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[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato here.

We kick off the program talking about the nursing situation in the State of New Jersey, the region, and the nation, with Debbie White, President of Health Professionals and Allied Employees healthcare union.

Good to have you with us, Debbie.

- Thank you, Steve.

- Hey Debbie, put into context the role of the union vis-a-vis the nurses in the State of New Jersey.

- Steve, we represent about 14,000 healthcare workers in the State of New Jersey.

During the pandemic, everyone knows how traumatic it was for healthcare workers.

For the next two years, though, we heard stories from members of a mass exodus.

So instead of just hearing these anecdotal stories, we contracted with a research company to do a survey, and the statistics we found were alarming.

30% had left hospitals of the nurses working- - 30% of nurses have left?

Since when?

- Since the pandemic began.

- Go ahead.

More terrible numbers.

Go ahead.

Which are not numbers, they're people.

So go ahead.

- Yeah, they are people.

You're right.

Of those that remain, that 70%, 72%, they were considering leaving, but the most alarming statistic was that 95% of the nurses with zero to five years experience said they were likely to leave their hospital jobs.

Why, you might ask?

- New nurses?

- New nurses.

New nurses.

- Go ahead.

Why?

- Number one reason, unsafe staffing.

Number two reason, stress and burnout due to unsafe staffing.

And I can tell you this, hospitals are struggling to retain the nurses they have, because they will not continue to work in an unsafe staffing situation.

- Let me ask you this, and we'll have a whole range of healthcare professionals, folks who represent hospitals who may have a different point of view than what Debbie's sharing right now.

But at the same time, the ranking member of the state senate when it comes to healthcare issues, Senator Joseph Vitale, who's the Chair of the Senate Health Committee, has a piece of legislation that talks specifically and precisely about nursing, nurse patient ratios.

Debbie, what is the legislation, and what would it do if passed into law to address the issues you're talking about?

- Well, the solution is passing this legislation.

The name of the legislation is the Patient Protection and Safe Staffing Act.

It's what nurses want.

It will increase retention of nurses in our hospital.

When we say safe staffing legislation, we are calling for mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios, meaning we limit the number of patients any nurse or healthcare worker can have at any given time.

Ratios are determined by department.

- So, where is the legislation right now?

Because I know sometimes in the state legislature, bills do not move particularly quickly, and then they also have to be addressed by the front office, the governor's office, Governor Murphy.

Please, where is it now?

- We are gearing up for a hearing in the Senate Health Committee.

We have had a hearing without a vote.

We need to have a vote in the Health Committee, and I believe we have the support there in the Health Committee.

But it is the best way to ensure that a patient receives the best care.

- What would the ratios be?

- It is proven- - Sorry, interrupting Debbie.

What would the ratios be?

- Well, it's different for a department, but I can tell you it's not new.

California legislated staffing ratios 20 years ago.

This has given us plenty of time to do the research.

Nurse workloads are significantly lower in California than here in New Jersey, and you'll find many, many studies, many posted on the NIH, that's a National Institutes of Health website, that show there is greater retention of nurses due to less burnout, less stress, and higher job satisfaction in California.

But not only that, it is the right thing to do for patient.

Research done shows that mandating staffing levels is beneficial to patients, to nurses and hospitals.

- Debbie, is Code Red, this national initiative, dealing with quote-unquote safe staffing levels?

Is that what it is?

- Yes, yes it is.

It's a national campaign to get safe staffing legislation passed across the country.

Oregon passed a law.

Pennsylvania is getting ready to pass it in the second house.

It's already gone through the first house.

Their legislation is actually even better than California's, but California is what has been studied.

And I can tell you the multiple benefits of California ratios, what it's done to healthcare.

- Debbie, talk about the other part of this.

We've had several interviews.

Check our previous interviews out with leaders in the nurse education community.

What I mean by that is universities that train the nurses in the future, of the future.

What does the pipeline look like in terms of nurses or people who are going to nursing school?

In spite of everything you've just said or in light of it, I don't know the reasons why people do these things, but my understanding is that a significant number of people are going into the nursing profession.

How the heck could that be true given the situation you described?

- They are.

They really are going into the profession.

But as soon as we recruit them into our hospitals, they leave just as quickly.

Remember that statistic I pointed back to.

95% of those with zero to five years- - In the first five years?

- experience are leaving.

- They say what?

Say it again.

I interrupted you.

I'm sorry, Debbie.

- 95% of those with zero to five years experience in our hospitals want to leave and are thinking seriously about leaving.

We need to recruit new nurses into hospitals.

