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>> Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, Governor Murphy delivers the state of the state address.

Affordability, artificial intelligence, education, reproductive and voting rights at the top of his agenda.

>> In the face of these challenges, a stronger, fairer, more resilient and more inclusive New Jersey has never been more necessary should Briana: Plus, our team breaks it all down.

Taking a deeper dive into the governor's priorities for 2024.

>> He is heading into the home stretch.

He has got to work with the legislature if he is going to get any of this done.

I think it is paying a nod to reality.

Briana: Is it political persecution or prosecution?

Senator Menendez text to the Senate floor to defend himself denying allegations he served as a foreign agent for Qatar.

>> This is an unprecedented accusation and it has never, ever been levied against a sitting member of Congress.

Never.

And for good reason.

Briana: And seeing green.

With over 50 cannabis businesses opening their doors to 2023, analysts redact the cannabis industry will continue to grow in 2024.

>> Out of 20 counties in New Jersey, 20, 21 have a dispensary open now.

Briana: NJ Spotlight News begins now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Tuesday night.

Governor Murphy today shared his vision for the future of New Jersey delivering his sixth state of the state address before a joint session of the legislature in Trenton.

As is typical for the speeches, the governor touched on his administration's accomplishments citing the economy and affordability tilting some 200,000 jobs created under his watch along with a slew of tax cuts and the anchor property tax relief program among them.

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But he also unveiled a few new proposals as he enters the final two years in office.

Allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections, targeting unpaid medical debt which according to the state affects one in every 10 residents.

The governor wants to give patients more time to negotiate a bill and get financial help before debts are sent to collections.

He is also on board with formally revamping the states affordable housing program and went back to his progressive roots urging lawmakers to back a bill that will cover out-of-pocket abortion costs.

The initiative that likely raised the most eyebrows, Murphy's hopes of launching what he calls an AIM moonshot to make the state a hub for artificial intelligence growth.

Here is what he had to say.

>> To make New Jersey the best place anywhere to raise a family, a state with greater affordability, lower taxes for working families and the best possible quality of life.

A state where new industries are blooming and small businesses are booming.

A state with safer communities and the best schools in the entire country.

And a stay in which our fundamental rights from voting rights to reproductive rights and every right in between our secure without question.

[APPLAUSE] Now, we all know that these are not simple times as many of our neighbors tell us.

This is an era of unease and uncertainty.

We live in a world rocked by two full on wars, a surge in hate crimes, inflation, high interest rates, the aftermath of a pandemic and the tail end of supply chain disruptions.

In the face of these challenges, building a stronger fairer, more resilient and more inclusive New Jersey has never been more necessary.

As we begin a new lid is live session, let us unite together to continue addressing the biggest challenge facing our families.

The fact that for too many, the cost of living is too high.

But we can turn things around for our families.

I know that because we have done it before.

In the face of strong headwinds, we unleashed historic economic progress for New Jersey.

Since the last administration, we have more than doubled the growth rate of our states economy.

At the same time, we have created nearly 200,000 jobs.

Pulling people out from under crushing medical debt is vital.

But so is protecting them from falling down the hole in the first place.

In that spirit today with great respect, I am calling on our legislature to enact a new package that will help families avoid the and caught in a medical debt trap and at the same time require every single medical bill to be clear and transparent.

When I talk about making New Jersey the best place to raise a family, that also means ensuring every woman has the freedom to start a family on their own terms.

[APPLAUSE] Sounds good?

[APPLAUSE] Here in New Jersey before that dreadful Dobbs decision came down, we codified the right to an abortion.

We long ago restored funding for Planned Parenthood and family-planning services after eight years before us of zero funding.

Later this year, thanks to the leadership of Senator Shirley Turner and assemblywoman for Lena Reynolds Jackson, Trenton's own -- [APPLAUSE] We will take another step.

Women will be able to walk into a New Jersey pharmacy and by birth control without a prescription.

[APPLAUSE] Here in New Jersey, we understand as a Philip Randolph said, freedom is never given.

It is won and we are winning freedoms for everyone.

I continue to support passing same-day voter registration in New Jersey.

[APPLAUSE] Nobody should ever be denied access to the ballot box because they missed a deadline or forgot to send in paperwork.

