>>> Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

Brianna Vannozzi is off.

Coming up, as we speak, we will be talking about the Coming up, as families in New Jersey prepare to go back to school, some have to make the impossible choice between school supplies and food.

We talk with one food bank working to help.

Meanwhile, other families are gearing up for the fall sports season, but youth sports today, it's a whole new ballgame and 17:56:04:21 it comes at a cost.

>> But first, Republican state Senator Mike Testa joins us to discuss his push for a voter ID bill in New Jersey, along with other legislative priorities.

That's next.

>> Funding for "NJ Spotlight News" provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn more at RWJBH.org.

>> It's been almost seven weeks since Governor Sherrill's administration announced that more than 6,000 non-citizens were incorrectly registered to vote in the state.

Since then, the administration has said thousands have been deleted from the system and had their registration status rejected, but the issue has re-energized calls from the GOP to require voter ID.

Republican State Senator Mike Testa from District 1 joins us now to talk about other legislation as part of our Under the Dome series.

Senator, great to have you on the show.

We've talked a whole lot about the errors that happened in the MVC's voter registration process.

A fallout of this, perhaps, I don't know if fallout is the right word, is that it may have opened the door for a voter ID bill to move forward.

You're a co-sponsor of that bill.

Can you just tell us what that bill would do?

Well, that bill would require people to present a valid ID so that they can vote.

And one of the things that I've said consistently in the state of New Jersey, we need to have election integrity.

We need to have the public have confidence in our elections and their results.

And I think having voter identification would go a very long way to restoring that confidence in our elections.

And I'm really glad that Governor Sherrill stated that if a voter ID bill were to land on her desk, that she would sign it into law.

I think this is now a bipartisan issue and technically really should be a nonpartisan issue because if you think about it, you need a valid identification to drive an automobile, to get a library card, to rent an automobile, to rent a motel or hotel room, to go to your doctor's office, or to fly anywhere in the United States of America.

So I think having voter ID is just good common sense.

- The governor made those comments earlier this summer, as you said, saying, you know, if the legislature were to pass it, she would sign it.

conversations or is there leadership um would suppo they would give it a hear move it forward.

Unfortun radio silence from the ot and I've made a few calls to and that doesn't surpri more than likely the major issues that we're going to see.

I think the governor's office was equally shocked.

I was pleasantly surprised, but I think they were shocked as I was that Governor Cheryl said she would sign such a bill into law if it should land on her desk.

Any follow up conversations with the governor on that?

I wonder if this is going to be something that she pushes?

I plan to have more follow up conversations with the governor's office, but I've been trying to work it through the legislature that there's one step at a time we would have to get this through not only the Senate, but the assembly for that bill to land on Governor Cheryl's desk.

And I think it's just good common sense legislation that could be supported by the vast majority of New Jerseyans to ensure that our elections have the integrity they deserve.

All right, I want to switch gears for a minute.

I want to look at these things called flock cameras.

That's a brand.

They're these automated plate readers you've supp legislation.

Well, I shou introduce legislation.

Um guardrails on how these t plate readers are used.

W do?

What does it say?

You in flux right now because you know, my interest in all the way back to my da had a great professor by turkington who was the co author of the first text throughout the United Sta law.

And his first questi the individual have a rea of privacy in this area?

you have a reasonable exp in your home.

You know, t argument that you have a of privacy in your backya More than likely you don't have a legitimate expectation of privacy on a street corner in public or in a public parking lot And look, there's a lot of legitimate uses of having surveillance cameras such as solving crimes You know, there's so many crimes that are solved because there are cameras that are in place in in public places.

I also want to make sure that some of these guardrails that will be in place will prevent and punish any abuses of Fourth Amendment privacy rights by law enforcement.

I also want to make sure that there are some restrictions on data sharing and data storage for how long will this information be stored.

And I certainly don't want any of this information being shared with any foreign companies, foreign nations.

So again, this is still in flux, trying to wrap our arms around this issue.

I can tell you that I've had a number of conversations with law enforcement and a number of conversations with constituents who are very fearful of having their privacy rights infringed.

I'm hoping that there is a balance that can be reached.

Now I can tell you that the CEO of Flock did a major disservice to any argument he has when he is saying that we need to compromise our Fourth Amendment rights.

There is never, absolutely never an argument that can legitimately be made that a citizen of the United States should compromise one of their constitutional rights.

I want to be abundantly clear on that issue.

We have, I saw some reporting this morning that said that FLOC has hired lobbyists in the state of New Jersey.

