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From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Tuesday night.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Governor Phil Murphy delivered his final State of the State address today before a joint session of the legislature in Trenton, reflecting on his eight years in office and a long list of policy achievements that came with it, from raising the minimum wage to funding public schools and pensions and social justice reforms.

Governor Murphy used his final State of the State to argue that New Jersey is stronger and fairer than it was eight years ago.

But he also acknowledged that the work isn't done, pointing to the incoming administration to carry the torch.

Here's a portion of that speech.

The best governing principle is not this or that.

It's not stronger or fairer.

It's stronger and fairer.

And there is nothing and nobody who could ever convince me otherwise.

[applause] And that is what gave me the courage as governor to go against the naysayers, the skeptics, and the status quo.

It's what inspired me over these past eight years to be who I said I would be and to do what I said we would do.

Together we broke free from the narrow constraints of the past and we charged forward unbridled and unburdened.

We pledged to fight for every New Jerseyan who shares my family's story.

And when they told us what couldn't be done, we said, just watch.

At every turn, we have stayed true to our vision for a stronger and fairer New Jersey.

And in doing so, I'm happy to say we proved them wrong.

When they told us raising the minimum wage would kill jobs and crash the economy, what did we do?

We passed a law that now has nearly doubled the minimum wage and built the fastest growing economy in the entire Northeast all at the same time.

[applause] When they told us we had to choose between fighting for workers or supporting small business owners, what did we do?

We created more good-paying jobs in New Jersey than has ever existed, and helped more new small businesses open their doors than ever before.

When they told us that asking the wealthy to pay their fair share would drive them away, what did we do?

We enacted a new millionaire's tax.

And by the way, don't get caught up in the pesky facts, we have more millionaires today in New Jersey than ever before and more families are calling New Jersey home than ever before.

When they told us that reforming a broken criminal justice system would jeopardize public safety, what do we do?

We reduced our state's prison population to its lowest levels in decades and brought homicides and shootings down to record lows at the same time.

[applause] When they told us that we'd have to decide between supporting our children or easing the property tax burden, what did we do?

We increased funding for our K-12 schools to their highest levels in history and delivered more property tax relief than any administration in history.

And a big thanks goes out to the guys behind me for that and for so many other things.

Let's hear it for Senate President Scutari and Speaker Coughlin.

When they told us that it would be impossible to rebuild trust in Trenton's fiscal leadership without making devastating budget cuts, what did we do?

We restored funding for those long neglected priorities, pensions, public education, public transit, women's health care, to name a few.

And at the same time, we secured nine consecutive credit rating upgrades in just three years after a generation of downgrades.

[applause] And while I could go on, the lesson, my friends, is this.

Building a stronger and fairer state is not only possible, it is absolutely essential.

And it is our greatest responsibility as leaders.

And we have achieved all of this together, again, because we were the administration that governed by the principle of "and" and not "or."

We proved that when we live by our Jersey values, our state government can serve the needs of working people first and foremost.

And it is thanks to everything that we have accomplished over these past eight years that today we are a state brimming with opportunity for all.

Today in New Jersey, there is a generation of working parents who are finally earning a living wage and enjoying stronger benefits, like paid family leave, for instance, so they can afford to take their kids down the shore for a well-deserved vacation or simply save money for a dignified retirement.

Today in New Jersey there are grandparents who can finally afford to retire here at home instead of moving elsewhere so they can stay close to their kids and their grandkids and form memories that will last a lifetime.

And today in New Jersey our children in cities like Camden, Trenton, Newark are finally receiving the resources and support they need to learn so they no longer have to settle for underfunded classrooms or inadequate child care.

Now as I say all of this I must also acknowledge that of course we have not solved all of our problems.

The sad fact is our families are still being squeezed by an affordability crisis that has swept across every community in the nation.

But here in New Jersey we again together have made it easier for our families to bear that burden by increasing property tax relief, by lowering the cost of essentials like health care, housing, higher education, by creating new economic opportunities in the industries of the future for workers and entrepreneurs all across our state, and by remaining the quintessential organized labor state.

So when people ask me to define my legacy, our legacy, yes it is all those things, but it's also much simpler.

New Jersey is stronger and fairer and that is the legacy.

We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.

Mistakes in fairness made by both parties.

That's why when I entered office in 2018 I promised to turn things around as governor.

And today it gives me great pride to say we have lived up to that promise.

We made the full payment into our state's pension system five years in a row and for the first time in a generation.

We made long-neglected but desperately needed investments in our state's future, from fully funding New Jersey's school funding formula for the first time in history to rebuilding our roads, railways, tunnels, and bridges.

