[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - He's back.

State Senator Paul Sarlo, deputy majority leader, chair of the Senate, Budget and Appropriations Committee.

Everything you need to know about money in New Jersey or lack thereof.

Good to see you, Senator.

- It's great to be back with you, Steve.

- You got it.

Let me ask you this, Senator, on the fiscal side a lot of federal money coming in, COVID money.

That money's ending.

There are a whole range of folks we've had on that said, that say New Jersey is in a dangerous fiscal situation because we've counted on all that federal money for so long and the spigot is dry.

You say.

- Well, listen, I think, you know, you're gonna have those naysayers who are gonna say that you know, with the federal dollars we've been living off of the federal dollars.

Clearly the infusion of federal dollars during the pandemic and post pandemic has been been a tremendous help to our budget.

But I think through the appropriation process we have been very wise and strategic on our investments.

We've also created funds.

I don't want to get into the weeds, but debt defeasance funds where we have put away money for future investments and infrastructure.

And we also have record surpluses, over 10, close to $10 billion in surplus.

Never been heard before in the state of New Jersey.

So we've put money away for a rainy day.

So I disagree with all those who say now that the money's dropped off, New Jersey is going to fall off the cliff.

Clearly we need to be a lot more smarter going forward and control and watch our spending.

But I think we're primed for any blips in the economy.

- Senator, we've been doing a whole range of programming over about four years now on childcare, accessible affordable childcare, Reimagine Childcare is our initiative.

I know you've worked closely with Senator Teresa Ruiz who's been a leader in this regard.

How do you see the quote, state's commitment financial commitment to supporting the childcare community accessible, affordable, quality childcare when in fact some are arguing that the feds, we don't know what they're gonna do in this regard.

And the state money is more important than ever before to keep those childcare centers alive and thriving so people can work?

- Well, first of all, my colleague and my good friend Senator Ruiz has been a champion on this front.

And as somebody who sits with her as part of the leadership team, she reminds us every day about the importance of this issue.

Clearly we can't rely on the feds, right?

You can't rely on the federal government for a lot these days.

So we need to ensure that we're constantly finding ways to get creative to provide child tax credits to ensure folks are comfortable with the childcare that their sons and daughters are gonna be receiving and allow them to go out and get a good day's work and get a good paying job.

So, New Jersey, I believe, is on the forefront across the country when it comes to this area.

- I mean, going all the way on the other end of the spectrum.

You have spoken out and acted on end of life care issues.

Talk about your commitment to end of life issues and the dollars that you've put, that you and your colleagues have put behind it but largely because of your efforts, please.

- Well, yeah, we've come full circle right from childcare to this.

- Yep, yep.

- I will tell you this, Steve.

The Villa Marie Clara Hospice Center at Holy Name Hospital is something that I think everybody in the legislature should take a trip up there to see.

Because when you see what's going on there and the care that they're providing people at end of life is just amazing.

They're compassionate to not just to the patients but to the families themselves.

And it is a much simpler and more compassionate way for families to be with each other instead of being in that hospital setting or being in that stressful nursing home setting.

And we know all the issues that are happening with our nursing homes.

So I've been a champion.

I've been a champion for hospice, but I've been a champion for Villa Marie.

They do it right and we've been supporting them through the state budget.

I wanna thank my colleagues and I wanna thank Speaker Coughlin and Senate Presidents Scutari this year for supporting me on a $4 million grant that went to Villa Marie this year.

- Let me also disclose that Holy Name is an underwriter of our public health programming.

Senator, let me try this.

Parental rights, parental notification, the fight going on, the debate going on.

What should parents, in your view, Senator, what should parents know and when should they know it as it relates to their children in our public schools and at what age if that child is talking about a gender issue, a gender identification issue, a sexual orientation issue, what are the rights of parents and what should be the rights of those children to be protected?

- So I'm a dad, right?

My two boys have graduated from public schools and have moved on.

My younger boy now is in the United States Naval Academy.

He is a midshipman and very proud of him.

And my other son is working in the engineering field.

But I will tell you this, as a parent, as a coach for many years, and I've coached against you on the ball field.

- Yes.

- I remember those days.

- Senator Sarlo is noted for his work in the Senate but even more so as a baseball coach developing a lot of young men and women.

Keep going, Paul.

- But I will tell you this, I believe in parental rights.

I want parents to know what's happening with their child.

I feel strongly about it.

There is a lot of conspiracy theorists out there.

Those who are champion, you know, those who are behind this.

I think a lot of it is a lot of made up conspiracy theories.

But I will tell you this.

I will always side on parents knowing what's going on in the schools and what their children are learning.

I believe parents have that right.

And I will always side on that side.

I side with the parents.

I think our education department should focus more on the STEM, our classes, our math, our sciences, our Englishes, our English, our foreign languages.

Focus on that.

Allow some of the local school board districts the ability to to have a say on what those children are learning.

So big believer, big supporter of making sure parents have the right to know what their children are up to.

- And now that our programming will have a whole range of people with different points of view on this issue.

That's what our role is.

Senator, talk about this.

This happens to be the Star-Ledger.

It's online, it's in the record.

The newspaper based in Bergen County as well, where you are.

The federal government blast state on safety of vet homes.

The federal government, the Department of Justice, came in and did scathing report about veterans homes and how New Jersey did not take care of our veterans, particularly during COVID.

Too many, they died.

Many died.

Many died needlessly, according to the federal government.

A, how credible is that criticism in that report?

And B, who's responsible?

- So we were ill prepared.

Our veterans homes were ill prepared.

Just like many of our nursing homes around the state were ill prepared to deal with the COVID response.

Some of these, I guess what's frustrating to me is some of the issues that have been laid out in these reports are just common sense things that could have been taken care of by the people who are on the ground operating and managing these facilities.

We failed.

We clearly, we failed, we failed on these veteran homes.

We're a failure.

And we need to do better.

We need to take a closer look at through the budget process as well of how we wanna manage our veterans homes going forward.

We have three of 'em in the state.

And once we get them back up and running and have all of the protocol, proper protocols in place, are we gonna set up a separate department?

Are we gonna leave 'em with Department of Military and Veteran Affairs?

Should there be a monitor and overseer?

These are all things that need, we in the legislature need to decide now but we failed and we need to, we need to fix it.

- And we'll continue this conversation with Senator Joe Cryan who's a leader in the Senate in this regard.

And we'll be talking to him as well.

Senator Paul Sarlo, Deputy Majority Leader, Chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Steve, it's always great to be with you.

- You got it.

See you next time folks.

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

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