Have you heard from any of them?

Is there anyone pushing to to make the case for why New Jersey needs to be more supportive?

Anyone from the from FLOC itself?

So I have a call scheduled with them, if not a meeting scheduled with them sometime in the near future.

I don't know the exact date off the top of my head, but I do want to meet with everybody, but I can tell you this much, and I want to make sure that the citizens of the state of New Jersey fully understand that I am never, ever going to ask anyone or force anyone to compromise their constitutional rights.

That is completely unacceptable, and that's why that CEO probably shouldn't be the front man when he is trying to make a legitimate argument that flat cameras can state crimes are going to make our communities safer.

All right, I want to look at COLA, the cost of living adjustment, that you're saying the state needs to pay for some retired public workers.

Who would be eligible, and what are you looking for from the state of New Jersey?

- Look, I think the first steps that we need to take in a restoration of a cost of living adjustment, aka COLA, is our retirees that have been retired for a very long time, and they retired at a time when salaries for our police and firemen were at a much lower rate.

And obviously, affordability is a massive issue in the state of New Jersey.

We have an affordability crisis.

They deserve it first.

And what I'm trying to show is that, unfortunately in the state of New Jersey, we have traded necessities for luxuries.

And right now, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on illegal aliens for their criminal defense, which I find to be pretty reprehensible.

The fact that tax dollars are going to defending allegations of criminal behavior of illegal aliens, you know, and a sundry of other programs, I've shown that we've already spent over $500 million on two programs.

To me, we have our priorities completely upside down in the state of New Jersey.

We should stop spending money on funding benefits for illegal aliens in the state of New Jersey and actually give those benefits to the people that protected and served our communities and made them safer and put their lives on the line each and every single day of their duties to make New Jersey a better place to live.

We owe it to them.

We made a promise to them.

I believe in promises made, promises kept.

And I do believe by benefits you mean health care costs that the state pays for anyone who shows up in an emergency room, whether you're documented or not, as being one of the major costs there.

I just want to ask you very quickly before I let you go, there are some rumors swirling that you may be eyeing a run for governor.

Any news to share here on our air on that front?

Look, 2027 is next year and the entire legislature is up.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering taking a look at the governorship after a 2027 win, but you have to play the game that is in front of you.

I mean, I'm a huge fan of the NCAA basketball tournament.

I watch it every year.

That's why there are so many upsets.

I think so many of the seeded teams look to the second and second round and beyond before they play that first round opponent.

Each and every one of the legislators in the state of New Jersey has a race next year.

I'm focused on 2027 first.

Hopefully that comes with a victory and after that I will strongly consider a move in 2029 or 2030 for U.S.

Senate.

Okay there it is right there.

Senator Mike Test Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Back to school season comes with a long list of expenses and for families already struggling to afford groceries and housing, those added costs can mean even tougher choices.

And for some families, financial uncertainty is even greater with recent changes to SNAP benefits.

September marks Hunger Action Month, a time when food banks work to raise awareness and end hunger.

Joining us now is Triyata Stampis, president and CEO of Fulfill, the food bank serving Monmouth and Ocean counties.

Triyata, it's great to have you with us.

Thanks so much for taking some time to talk to us.

Before we get into some of the back to school pressures and concerns that we know families are feeling, can you just help us understand who you serve?

Sure, thank you.

So I am the president and CEO of Fufill, and we are the food bank that serves Monmouth and Ocean counties here at the shore.

And that means that we are as a food bank, the primary source of food for a whole network of food pantries and soup kitchens and shelters in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

We have a network that's about 300 strong and collectively we are serving about 150,000 residents a month who turn to us for food.

- I know that you came on in 2021, right?

As president and CEO, can you give us a sense of what you've seen since you started in terms of the changing numbers, which equals the changing need, the growing need for food?

- Yeah, it has been, you know, it's been an ever-changing environment that we're operating in.

When I first started at Fulfill, we were still in the pandemic, we were still social distancing, and we were hoping that once the pandemic ended and the public health emergency was lifted, that things would go back to normal.

Unfortunately, we've established a new normal.

There is no going back.

The number of people that we are serving today is almost three times what it was pre-pandemic.

And there have been year over year increases due to rising cost of living, wages not keeping up with those costs.

And the families that we serve find it harder and harder to afford the food they need.

You can't really short your landlord on rent, but you can buy less food.

So these are the sorts of decisions that the families that we serve are making in real time every day, and that's what's driving more and more people to our doors.

We saw a report come out just recently that said that a family of four living in New Jersey needs to make about $295,000 a year to live comfortably.