Same-day voter registration will help prevent that and it will empower every voter to have their say on election day.

Additionally today with humbly, I am asking the Legislature to send to my desk a voting rights bill that will allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in local school board elections.

So now in 2024 it is time for New Jersey to lead the world once again.

In shaping a new emerging realm with incredible promise.

Generative artificial intelligence.

Today with AI, I believe we are at the dawn of a new era much like we were 30 years ago with the Internet.

Think about it this way.

If a governor back in 1994 talked about the transformative potential for the Internet, you might have yawned.

Looking back, we have long since stopped yawning.

That is why I am talking about generative AI today because it is just as big and frankly overwhelmingly likely a whole lot bigger.

Few places are better positioned to lead the world globally in AI then New Jersey.

We already a leader in the field.

Briana: Joining me in studio is our senior writer, Colleen O'Day and Michael Rasmussen, the director for the New Jersey Institute of politics at Rider University.

Glad to have you on a day like this.

This is a lame-duck governor.

With that in mind, what did you make of the speech and this AI moonshot?

Micah: It was more ambitious than I expected it to be.

Governor Murphy had been settling into a pattern of five proposals per state of the state.

This is going back into the territory he did at the beginning of his tenure.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this AI moonshot because it is trying to strike out in a direction ahead of other tech friendly states.

California, Massachusetts.

They are talking about cutbacks in budgets.

Governor Murphy is saying New Jersey does not have to fall into that pattern.

We can be more aggressive.

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We can be at the forefront.

We will have to see where the meat gets on the bones with this proposal but it harkens back to a few weeks ago when he was at Princeton and talked about this effort with the University as partnership should Briana: It did feel like an ambitious speech than I was anticipating.

What other new proposals that he unveil?

Colleen: When you get into the details, some of these things are decidedly driven he is going to be supporting.

He said he was going to support affordable housing bill that did not make it through the last legislature.

He wants to abolish -- change the process.

He is looking for no-cost abortions for folks.

There would be no upfront costs for women.

That is another piece of legislation that is pending.

He talked about expanding universal pre-k.

He wants to expand the unpaid medical debt program and provide for transparent medical billing.

Phonics, we have got a clemency program we don't know anything about except we think may be tied to the war on drugs.

Briana: It appears that way.

Colleen: Quite a number of initiatives.

Briana: Also, voting rights which is interesting.

Particularly coming out of this last election cycle where Democrats did pretty well.

Some real progressive items on here.

Did anything else stand out to you and what was it in the speech?

Micah: We did not hear about COVID.

We did not hear about climate change.

Things that were mainstays of his speeches in his earlier term.

We did not hear about the incentive program we have heard so much about in his first term.

Talked about the problems of incentives.

How he was going to fix them.

With the new program was going to look like.

He is turning the page here.

Looking for some new initiatives.

He has not talked about the phonics stuff before other governors have talked about.

He is looking for new proposals.

I did not necessarily see it as a sign of weakness.

May be acknowledging reality when he says he is going to work with the legislature.

He is in the lame-duck territory.

He is heading into the home stretch.

This is his sixth and he will have two more state of the state speeches after this.

He is got to work with the legislature if he is going to get any of this done.

It is paying a nod to reality.

He does have your margins.

He got her legislative margin -- he got bigger legislative margins.

They're going to have a mind of their own.

Briana: Is there room for the criticism some of these items are a little shortsighted?

How likely is it for any of these and she Tibbs or most of these she Tibbs to become a reality -- these initiatives to become a reality?

Colleen: Given he does have these larger Democratic majorities, it should be safe to think most of them would.

In addition to calling for the vote for school boards for 16 and 17-year-olds, he reiterated his support for same-day registration.

He is going to have to convince the Senate president change his mind.

I'm not sure if that one is going anywhere.

When we talk about the abortions as well, I think some of the new legislators coming in may have replaced some Democrats who were leery about expanding abortion rights.

I think the chances are pretty good.

Briana: Thanks to you both.

Republicans offered their take on the speech put a sizing spending levels under the Murphy administration.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz is with the Republican Senate leader in Bucha with the GOP response.

>> The speech started late and ran a little long.

The Republicans are having their own response separately.