Yes, absolutely, but it's not enough, because as fast as new nurses are hired, they leave.

So if we simply address recruitment, it's like, let me give you this analogy.

This is what it's like.

It's like pouring water into a bucket full of holes.

As our hospitals hire new nurses, they leave just as quickly, and until we fix those holes in the bucket, the bucket will never be able to be filled with water.

The holes are what's wrong with our hospitals.

The holes represent the unsafe staffing situation that our nurses are no longer gonna work under.

- Final question.

Pay for nurses part of the equation?

- You know, nurses, pay is, you know, it's always nice to have good wages.

However, that is not the issue.

As you could see by the strike, the Steelworkers strike, that was not the issue.

The issue was staffing.

Staffing was and continues to be the number one issue for nurses across the state.

And let me tell you this, we have five contracts going into bargaining right now.

If we were to pass this legislation, it would take that issue right off the table.

It's what we need in healthcare right now.

- Let me just say this.

We've been working to get Senator Joseph Vitale, the chair of the Senate Health Committee on.

We will have him.

We'll talk about this among, this issue among a whole range of other issues, but this is a huge priority.

Debbie White, I wanna thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- You got it.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by Doug O'Malley, who's director of Environment New Jersey.

Good to see you, Doug.

- Great to see you, Steve.

- You got it.

Hey, Doug, let's talk EVs, right?

Electric vehicles.

So the Governor... We've done a lot of programming around clean energy.

You can check it out.

You said recently, quote, as it relates to the governor rolling back the so-called tax, the sales tax exemption for people who purchase EVs, you said, "Rolling back the sales tax exemption and adding an EV tax creates a schizophrenic message to potential EV drivers."

What the heck are we talking about here?

- Well, we're talking about kind of a Jekyll and Hyde moment right now where we need to be having incentives to make it easier to buy an electric vehicle, but the bill that's on the governor's desk right now will have a $1,000 EV tax for drivers that wanna be able to buy an EV.

On top of that, the proposal on the governor's budget to phase out the sales tax exemption, it's taking away another incentive, right?

So we're still at a place right now that drivers are saying, "Is an electric vehicle right for me?"

And one of the reasons why electric vehicles do make sense is they save money in the long term, but when you still go to the dealership, it's helpful to have incentives.

- Okay, but the governor is saying, and certain members of the legislature, disproportionately Democrats, are saying, "We need to get that EV money or money from EV electric vehicle owners.

We need that money, and they need to pay into and pay their fair share of the so-called transportation trust fund," which is the stable source of funding to keep our roads and bridges and our infrastructure, not a sexy word but important word, keep it to where it needs to be.

Why shouldn't those who purchase electric vehicles not pay into that?

That's the argument.

You say?

- Yeah, I mean, the simple response is no one is arguing that EV drivers should be free riders.

Our argument is that EV drivers shouldn't be paying disproportionately more than other drivers.

Right now, the transportation trust fund, it's $2 billion a year.

This EV tax will only raise $30 million, right?

So what we're saying is, let's be a little more equitable.

Electric vehicles are very efficient.

You should not pay more to drive an EV than gas guzzlers.

- Why do you think the governor and other Democrats in the State House would be advocating for this if, in fact, they are committed to climate change?

- I think this is, you know, this is a moment where, you know, EV drivers haven't had to pay, you know, a road or infrastructure tax before, and so the legislature is saying, "Well, let's make this right."

I think the numbers are off, right?

So that is- - Hold on.

Sorry for interrupting, Doug.

You're not against increased fees for those who purchase electric vehicles.

You're concerned and you're opposing the amount?

- Right, that's right.

We're opposing the amount.

If you look at the numbers here, it's a $250 fee.

We think it should be closer to less than 100, and then it's also a double whammy because it's not just paying one year.

It's paying four years upfront, right?

So that's sending the wrong message to the driver who's trying to figure out if they wanna get behind the wheel of an EV in the dealership.

- Okay, the other part of the discussion that isn't just about transportation but also about climate change and trying to reduce the number of vehicles on the road that are not electric vehicles, is the issue around New Jersey Transit, an agency in serious financial trouble.

For years, this has been going on, Doug.

In fact, I think the governor's accurate quote is, "I will fix New Jersey Transit if it kills me," and I think it might, meaning that's what he said.

I'm not saying that, obviously.

How do you describe the governor's policies around creating greater financial strength for New Jersey Transit so they don't fall off the fiscal cliff, A, and B, what does that have to do with increased fares for people who ride our trains and buses?

- Well, I think it's critical to know that when we talk about the fiscal cliff, this is not a bump, right?