I imagine that you're serving folks who are well below that threshold.

When we look at the pressures that come around this back to school time when you can't short change what your kids have to bring to school, right?

They have supply lists that they have to fulfill.

What do you see on the back end of that in terms of hunger?

>> Yeah, I mean, even starting before the first day of school, we want to make sure that kids show up well-nourished.

And right now, we're in this awkward spot between the end of rec centers and summer camp programs and the start of school, where families are thinking about how do they feed everyone.

So there's the pressure of needing to buy back to school supplies while kids need to be attended to.

There's might be childcare expenses right now and no meals from camp and school hasn't started yet.

So this is a really expensive time of year for a lot of families who are right there on the margins.

You said that you'll see families who will kind of cut back in terms of what they buy.

What can that look like?

Just give us kind of the human experience there and what maybe parents are experiencing and sometimes what the entire family is experiencing.

- Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, I'll say, we see again and again and again, when families are facing food shortages, the adults will sacrifice before exposing their kids to any of that.

So they will go with less so that their kids don't.

But when the budget is really stretched, what we see happen first is that families are going to buy lower cost food.

And that often means less nutritious food.

The food that we have begun prioritizing as a food bank are protein, produce and dairy for exactly this reason.

If someone doesn't have enough money to afford these items at the grocery store, and they also don't see them at their local food pantry, it means that they're probably not getting very much of those most nutritious food items at all.

The first thing we see is sacrifices in nutrition and food quality.

When that doesn't go far enough and people have to continue to tighten their belts, that's when we start to see sacrifices in food quantity.

And this gets back to what I was saying of adults going without to protect their children.

And when the situation gets really bad, that's when we start to see children going with less too.

So who has been most impacted by the changes to SNAP benefits?

Who are you seeing lose their benefits or who's been cut?

Well, I'm glad you bring that up because this is all happening at a time when there are fewer people receiving SNAP because of changes that Congress made last year in H.R.

1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

And what we're seeing is reductions in the number of families that can receive benefits without being subject to additional paperwork requirements related to their work.

So for the first time ever we have some parents who are now subject to having to document at least 80 hours a month of work or job training or volunteerism and if you miss that target of 80 hours a month for three months you're cut off the program for up to three years and that's really challenging especially for families.

One, low-wage work is often hourly and many jobs won't guarantee a set number of hours.

Working while also needing to ensure children are taken care of often means people have to take time off for child care when their child care arrangements change or fall through.

And then having an employer who will document, who will provide documentation, right?

So missing this target of 80 hours a month, just because the paperwork isn't there, can result in someone losing benefits.

And when a family loses, right, it may be just that one adult who's subject to that requirement, who gets taken off the snap case, and then the benefits get recalculated and lowered for the remaining members.

But that's not how families budget.

That means less for everyone.

Yeah, you explained that really, really clearly.

Triyata Stampas, President and CEO of Fulfill, serving Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

Thanks for the insight.

Thanks for coming on with us today.

Thank you so much for talking about this.

We're going into Hunger Action Month, and this is really important.

If you have a child who plays sports, you've probably experienced the shift that's been happening in youth sports recently.

What used to be a hobby that teaches kids some great life skills has now turned into a crushing rat race of private coaching, club team competitions, and a year-round commitment to any individual sport just so your kid can stay competitive.

NJ.com sports reporter Steve Politti recently took a deep dive into the issue to see what toll all of this is having on families both emotionally and financially.

Steve, great to have you with us.

This is really an important topic that I know touches so many families.

You call it the sports industrial complex.

What do you mean by that?

Yeah, I think it's just the entire culture of what's happened to the youth sports that we once played in our backyards with our kids and communities is now it's now $40 billion industry that essentially, you know, thrives on getting every penny out of every person who is involved in it.

Yeah, I think that's the best way to call it.

And I think people enter it not kind of understanding that or perhaps hearing about it, but not really realizing what that means.

And once you get your kids signed up, you find out very quickly just how it just every turn there's another another handout looking for for more money, another check to write another team to join.

It is really an all encompassing thing.

When you talk about a 40 billion dollar industry, you know, it kind of feels like there's this coordinated effort to be taking, you know, funds from families who are perhaps vulnerable, just want their kids to succeed.

But who's profiting here?

Is this really an organized kind of system that we've all stepped into?

You know, it's more of a patchwork than an organized system.

I think what you're seeing now on the highest level of that is because it's such a big business and so much money is involved, that a lot of private equity companies are seizing the opportunity or jumping in our, our buying up local ice rinks and buying up club soccer teams and baseball facilities around the state, around the country.