We had an opportunity to speak to the Senate Minority Leader.

Here is what he had to say.

An initial reaction.

>> The governor was very optimistic tonight.

He talked about affordability.

Access to health care.

Crime, education.

Those are all great things.

I think we all feel the same way that we need help in those areas.

But your actions got to match your words.

You cannot have a budget that spends a billion dollars more and expect New Jersey to be affordable to our residents.

See that in terms of outward migration.

We have a learning loss in our schools as a result of the pandemic restrictions that were imposed.

All of these things will take action.

We'll see what the governor proposes as we move forward.

>> Those things you say they take action.

They also take money.

There is going to need to be expenditures for those things.

>> I think the state last year had an awful lot of money to spend.

Unfortunately, we squandered it.

Now we are facing a fiscal cliff.

These are the type of things when you talk about these big ideas and these big policy decisions, you have got to be able to back them up.

Sometimes it is going to take little things and little steps to get there.

The devil will be in the details.

>> The governor came out this afternoon in support of an affordable housing reform bill that almost made it through the Senate but stopped.

You end of the Republicans and other Democrats expressed reservations about it.

Where are you right now?

>> The bill presently before them was in the last session.

I don't think it addressed the concerns many minutes apologies faced.

The governor spoke about sound of planning.

That has got to be a key component of anything we do moving forward.

You cannot just jam these houses into municipalities where there is not places for folks to work, mass transportation and infrastructure to support it.

It just does not work.

We cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

>> There are going to be the special Masters in this bill who will talk about what the requirements are for affordable housing and the three regions of the state should does that help to make it a little easier for everybody to understand and manage?

>> I'm not so sure.

The devil will be in the details for that.

I think we have to give the minutes apologies a little more flexibility to be able to locate the affordable housing in spots that can support it.

That is what is most important.

If you have spots that can support the affordable housing, it will get built.

Briana: Which out -- >> We talked with the Senate budget committee chairman the other day.

He says he is expecting this year's budget process is going to be particularly tough.

He says there are a couple of tough spots out there.

Do you agree with him and what are those tough spots?

>> I do.

We see revenues falling behind projections.

Republicans have been saying year after year when times were good those were the times to make structural changes.

When all of a sudden the bottom falls out, you're forced to cut in areas you may not want to have to cut.

When times are good, that is the time to make those structural changes.

I think we missed the boat on that opportunity.

>> Senate Minority Leader Boko reacting to the oven or speech.

Not much of a surprise what he had to say but in terms of what the dynamic is going to be going forward with this legislature, that is going to be an interesting thing to watch.

We will send it back to the studio.

Briana: Thanks for that.

The legislative lame-duck session ended Monday with a frenzy of Bill's landing on the governor's desk.

Among them, a few that struggled to get over the finish line look the bill to lift food and event restrictions on state breweries.

The measure passed both chambers unanimously but it is a scaled-down version of what Murphy requested leaving out reforms to the state's liquor license system.

The governor initially vetoed the last version but agreed to compromise on this one.

Lawmakers approved a measure that has been in the works for years increasing labor protections for domestic workers.

These are jobs like house keepers, caretakers and gardeners.

If the governor signs it, some 50,000 domestic workers who have been carved out of traditional labor laws have more safeguards when it comes to things like wage theft, paid breaks and earning minimum wage.

One item that sailed through despite all the controversy, pay raises for judges, cabinet officials, the governor and state legislators.

A bump in pay has not been approved in years but there was little debate around the increase which will go up nearly 70% for legislators.

The Murphy administration negotiated the bill with lawmakers and he is widely expected to sign it.

Senior Senator Bob Menendez took to the floor of the Senate today offering a fiery defense of the latest charges he is facing.

It is the first time the senator has spoken publicly about the second superseding indictment against him unveiled just a week ago which added additional allegations he received bribes to benefit the government of Qatar.

He declared his innocence and availed to prove it well continuing to deny allegations he acted as a foreign agent to Egypt and accepted bribes in exchange for aid to the country.

The senator accused the U.S. Justice Department of sensationalizing the charges by filing three separate indictments.

The first one you will recall was in late September.

.

Another in mid-October and the third at the beginning of the month.

