This week, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer introduced plans to combat toxic algae and pollution and an action initiative to protect families from lead and forever chemicals in North Jersey.

The new American Rescue Plan Firefighter Grant Program introduced by Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday will provide awards of up to $75,000 for local and regional departments to provide emergency workers with proper protective, cleaning and sanitization equipment.

The Rutgers report found that nearly half of those eligible in the state didn't receive advance payments, which has Rutgers Center for Women and Work Executive Director Debra Lancaster worried that thousands are leaving money on the table as the April 18 tax filing deadline draws nearer.

Similar proposals gained traction last summer and during the lame duck voting session after the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development revealed that New Jersey businesses would have to pay $252 million beginning in October 2021 to replenish the state’s unemployment trust fund.

The gifts were funded by the American Rescue Plan's Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.

In 2020, the statewide agency provided approximately 206 million trips for riders. That works out to 1 out of every 29 nationwide, according to U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker. And that's not just along the rails; together with its buses, the agency covered 152 million miles in 2021.

All the spending must be cleared by the bipartisan Joint Budget Oversight Committee, which includes Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the state Senate and Assembly.

The initiatives focus on aviation, biomanufacturing, clean energy and “smart ports,” which NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan said all boast “potential to drive transformative economic growth and job creation.”

The Newark Emergency Small Business Grant Fund was created in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic to support the city's impacted enterprises. The program's latest round, its fourth, offers up to $15,000 for eligible companies.

One sets aside $180 million of American Rescue Plan aid for schools and small businesses to upgrade their ventilation and water systems. Another makes New Jersey the 27th state to offer C-PACE financing, according to Environment New Jersey head Doug O'Malley, "the most popular energy efficiency program you haven't heard of,” to commercial property owners.

A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy’s office said that the rates for employers were set into law when Murphy approved a bill in January to space out payments, “making any contribution of federal funds irrelevant in the current fiscal year.”

Two South Jersey Democratic state senators are signing on to a mostly Republican-led effort to use American Rescue Plan money to prevent an increase in N.J. employers' unemployment levy.