no matter who our next governor is.