Despite having all the information upfront, he says it opens a dangerous tour for the department to take what he calls normal engagement with foreign government and turn it into charges.

He accused prosecutors of attempting to poison the jury pool and convict him in a court of public opinion.

In our spotlight on business report, New Jersey's recreational marijuana industry has gone quickly from a struggling startup to a booming market.

Over the last three years, more and more entrepreneurs have been able to secure a license and open local businesses.

As Melissa Rose Cooper reports, the shift from large-scale operators to diverse owned dispensaries did not come without obstacles.

>> The symbol of illegal marijuana was like a black door.

We wanted to make it a safe space for people to the can come in and purchase products, get information and know what they are purchasing.

It is no longer a scary or sketchy place.

It is a place of comfort, a place of education.

>> She says that desire to change the narrative is what led to naming the Maplewood cannabis dispensary noire.

She and her husband opened the store in September becoming the second black owned shop in New Jersey on the first to open in the state.

>> The actual process took three years to get the doors open.

Our process because we have the vision, my wife and I, took seven years.

This was a seven-year thought process.

Five years implementing.

Three years of executing the -- from the actual initial application to opening the doors.

>> One of 91 cannabis dispensaries across the Garden State since recreational marijuana was legalized almost three years ago.

More than 50 of those open last year alone.

>> That is 40 medicinal and recreational, 41 recreational only and 10 medicinal only.

Out of 20 counties in New Jersey, 20 and 21 have at least one dispensary open now.

We are processing more and more applications.

>> Jeff Brown of the cannabis regulatory commission is excited to see the industry study growth.

He says the CRC has received over 2300 applications and issued over 1300 conditional awards as well as 150 annual awards while prioritizing equitable businesses.

>> 20% of all awards have gone to social equity businesses.

Those are businesses owned by people with past marijuana convictions are economically disadvantaged areas.

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Two thirds of the awards have gone to the vigorously -- have gone to diversely owned businesses.

>> While advocates agree the cannabis industry is growing, there are still some issues businesses face when looking to enter the market like accessing bank loan since marijuana is illegal on the federal level.

>> When you add the fact municipalities get to opt in and create their own zones, you are restricting the areas where they can operate out of.

If you don't have the capital to acquire that real estate, you're out of luck.

>> Plays responsibly works with aspiring cannabis businesses looking to open in New Jersey.

She begins New Jersey is on the right track with the state economic development Authority.

She says more money in the way of zero or low interest loans would be a huge help.

>> Secondly, the CRC or the state legislature needs to give municipalities guidelines on how to an act ordinances, how to have application procedures.

Mina's a are another barrier.

They make it more difficult for applicants to convert they have stringent requirements.

They want to see proof of funding.

>> There is definitely a lot of pressure to getting it right.

Just the unknown.

It is definitely a lot of pressure and it is also a blessing as well knowing that others behind us are looking.

We are also inspiring others in our community.

>> They look forward to serving the community and providing cannabis products in a safe environment.

Briana: Turning to Wall Street, the struggles continue for stocks in the new year.

Here is how the markets closed today.

New Jersey is under a state of emergency tonight as a major storm moves across our area dropping as much as four inches of rain in some places and strong winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour.

The rain comes after a string of storms in recent weeks creating the risk of major river flooding across North Jersey and the Delaware River basin.

Towns along the Passaic River like Little Falls are on especially high alert after dealing with serious flooding last month.

Some coastal flooding is projected along the Delaware Bay.

Utility companies are warning of potential power outages with an eye on the shore.

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That is where winds are expected to be the strongest.

The state of emergency covers all 21 counties and went into effect at 5:00 p.m. Officials are urging people to stay off the roads and if you do have to travel, don't drive through flooded streets.

That is going to do it for us tonight.

Don't forget to download the NJ Spotlight News podcast so you can listen anytime.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us.

Have a great evening.

We will see you right back here tomorrow.

>> NJM Insurance group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

And by the PSEG foundation.

>> Have some water.

Look at these kids.

What do you see?

IC myself.

I became an ESL teacher to give my students what I wanted when I came to this country.

The opportunity to learn, to dream, to achieve.

A chance to belong and to be an American.

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I am proud to be an NJ EA member.

♪