And even though we inherited a paltry $409 million surplus, our administration is leaving the next governor a surplus that is more than 15 times greater at nearly $7 billion.

And even better, in the process of leading this turnaround, we also secured nine credit rating upgrades in just three years.

Let me put that in a context.

Before I entered office, the last time New Jersey received a credit rating upgrade was in 2005.

And the last time before that, the same year the world was introduced to a galaxy far, far away, and disco mania was sweeping the nation.

1977.

But my point here is to not pat ourselves on the back.

It's to offer a word of caution.

It took eight years of diligent, disciplined leadership, by a lot of us, by the way, to get our fiscal house in order and to build a state that is trusted again.

But folks, if we lose our focus, all of the progress we made could be wiped away.

And this isn't about me, and frankly it isn't about you.

It's about New Jersey.

So to my colleagues on my left, I say this.

Fiscal responsibility is not an option.

It's an obligation.

We need to spend within our means while also paying long overdue bills.

The impetus for that has never been more urgent.

And to my colleagues on the right, I say this.

Fiscal responsibility also means paying up where it counts.

Some things, it turns out, are worth paying for.

Please, everybody, remember to invest in the priorities that make New Jersey great.

Public education, health care, mass transit, our innovation economy, and onward.

We cannot cut corners when it comes to building New Jersey's future.

And investing in these priorities today, I promise you, will save a whole lot of money tomorrow.

Making these decisions is never easy.

And of course, there are many risks that lie ahead, many that we cannot fully predict.

But that is the burden we bear as leaders, because when it comes to governing, there's no finish line.

There's no moment where you can stop and declare mission accomplished.

As always, the mission goes on.

The work continues.

We're going to dig deeper into what we heard today and how history is likely to judge Governor Murphy's legacy.

I'm joined by our panel Colleen O'Dea, NJ Spotlight News senior writer and projects editor, and Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

Welcome back to both of you.

Thanks for sticking around today.

So Colleen, let me ask you first, what accomplishments?

We heard Governor Murphy run through just a towering list of policy achievements.

Which ones are going to have a lasting impact?

So I'm going to talk about some that maybe aren't as huge as the governor talked about.

Minimum wage is certainly something because it brought everybody up to 15 and now above because that keeps going up.

It's indexed to inflation.

So that certainly has an impact.

If you're going to go out and vote early, that's because of Phil Murphy.

When you're starting to register to vote, you go to the motor vehicles.

That's another thing that happened under Murphy.

I think kids and the cell phone ban that's coming, it hasn't happened yet, but it's something he just signed into law.

And for women who are giving birth and becoming mothers, having the ability to have a postpartum visit at home, someone come into your home, boy I wish I had that when I was, you know, when I had my children.

It's hugely helpful.

So there are so many even just littler things, but that will literally impact real people.

- Okay, so you hit on some of the tangible things that voters, that residents would say that happened under Governor Murphy.

Micah, I wonder though, when history writes itself, and a lot of times when we talk about Governor Christie, we talk more about his personality, his brashness, the way that he defined the governor's role in a way that really played out on a national level.

How will history remember Governor Murphy?

- I think the very big thing that happened on his watch was COVID, right?

So for better and for worse, those daily updates, keeping people informed on the state's response.

- Had cool, calm under pressure Murphy.

- Every day honoring the people who had passed away, right?

Those were things, moments we will not forget.

We went through together.

It's not as dramatic as 9/11 or Kennedy, but we certainly all remember it and will remember it.

Seared in our minds.

Of course, the nursing home deaths come with that as well.

So it's a mixed bag.

I think the other things, if you talk to my students as I do, what they will remember about Governor Murphy is plastic bags.

- Oh, the plastic bag, of course.

- And they will remember cannabis, which is something he campaigned on and then made happen.

And that is a night and day difference between the pre-Murphy years and now.

- Which really can't be understated when you think about what was promised, how long it took to get there, the economic portion of it, the revenue, the industry that's created that is only going to get larger.

Before we hit on some of the criticisms, of course, which come with being in office for eight years, why was he able to get so much done?

I was looking back, Colleen, at the promises he made during his first State of the State speech in 2019, and there were 169 laws he signed in that first year alone.

Why was he able to get so much done?

- For one thing, because he had a Democratic legislature.

Both houses, Assembly and Senate, were Democratic.

We know that there were some hiccups early on.

I mean, he was not a, he was elected, he was not an elected official previously.

Steve Sweeney, who was then the president of the Senate, had wanted that job, so we had a little tension there.

