The governor's $32.4 billion spending plan to cover state expenses for the updated 2021 fiscal year, after the pandemic wrecked much of the state's finances, includes more than $1 billion in “revenue raisers,” bonding $4 billion, a millionaire’s tax and increased cigarette fees.

“[W]hether revenues are better or not, we're still solving for an enormous hole,” the governor said last week.

The contribution is part of a voluntary effort from the retailer to reimburse governments worldwide for the costs of supporting its furloughed employees in the early days of the pandemic.

A review of data made public by OSHA shows that thousands of complaints about New Jersey businesses go unresolved, making the few hundred that actually reach a conclusion more the exception than the rule. The state generally gets high marks for setting safety standards, but amid COVID-19 enforcement has been spotty, according to unions and worker advocates. Employers and business groups argue that voluntary compliance is strong, but even some state officials acknowledge that more could be done on the enforcement front.

The $400 federal unemployment assistance program calls for a required 25 percent match from states, a cost the governor previously said would add up at least $68 million each week for New Jersey.

Ahead of the flu season and a potential surge of COVID-19 “[w]e cannot find ourselves in the situation we were in a few months ago, relying on the federal government, or corporate or philanthropic partners,” the governor said.

The strategy, being employed by schools across the state for their restart, has been a non-starter with Gov. Phil Murphy.

Since the onset of the outbreak in mid-March, the state labor department paid out $14 billion in jobless benefits, with more than $8 billion from the now-expired $600 federal unemployment supplement.

The two sides are staking out positions on what they want, and don’t want, as part of the state’s revised budget for next year, ahead of the governor's Aug. 25 address.

The governor pushed back at the suggestion that the food and hospitality industries be allowed to determine their own return to business under a scheme similar to the state's approach to public education and school sports.

One helps pay for the costs of personal protection equipment while the other helps landlords make up for lost rent payments.

The cinemas argued religious institutions were granted the right to hold gatherings, and that the plaintiffs were denied those rights because of orders issued by Gov. Phil Murphy, suggesting that operators could enact strict social distancing measures, limit ticket sales, install plexiglass at service areas, and adopt contactless check-ins.