This is literally like Thelma and Louise driving off a cliff.

This is- - What does that mean?

So New Jersey Transit falls off the Thelma and Louise cliff.

So what does that mean?

It means that they don't exist?

- No, it means a fair hike that would make this hike look like nothing, and it would mean the end of service for rail and bus lines, right?

I mean, we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that can't be met.

This would mean we would not have New Jersey Transit as we know it today.

So when we talk about this as a crisis, that is the moment we're in, and this is really- - So you support a fare hike?

- No, we do not support the fare hike.

We do support dedicated funding because you cannot balance a billion-dollar gap on the backs of transit riders.

We have not had a fare hike in, you know, multiple years at this point, but the problem is, if you literally are telling bus riders to pay 15% more, that's not actually gonna solve the problem, and this is where the governor really does deserve credit because of the first time ever, he's proposing a dedicated transit funding.

That has never happened before.

Every other transit agency in America that's big has dedicated funding.

We don't, and that's part of the reason we're in this fix.

- Yeah, but Doug, here's the other part of that conversation.

So the governor proposed a corporate transit fee.

This would be a tax, an increased tax on corporations in the state of New Jersey with over $10 million in profits.

Is that accurate?

- Correct.

- Now we're gonna have business leaders that we're actually taping today, including Michele Siekerka, who is the CEO, the President and CEO of the Business and Industry Association in the state, and also Tom Bracken, the head of the Chamber of Commerce.

They're against it.

They're saying, "Look, we need a dedicated source of funding for New Jersey Transit, but you can't increase taxes on corporations because, A, they're gonna wanna leave.

B, we may lose jobs in the process," but you support that tax.

- Yeah.

I mean, this is a do or die moment for New Jersey Transit, right?

And whether you're a business leader or whether you're a transit rider or whether you're a driver, New Jersey Transit going away in a way that would be, you know, unfathomable, you know, that's the reality we're faced, right?

So these are not semantics, right?

If we want a transit system that's literally gonna have hundreds of thousands of people take it on a daily basis, we need to fund it, and that's what the solution the governor has proposed.

Right?

So- - Yeah, I know, but respectfully, Doug, you're for that tax.

- Correct.

- But you're not for increased fares for the people who use trains and buses because?

- Well, it's simple math.

If we want to be able to balance the budget, you go through the fare hike, you're still gonna have the fiscal cliff.

Even with the governor's proposal, the fare hike that's on the table will depress ridership, right?

So, you know, this is a legacy of underinvestment in New Jersey Transit, right?

So if you want to be able to get more people to take the train than the bus, you don't raise fares.

- All right, I wanna make it clear we're taping on the 19th of March.

This conversation with Doug will be seen later.

Hey, Doug, could you imagine a lot could happen in the State House between now and next month or so?

Real quick on this.

Could you give us a minute or less on offshore wind?

Where are we in New Jersey these days?

- Well, 2024 has been the year of offshore wind coming back, right?

We saw an announcement in January of two projects in the New York Bight that are incredibly significant, the Leading Light Wind as well as Attentive Energy.

These products are about 40 miles off the Jersey shore and will literally produce, you know, hundreds of megawatts of clean, renewable energy.

That won't happen until, you know, early in the next decade, 2031, but it shows that there is a path forward, not so far offshore wind in New Jersey.

We've seen offshore wind projects get up and running off the coast of Long Island and Massachusetts.

So this is a reminder that offshore wind is not going away.

- Doug O'Malley is the director of Environment New Jersey.

Hey, Doug, thank you for joining us.

We'll continue the conversation about a whole range of issues dealing with the environment in the state of New Jersey.

Thanks, Doug.

- Great.

Thank you, Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- All right folks, everything you wanted and needed to know about the World Cup coming to New Jersey, you'll find out right now with Jim Kirkos, who is President and CEO, Meadowlands Regional Chamber.

Good to see you Jim.

- Good to be here, thanks for always having me.

- You got it, lemme also disclose that Jim is a trustee of the Caucus Educational Corporation, our not-for-profit production company.

Hey, Jim, the World Cup, coming to New Jersey, when exactly?

- It's a big deal, June into July of 2026, and it's around the corner.

- Hold on, this is six weeks of games?

- Yeah, pretty much, the opening game, the opening preliminary round games start the middle of June and the final will be right here at MetLife Stadium on July 19th.

- How big a deal from an economic point of view is this for the region and the state versus New York City who's gonna try to claim a lot of credit for this as they have a habit of doing?

I'm just saying Jim.

