TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney today announced an agreement with Governor Phil Murphy and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin on legislation to authorize the state to borrow in amounts up to $9.9 billion to address the financial crisis created by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Governor also announced the agreement at his afternoon briefing, saying “I want to explicitly thank the senate president and the speaker”.

“We have reached an agreement on legislation that would authorize state borrowing in amounts up to $9.9 billion to address the financial consequences of the coronavirus outbreak, but only with the approval of a legislative commission,” Senate President Sweeney said.  “This agreement will ensure we will have the resources needed to respond to this fiscal and economic crisis in a responsible way.”

The bill would enable the Legislature to fulfill its fiscal responsibility through the creation of the Select Commission on Emergency COVID-19 Borrowing, a four-person panel comprised of two Senators and two members of the Assembly that would have to approve each request to borrow with a majority vote.

“Senator Paul Sarlo, Chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, and I will serve on the commission as the Senate members and will fulfill our responsibility to meet the needs of the people of New Jersey,” said Senator Sweeney.

The Senate Budget Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 14 to consider the legislation, and the full Senate will meet on Thursday, July 16 to take it up.