And that has changed, kind of sort of changed the on the ground dynamic for a lot of parents.

You know, you're no longer writing a check to your town or to the town soccer team.

You're writing a check to a very big business that's, you know, one goal, one mission is to make money.

And I think that really changed the experience and increased the costs on a lot of levels for different sports.

Yeah, I can speak as a parent myself.

I have two kids.

We get the messaging from coaches that, hey, if your kid wants to be competitive, you know, they need to be playing in the offseason.

Or I don't even know in some cases if there even is an offseason anymore.

Kids are in these sports and these club teams year round, right?

How much are parents paying?

Yeah, it varies wildly, but you know, the Aspen Institute is one of the big think groups that chart this, say it's a thousand dollars average for American families.

The New Jersey families I talk to would laugh at that number.

It's well above that for the cost of admission.

I've talked to a swimming mom who spends $10,000 a year on her daughter.

And that doesn't include the tech suits that she has to replace for $650 four times a year.

A hockey dad, 20 grand, and that doesn't include private lessons that some of his son's friends are getting.

I talked to a mom of two kids whose daughter and son are high-level basketball and gymnasts.

She's in debt for 30 grand because of paying all these bills.

You know, it's just all it depends on how deep you are in this world.

But I think most parents are finding that the expenses far outweigh what they're used to from when they were kids.

Steve, you know, there's going to be families who say look, I'm just I'm making an investment in my child.

I want them to go on to play in college.

Maybe they'll get a scholarship.

In your reporting, what are you finding in terms of that actually happening or that being the reality for most kids?

Well, the reality is that those parents should take that money and put it into a college savings funds It would be a much better investment than trying to invest in a you know a trainer or in a high-level team There's just not a lot of evidence that for most parents this works out And of course there are some who do achieve that I mean and one thing that you know the youth industrial complex is very good at is that they Capitalize on that and they promote these athletes on social media who do reach the highest level who do get the division one scholarship And I think parents see that and say okay Well, maybe with a little bit more maybe with some more training with some more individual work if they go to a couple more Summer showcases, it'll be my kid who has an opportunity I think for the vast majority of parents and kids that does not materialize.

Yeah, there's burnout, right?

I mean, I've seen it in my own family.

Sometimes these kids just straight up burn out.

You touched on school districts earlier, and we're seeing more and more as schools are facing funding cuts, funding challenges.

they're cutting athletics.

And I guess as you've reported, that's trickling down to families also.

Yeah, it's sort of a sad trend, and it's happening in the town I live in, Montclair, where we had to raise, you know, $176,000 to save the freshman team that my daughter is going to play on next year, hopefully freshman soccer.

And it's just, you know, it's not every town, but there's just been enough of them that it, you know, if it's certainly a possibility in a lot of places, if the funding is not right, if there's this accounting error, if something goes wrong, the first thing they go to to cross out is often athletics.

And I think you're seeing that this has become another way that parents aren't getting those cheaper, even free opportunities for their kids to participate that we got when we were younger.

You know, those are the teams, you know, those are the teams that are often cut first.

And I think we've also seen that with rec sports in a lot of communities.

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, those were the first programs to go, those lower cost opportunities for people to get involved.

And it's the for profit teams that sort of stepped in and took over.

Yeah.

It's hard to consider what it would even look like to put this genie back in the bottle.

But I know U.S.

Senator Cory Booker has chimed in on this, and he's calling on Congress to take action to help.

What is he asking for?

Yeah, it's very interesting.

Him and Chris Murphy in Connecticut.

Of course, Cory Booker himself, a great athlete.

He talked about how it really shaped him growing up on the fields of Bergen County to playing high school football in New Jersey.

I think he wants to get the private equity money out of the equation.

And that's that's the key tenant of what's happening here wants to get rid of things like pay for play, where you'll go to a tournament and the parents will have to stay at a certain hotel in order to participate in the event.

He's trying to get rid of these predatory actions that are become just have just become part of the experience for youth sports for a lot of people, you know, whether or not that legislation successful remains to be seen, but certainly there are a lot of people who are looking at this in Washington as not only an issue that they think they can solve, but one that really there's no right, left, red, blue.

This is something that the vast majority of people agree on that has to change.

Yeah.

No political party is impacted one over the other in this case.

It's families everywhere.

Thank you.

Great reporting.

Steve Politti, sports reporter and columnist for NJ.com.

We appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis for the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here at T-Mobile.

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