- Yeah, no, listen, I don't know that I can really articulate how big it is, eight games that we'll have right here in the Greater Meadowlands and here in New Jersey, it's an enormous amount of economic impact.

I wish I could give you a number.

I think from all the things that we've learned, Steve, over the past big events that have been at MetLife, WrestleManias and past World Cups and- - Super Bowl.

- Super Bowl, the fact of the matter is I think we have learned the formula on what it's gonna take to make sure we're capturing the eyeballs of the world and making sure that visitors that come in here for those five or six weeks, in some cases longer, to be part of World Cup 2026, that they find all the great experiences where to stay, where to play, where to eat, where to shop, where to have fun.

All of those things is in our purview this time.

- I asked you about logistics, you and I talk about leadership and logistics all the time.

Do you remember the year the Super Bowl was at the Meadowlands?

- '14.

- 2014.

I don't know, I heard a rumor that it was a bit challenging with New Jersey Transit moving people around, not a rumor, a fact.

How the heck are we gonna move all those people to where they need to go, when they need to go there in a reasonable way?

- So I'm gonna tell you that New Jersey Transit gets a bad rap for that because it was really not their fault.

There was a lot of people doing the planning for transportation and mobility for Super Bowl, many of which had nothing to do with people like me and maybe even some on New Jersey Transit.

The train station at MetLife Stadium was designed to move 10 to 12,000 people an hour, and there was 35,000 people that tried to take the train after that game.

And it took three hours, exactly what it was designed to do.

The problem was they also had a bus system that was created by some vendor that worked for the NFL and they expected a larger number of people to take the bus then took the train and it didn't work out that way.

- So what have we learned for the World Cup?

- What we've learned this time is we need multiple modes of transportation to and from train hubs and transit hubs.

New Jersey Transit not only is better at moving people on the train line that exists now, but they're developing a product called Transitway, which will be a bus rapid transit system that runs from Secaucus Transit right into the sports complex that will augment the train line.

So a combination of the commuter train that moves from Secaucus Transfer, this bus rapid transit and some other mobility issues with shuttles and buses and private buses and so forth.

And we'll do a better job.

And there's no better example than this past summer, Steve, when MetLife Stadium hosted the biggest concert summer series in its history of the stadium.

And not one glitch, Steve, not one glitch in moving people, back to back concerts, 80 plus thousand people.

Ed Sheeran was I think one of the highest attended for concerts in North America.

And I happened to be at that particular concert, it was spectacular.

And listen, there's always gonna be some delay getting outta the stadiums when you're trying to- - Let's also include traffic onto the turnpike, onto Route 3, that's part of the deal here.

- Oh, certainly, and all of those mobility things.

And they have been fixing ramps to and from the turnpike over the years since Super Bowl and things like that.

And there's no one fix for this transportation, it's lots of little fixes, and we've been working on lots of little fixes since then.

- Talk marketing, and go back to what I said before, when we watch it, when we watch the World Cup, those of us who can't get tickets, you watch it, is it gonna say, is it gonna be clear that it's coming from New Jersey, from the Meadowlands, or is it gonna be New York?

- No, actually, the stadium will be renamed the New York New Jersey Stadium.

Every venue in the country that has a naming rights deal will be so little words.

So like LA will be LA Stadium, Dallas will be Dallas Stadium.

That's the way FIFA designed the- - FIFA, the folks who regulate soccer?

- Correct, this is the FIFA World Cup and FIFA's the organizing body for professional soccer internationally.

And so it'll be a combination of both.

But you brought up a great word, marketing, right?

So what I've learned now, I'm 20 years here at the Chamber and I've witnessed, I was here as a member back at the '94 World Cup.

Having taken all this experience, I can tell you this, if we sit back and just wait for people to come to our doors in New Jersey and expect that just because all these games are taking place, we're gonna be disappointed.

And so we need to put some financial resources into marketing.

That's the state, that's organizations like ours, we need to let people know where all these experiences are so that they can see.

And we are a better destination today than we were back at Super Bowl.

American Dream wasn't even open during Super Bowl.

- Jim Kirkos is bullish on New Jersey, bullish on the Meadowlands, that's why he is the President and CEO of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber.

Hey, Jim, 2026, looking forward to the World Cup.

Thank you, buddy, appreciate it.

- Thank you, thanks for having me.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato, that's Jim Kirkos, he's bullish on the World Cup in Jersey.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

PSEG Foundation.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by Seton Hall University.

Promotional support provided by NJBIZ.

And by Insider NJ.

- (Inspirational Music) - (Narrator) Great drive fuels the leaders of tomorrow and today.

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