But I mean, ultimately, he did have an awful lot of allies in the legislature, people who he had helped, he had donated to, people who he had good relationships with, and he built a pretty good team in terms of folks who could talk back and forth with lawmakers, which is really what's important.

There's a lot of horse trading that happens.

- I would argue too, bringing in George Helmy as his chief of staff was a pivotal moment, I think, for the administration in terms of building those relationships and understanding there was criticism early on, if you'll recall, it feels like a very distant memory, that he didn't know the inside baseball of Trenton, which is its own beast.

How would you say it played?

- There are cautionary tales there for the next governor, for sure, in terms of not just bringing an outsider team who says, oh my gosh, I can't believe things are done this way in Trenton, this is ridiculous.

And somebody who says, all right, let's roll up our sleeves and figure out how to get it done.

So that's part of it.

I think having a very clear sense of direction.

It's been a long time since we had an unabashed, unapologetic progressive.

He had a very clear yawning agenda, you know, of things that he wanted to get done.

He wasn't a moderate Democrat.

He was a progressive Democrat.

And so I think having a very clear sense of direction, having everybody marching to that -- the goals, the same goals, the same marching order, all the cabinet members, all the departments, that's going to be important for the next governor.

And it's something that I think everybody knew every day that they were supposed to come in and make New Jersey a more progressive place.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

I mean, I may know bones about it.

Let me stay with you on that thought because at the same time, it was some of those very progressive groups toward the end of the governor's tenure that felt like he wasn't making good on finishing these promises.

What was some of the unfinished business, Micah?

Yeah, I think there are two big things that I can think about where progressives felt let down and where, frankly, I think a negative part of his legacy.

And that was the transparency law, the public records law.

These are our public records.

And yet we have less access to them than we did before Governor Murphy was governor.

And the other one was the Elections Transparency Act.

So I know that we want to, you know, the governor wants to say this has been the most progressive, most transparent administration we've ever had.

It's not.

Our elections are significantly less transparent than they were.

And our records are less transparent than they were.

So that's a black mark and that's something that I think we will remember, unfortunately, about this era.

I also think, Colleen, about clean energy, which a lot of that was out of his hands.

It was happening at the federal level where these projects were getting killed.

But what else did you know?

Because you and John Reitmeyer made a nice, neat list of the policies that maybe Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill will need to pick up.

You know, one of the things, and this is really key to John Reitmeyer's, you know, close to his heart, was the public bank, which was supposed to be a way to kind of help, you know, fund projects, help people in New Jersey.

That is the one thing I think that definitely didn't happen.

But yes, certainly when you look at things like a robust wind energy, and again, as you point out, that wasn't really all of his fault.

I mean, we built up, we had this wind port plan.

There was going to be parts coming in the Delaware and brought over to the Atlantic.

I mean, it was going to be a huge economy, a huge economic starter for New Jersey.

That didn't happen.

You know, there are questions about will his clean energy goals be able then to be borne out 2035, you know, fully clean energy in New Jersey.

I'm not sure that's something we're going to make, especially as Mikie Sherrill is already talking about, you know, bringing on some cleaner natural gas plants.

So there are some things in that area that certainly have not happened and I mean it's hard to get everything done.

You've got eight years is a long time but working through that legislative process and going through all the hoops that that we have in terms of regulations as well it can be difficult and then of course a new administration in Washington can come in and put it all in chaos.

Which when you talk to cabinet members, they will often say that policies that folks want to see get through, sometimes you need that type of time, which he was afforded.

Let me ask you though, because as we put a cap on this piece of history, the wheels keep turning, the machine keeps moving, new members of the legislature sworn in today and business still happening.

Colleen, get us up to speed and then Michael, I'll come to you.

So we had a dozen new members of the legislature coming in today.

It's a little less female.

We lost four women.

That's not necessarily a good thing.

Also a little less diverse.

We had more white folks being elected than people of color.

But we do have all Democrats.

We should know all Democrats.

Exactly.

The Democrats just went to town.

They won seats in the 21st District that had been long held by moderate Republicans.

Won a seat down in Atlantic County.

Won a seat in Morris County of all places.

So the Democrats are coming in emboldened with a super majority.

We do have some folks in there who might cause a little bit of trouble.

Katie Brennan, Ravi Bala, Kenyatta Stewart.

So there are some progressives coming in.

That'll be interesting to see how they reshape what the legislature does.

- And how Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill picks up the ball from here.

Micah, what should she be looking toward now as she enters in the minute that we have left to talk?

- Yeah, it's a great question because in the old days, up until the end of the county line or all that kind of stuff, you knew that you had to go to legislative leadership and that was it.

