Assembly members Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey’s Statement on Budget Deliberations

June 30th, 2017

Trenton –  This evening, Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling and Assemblywoman Joann Downey issued a statement regarding their concerns over the ongoing budget deliberations.

“As we stated earlier today, our responsibility is to our constituents in New Jersey’s Eleventh Legislative District.

“We want to make clear that our position on the FY18 budget is separate from the political debate surrounding the Horizon bill as it passed the Senate. As we have stated from the beginning, we are opposed to S4, the Vitale bill, and will vote against that bill if it came before the Assembly in its current form.

“Our concern with the current budget deliberations remains the same as it was before: under the current proposal, some of our districts are facing school funding losses and the massive challenge of rewriting budgets for this coming year with fewer funds than they had anticipated. For the school districts within the 11th district that are receiving additional funding, there is no guarantee that this funding will survive the Governor’s veto pen. Until we receive a guarantee that this funding will remain intact, we cannot support this budget.”