“The notion is something we like a lot,” the governor said at a COVID-19 press briefing in Trenton, but cautioned it would likely not become law before the Fiscal Year 2021 budget went into effect, due to potential legal challenges.

The permissive tactic aims to let towns, cities and counties offset losses from the pandemic, and handle the cost of dealing with the virus, by obtaining funds adding up to 30 percent of their budget, backed by local tax revenue and payable over five years rather than a decade.

Though it would require a bill to be sent his way from the Legislature, the governor said Monday he was "open" to the idea of calculating the levy in a different way, after the state treasurer announced last week it would go up 9.3 cents in October due to record-drops in travel.

In time for Labor Day weekend, New Jersey is giving inside eating another go, at 25 percent capacity, along with cinemas, which will also be subject to limitations.

Lawmakers in New Jersey are trying to sort out which agencies should be responsible for protecting workers from COVID-19, while employers make the case for liability limits.

The setting for the governor’s budget address – SHI Stadium on Rutgers' Piscataway campus – was fittingly unusual given the circumstances and compressed time frame Murphy and the Legislature face in crafting a spending plan, which leaves them operating in a more compressed time frame than usual leading up to Oct. 1.

Under a law enacted in 2016 under then-Gov. Chris Christie, the levy contains a “specific formula to ensure that [gas] revenue is meeting a certain target. When it does not, the gas tax rate has to be adjusted accordingly," State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio said in a statement announcing the uptick, adding that changes in the rate "are dictated by several factors that are beyond the control of the administration.”

We've got the details of what your workout will look like when fitness centers reopen their doors, with requirements for masks, social distancing, sanitization and more in place.

Under the measure, the administration would set aside $30 million in federal relief for the New Jersey Economic Authority to distribute as loans or grants “for costs associated with business operation interruptions” caused by the decision to roll back the restart for restaurants to serve patrons inside just days before it was set to begin.

The former Assistant U.S. Attorney and current Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP partner, who will also be the state Supreme Court's youngest justice, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Aug. 27.

In June, the governor said he would support the measure, which requires developments like power and sewage plants, landfills, and waste disposal sites to consider their environmental impact on “overburdened communities” in the area.

To date, the virus has infected more than 190,000 residents and claimed nearly 15,000 lives in the state.