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Senate adopts $58.8 billion FY2026 budget after floor debate on surplus, pensions and health care
Summary
After more than an hour of floor debate, the New Jersey Senate passed its FY2026 budget (S-2026) by a 26-13 roll-call vote. Republican senators pressed for spending restraint and changes to health and pension policy; Democrats and the budget chair defended the package and said it leaves a multi‑billion dollar surplus for the next governor.
The New Jersey Senate passed Senate Bill 20-26, its fiscal year 2026 appropriations measure, on a 26-13 roll-call vote after extended floor debate over the size of the surplus, pension and health-care costs, and last‑minute line‑item additions.
The bill, which senators described on the floor as roughly $58.8 billion in state appropriations, passed after a motion to table a Republican request to return the measure to second reading. The machine tally for the final passage recorded 26 votes in the affirmative and 13 in the negative.
Republican budget officer Senator O'Scalen delivered the most extended floor criticism, calling the budget “a house of cards built on a fault line” and arguing the apparent $6 billion surplus is temporary and partly sustained by one‑time federal COVID and other nonrecurring funds. “A $6,000,000,000 surplus doesn't last very long when you have a structural deficit of almost $4,000,000,000,” he said on the floor, warning that the next…
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