(COLLINGSWOOD, NJ) – Assembly Budget Committee Chair Gary S. Schaer (D-Bergen/Passaic) issued the following statement Wednesday after the committee’s second of three regional public hearings on the proposed state budget for FY 2017:
“Every time we take these hearings out of Trenton we have the opportunity to hear firsthand from working families and advocates throughout New Jersey. It’s in these moments that the breadth and scope of the budget’s impact crystalizes.
“Some of the many pleas we heard today centered around more equitable funding for schools, desperately needed dollars to protect children in foster care, a livable wage for those caring for the disabled, healthcare access for low-income women and the restoration of funding for tobacco cessation programs.
“Each issue is of equal importance and deserves our attention and advocacy, but unfortunately we also have to deal with our fiscal reality.
“To that end, this testimony is invaluable and we will be taking it to heart as we work to prioritize needs within the confines of a tightening state budget.”
