The measure, signed by Murphy on Sept. 14, has been panned by business groups that instead support a bill that would grant legal immunity to companies against claims from workers and customers that they caught the virus while on the premises.

The funding can be used by towns, cities and county governments to bolster their response to the pandemic or, to a limited extent, to make up for money lost due to cratering tax revenue and soaring expenses due to the virus.

Most of the major stock exchanges operate their electronic trading out of New Jersey. And a number of them are voicing opposition to a proposal to impose a levy on high-frequency trades that is gaining ground in the state.

As of Sept. 5, the state paid out $4.6 billion of jobless benefits from its own pockets, $8.5 billion from the federal CARES Act expansion, $1.3 billion from an expansion for freelancers and independent contractors, $416.2 million from a federal extension of jobless benefits and $52.6 million for a state-level extension.

Gov. Phil Murphy went after the president Wednesday following revelations that he withheld information about the virus.

“Let’s not listen to those who say ‘tomorrow, but not today’,” the governor said in Paterson. “Let’s be bold, now, when the investment is modest and the potential for our state, and every New Jerseyan we will welcome to our diverse family, is so much greater.”

State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio warned that accepting more optimistic revenue estimates laid out this week by the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services could be a risky decision amid the COVID-19 pandemic, without understanding the math behind those numbers.

Since Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation reviving the program in July 2018, the agency has awarded nearly $51 million for projects including "Joker" and HBO's "The Plot Against America."

There is simply no data to support the notion that workers are contracting COVID-19 on the job, particularly as life returns to (almost) normal in New Jersey. This legal fiction is bad policy, and it will be New Jersey businesses, consumers and taxpayers who will pay the price.

The state Legislature and Murphy administration are off by the biggest gap ever for estimates of how much money taxes will bring in by the middle of next year, as the governor tries to make the case for his revised 2021 state spending plan.

"I hope they're right," Gov. Phil Murphy said, when asked about the numbers from the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services.

As Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands fall off, the advisory now includes 35 states and territories.