TRENTON – Governor Chris Christie was open to revisiting the legal notices bill in lieu of Horizon, according to a source coming out of the Democratic caucus as members spilled into the chamber and took their seats.

The South was onboard. But Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) resisted, the source said.

He polled the caucus.

A majority seemed to not be onboard.

So Prieto appeared ready to post the budget, which yesterday failed, and which will apparently fail again today, sparking a government shutdown.

A source in the senate told InsiderNJ that the upper house won’t post anything as long as the document stagnates in the assembly. A second source said Prieto has around 30 votes, hardly the required 41 to pass the budget. A third source said the speaker does not even have 30, and remains in the 20s. He had 24 yesterday. InsiderNJ talked to Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo and Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, both of whom said they plan to vote yes on the budget today. They abstained yesterday. A trusted source said Assemblyman Dan Benson also intended to vote aye on the budget after having abstained on Thursday.

A third alternative was sick leave – reducing the payout cap for state employees from $15K to zero. The assembly caucus was not thrilled with that idea either. Christie might have taken it, the first source surmised.