[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined once again by State Senator Holly Schepisi, Republican, who is the Republican Senate Conference Leader.

Good to see you, Senator.

- Great to see you, Steve.

- We're gonna talk about childcare in a second, but I wanna do this with you.

You and I, it's interesting.

You and I have had so many conversations over the years, particularly on "State of Affairs," but political violence.

How concerned are you and what can members of the legislature do to tamp this down?

- It's incumbent upon every single one of us to say, "Enough."

It doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or Republican, there is no situation ever that it is acceptable to resort to violence because you disagree with somebody's position.

I've been horrified by some of the comments, even on my own social media pages, people cheering this young man's death as he was- - Holly, I apologize for interrupting.

Charlie Kirk is just the latest, and I pray that as this airs, it's still the latest and there's not another horrific situation, but there have been many more before that.

What should the message be to everyone right now?

- The message right now is it is okay to disagree.

It is okay to debate policy and efficacy of policy.

It is never, ever okay to cheer, or hope for, or say it's a good start for somebody to be assassinated.

Charlie Kirk, whether or not you agreed with him or vehemently disagreed with him, our entire nation is built upon the ability to express one's opinion.

There is never a place for political violence in such a situation.

- And along those lines, and I like to keep reminding people, not that, somehow it got forgotten that a leading member of the state legislature in Minnesota and her husband were killed, that Paul Pelosi, the husband of the former Speaker of the House, attacked in the middle of the night.

Political violence is not new, and it goes on back and forth.

But finally, Senator, you don't believe that the left nor the right have cornered the market on this and anyone, any group, is any more responsible than any other.

Is that fair to say?

- It's fair to say with one caveat.

I didn't see anybody on my side of the aisle expressing, you know, glee or saying "good job" when the Minnesota representative and her husband were executed.

I didn't see one instance of that.

- I agree, Senator, and sorry for interrupting, but I will say this.

In doing the research for this, I went back and I saw a tweet put out by Donald Trump Jr.

with a picture.

People can check it out.

With a hammer with Paul Pelosi's name and said, "See?"

Translation, it has happened.

It does happen.

And even with prominent people like the son of the current President of the United States.

Meaning, no, you're right about Minnesota.

And I didn't wanna go back and forth, but people have, and by the way, I'm sickened by people who try to minimize or make light of or celebrate a 31-year-old man, who has two children who were there with his wife, assassinated speaking at a college.

Holly, I apologize for going into this.

It's just that you understand this better than most.

Can we talk about this transition?

Utility rates in New Jersey.

Out of control.

Talk about it.

- So I've been really strongly opposing a lot of the policies that were done in a vacuum in New Jersey that we all knew was gonna cause a current crisis.

And to be able to say, "Oh, we're going to have the most aggressive environmental kind of package.

We don't care about utility rate increases.

This is what our goal is.

This is what we're gonna do, and so we're not gonna have a plan B."

And you know, whether or not it was the BPU and continuously without transparency to the public on approving rate increases, whether or not it was shutting down all of our alternate traditional energy supply in New Jersey without having a plan B. This was something that, at least on my side of the aisle, we've been kind of screaming from the rafters for the past several years saying, "We are going to end up where we are today."

And so of course now everybody's going, "It's an election cycle.

The gubernatorial race is up, the whole assembly is up.

And although these are our policies that cause this, we're gonna blame it on Donald Trump who's only been in office for a couple of months as we've been fighting about this on the floor for the past several years.

Or we're gonna blame PGM because of their auction."

No, it's something whereby, as a mother, of course I want clean energy, I want a clean environment, I want a clean planet for my kids.

But you can't set forth policy without thinking about the consequences of it.

- You've talked to us about childcare many times.

A graphic will come up.

There's an initiative called Start Strong NJ, which is a public awareness initiative we're involved in.

The number one concern you have about affordability regarding quality accessible childcare is?

- Gosh, all of the above.

As a working mom, I paid the several thousand dollars a month for my child to go to preschool.

I, you know, pay amongst the highest property taxes in the entire nation for our public school system.

We have to fix our school funding formula as we're looking to help with affordability in general.

And particularly if we're gonna expand our programs within the public school system, we really have to kind of blow up the current school funding formula and make it more equitable around the state.

We're seeing many districts are being devastated by cuts that are taking place.

They're having to eliminate teachers, programs, as we also are trying to implement a policy of expanding out childcare through a public school system.

- Before I let you go, you're up in Bergen County, right?

Immigration a big issue up there?

ICE?

- It is.

- It is.

- It's a big issue I think everywhere in the state.

And it's one that I think, surprisingly or not surprisingly, a lot of people in our area are actually supportive of ICE and the policies that have taken place.

Are there one-off examples and a couple that I've actually been actively engaged with myself where I believe it's gone too far and, you know, we do need to ensure a balance with this.

But I think for people who have been charged criminally, people who have committed crimes, people who are being shielded by New Jersey's policies, that is what almost everybody I've spoken to, regardless of what side of the aisle they're on, that they agree that we should not be affording protections to people who harm our residents, our businesses, and our communities.

- Well, before I let you go, Senator, someone who's been here 30 years, running a business, family, pay their taxes, they're engaged, they're helpful in the community, going after those folks?

- I agree.

That is not something that I am supportive of.

- Senator Holly Schepisi, Republican, Senate Republican Conference Leader, been in the legislature for a couple years.

How many years, Holly?

- Dog years or human?

I've been in the Senate for four, and prior to that I was in the Assembly for nine.

- Excellent.

Holly Schepisi.

Thank you so much for joining us, Holly.

See you soon.

- Thank you.

See you.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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