As Colleen just said, there are now free agents in Trenton who have gotten elected in their own right, don't really owe anybody anything.

And so she's going to have to see how she can navigate.

She has options maybe to go to that progressive caucus or that independent caucus and win over votes where the leaders may not be able to get them across the finish line.

She now has some external ability to be able to do that.

- And perhaps we have the Murphy administration to thank for that as well.

If not for First Lady, Tammy Murphy, getting into the U.S.

Senate race, Andy Kim, then congressman, challenging that county line system, perhaps we wouldn't have these bold progressive reformers, as we're calling them, in the legislature to rough things up for the governor-elect as she comes in.

So, one more item to add on to the governor's list.

Micah Rasmussen, Colleen O'Dea, thanks for sticking around all day.

Thanks for being here.

Appreciate you both.

Well, senior correspondent Joanna Gagis was at the Statehouse in Trenton today and got the GOP response to Governor Murphy's address with Republican whip, State Senator Mike Testa.

Here's that conversation.

We just heard the governor paint his version of New Jersey.

Now we have a chance to hear how Republicans feel about it.

Senator, thanks for taking a minute to talk to us.

Governor Murphy really touted all of the things that he's most proud of.

He said New Jersey is now stronger and fairer.

How do you see it?

Well, I've been in the legislature now for a full six years and I've continuously heard Governor Murphy talk about a stronger and fairer New Jersey.

And I've only seen New Jersey get weaker and poorer.

And I would challenge Governor Murphy.

Who is New Jersey stronger and fairer for?

I bet you if you were to ask so many people in a very Ronald Reagan-esque way, do you feel stronger and fairer than you were eight years ago, the majority of New Jerseyans would say absolutely not.

He did touch upon something that is very important to all New Jerseyans, affordability.

New Jersey is simply not an affordable state.

Right now we have people who are graduating college at 22 years old, some of the best and brightest in the United States of America.

And if they're not leaving the state of New Jersey, we have the greatest outward migration rate in the United States of America.

If they are staying in the state of New Jersey, they're only able to be first-time homebuyers on average by the age of 44 years old, and that home is going to cost you over $550,000.

New Jersey is not affordable.

It is most certainly not stronger and fairer than it was eight years ago.

Let me ask you this.

We have a new administration coming in next Tuesday.

Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill will be sworn in.

Where do you believe or do you think there is any space for Common Ground to work towards making New Jersey more affordable?

Certainly.

I mean you take a look at this under the Christie administration.

We had a 34 billion dollar budget.

Now we have a fifty nine billion dollar budget with by the way Governor Murphy addressed the issue of a surplus.

We don't have a surplus.

We actually have a four billion dollar structural deficit right now.

We need to do everything we possibly can to make sure that we eradicate that four billion dollar structural deficit.

I think that we also need to work on some common ground with the corporate business tax.

At the highest level it's eleven and a half percent.

That is simply unacceptable.

And this isn't a Republican thing or a Democrat thing.

You can look at Governor Shapiro of the state of Pennsylvania.

They are working very hard over multiple years to reduce their corporate business tax to 5 percent.

So less than half of what is now costing New Jersey businesses simply to do business in the state of New Jersey.

That is not sustainable in the long run.

And we are going to see many more closures of our businesses.

You know just last week unfortunately we saw an icon and in Newark the Anheuser Busch Brewing Facility closing.

I mean that's unacceptable.

I mean that is an icon of New Jersey.

When you're on the turnpike you see the iconic Anheuser Busch Eagle.

It's unacceptable.

Let me ask you this.

Obviously this is Governor Murphy's last official speech like this.

Is there anywhere where you do give him high marks.

Any A's any B's from you or your your side.

A couple of the bills that he signed that were some of that I had a whole lot to do with the boardwalk preservation bill.

That was $100 million.

Our boardwalks are the economic engines of our shore communities.

I give him high marks in that.

He didn't need to sign that.

That was Senator Paul Sarlow and myself.

That helped restore so many of our boardwalks like in Wildwood New Jersey North Wildwood.

I can tell you not a whole lot.

You know he spoke about their response to Cove.

Let's not let us not forget it was supposed to be 14 days to flatten the curve.

It turned into almost two years.

And he talked about how many small businesses open during his tenure.

Well let's talk about the one third of all small businesses that had to shut their doors forever due to the Cove in 19 response of the Murphy administration.

That didn't need to happen.

I know there's a whole lot more we could talk about.

We are out of time but thank you.

And of course you're going to deliver the Republican response.

And we'll And that's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi for the entire team at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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