Our Senior correspondent is at the state has with the latest.

>> It has been hurry up and wait day at the Statehouse.

They are scheduled to vote on the proposed state spending plan.

Democrats control the legislature and the governor's office.

At this point, we don't expect to see a whole lot of drama.

Budget committees convened late and started without a budget document.

It has taken hours for the office to compose a bill but that's not unusual.

The document can run 200-3 hundred pages and takes a while.

>> It is our intention in the committee today to vote on the budget bill.

>> The governor unveiled spending plan back in February and many of the items he proposed should remain true in this document.

We expect no new taxes and we expect this will fully fund state pension obligations.

The legislatures post budget will probably increase state aid to education.

It will probably double the child tax credit.

Other measures expand eligibility and access for senior drug prescription programs.

Next year's anchor property tax rebate program adds an extra $250 for homeowners and renters over age 65.

That is money they can count on.

The Senate Budget Committee added money for a program for seniors who earn less than $500,000 per year.

They would get a property tax credit and there is money for renters also.

But "StayNJ" doesn't kick in until 2026.

And that bothered Republican lawmakers.

>> We have already seen erosion in our revenues.

It is very likely, the first thing on the chopping block.

>> This bill for stay New Jersey is essentially like would be from Popeye, I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Someone pointed out today that with this record surplus, over $10 billion that we have in our coffers ready and willing to be able to provide relief to taxpayers in 2024.

>> However, Republicans all voted for the bill, which passed unanimously, because who votes against a tax cut in a legislative election year?

They are all up for reelection.

Republicans remain very unhappy about what they perceive as a lack of transparency that they won't have any time to read the proposed budget before voting on it.

The budget document is expected sometime Tuesday evening.

Both Senate and Assembly budget committees are expected to approve the spending plan, with the full Legislature voting on the measure Friday, the budget deadline.

>> Thank you.

It looks like Jersey drivers will be hit with an extra toll when heading into Manhattan.

The federal department transportation gave New York to greenlight to move ahead with congestion pricing charging drivers nine dollars-20 three dollars more if they had south of 60th Street.

The governor and lawmakers are vowing to fight it even if it means taking legal action.

>> New York has mass transit that is failing the needs billions of dollars of improvements and renovation.

To not ask their writers to pay for it is ridiculous.

To ask New Jersey drivers to pay for New York subway riders is not make any sense.

>> The executive director of the fair congestion pricing alliance expressing his disappointments over the federal government's approval of the pricing plan.

The measure aimed at alleviating traffic in lower Manhattan while reducing the carbon footprint would implement a total of up to $23 for drivers entering below 60th Street that includes those driving into the city for work.

>> The average commuter makes over $100,000.

It would add up to $6,000 to their cost to make the same commute.

No one is going to survive that.

>> These vehicles have an incredible alternative called public transportation.

>> Some lawmakers believe the plan not only unfairly targets New Jersey residents but will also have the opposite effect on what it is intended to approve.

>> You will have a lot more trucks going on the GW bridge and outer boroughs pluming off pollutants like formaldehyde and you will have backups into the outer boroughs.

There will probably be a huge increase of traffic at the Holland and Lincoln Tunnel that will lead to more congestion.

>> Less than 2% of New Jersey commuters coming by car for work.

That is pre-Covid.

A lot of people work from home now.

In terms of drivers for work coming into the central business district from New Jersey, we are talking about a small number of people.

The vast majority of people use transit whether it's buses, then transferring when they get to New York.

>> She says other cities like London where congestion pricing has been in effect for years are proof that it works.

>> Less active on the streets, more safety, pedestrian crashes have gone down by 30% in London, that's significant.

We are at our highest rates in New Jersey and New York right now for those types of crashes.

It will bring $15 billion into the transit system which we should seek increase our signal speeds, more accessibility on the subway.

70% of commuters from New Jersey -- To help them get to New York and whatever they are reaching in New York City.

>> We have to think of ways to reduce our carbon footprint and not just in the state, but in the region.

Usually, the transportation sector tends to be a larger contribution to the carbon footprint.

Attacking it in more creative ways is really important.

>> There's no confirmed price or when it will go into effect, but Gov.

Phil Murphy has hired former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito and Randy Mastro whom former Gov.

Chris Christie hired to produce an internal administration report on the Bridgegate scandal to explore the state's legal options for fighting congestion pricing.

the governor will continue to stand resolutely against the tolling scheme that will disproportionately Arden communities and severely harm our commuters and Transit agencies.

>> A major beach replenishment project into towns is on hold potentially for the duration of the summer.

That's while the Army Corps of Engineers resolves contract issue.

Towns rely on programs to keep replenishment under control and tourism flowing.

The process widens the beach by dumping sand to reinforce dunes.

It is a never-ending and expensive task.

New Jersey spent more than $2.6 billion on these projects over the last century.

The bulk of it from recent years.

State officials say the return on investment is well worth it.

Our guest tracks this in his role leading Western Carolina University's program for the study of developed shorelines and he joins me now >> Andy what struck me the most when looking at your data and research is the fact that New Jersey accounts for a fifth of the dollar spent Nationwide for Beach nourishment and yet every year we see laws here at the state level and nationally being passed to pump more and more into this what has your research shown you about the sheer cost.

>> well the cost of putting sand on beaches is primarily determined by the distance over which the sand must travel all efforts are typically expended to try and find Beach Quality Sand or Beach compatible sand as close to the beach that's being nourished as as possible and so as you can imagine the better quality sand that's local to a nourishment episode is taken time um you have to go farther and farther away which means that that the cost will go up.

>> If you add in other factors like climate change, sea level rise, extreme weather, and rainfall, what factor does that add to what you expect the cost to balloon to?

>> We saw a tremendous increase in the cost of nourishment in 2004, 2005 primarily in Florida when Florida got hit by a number of hurricanes that went into the Greek alphabet.

As a result of that harsh year, the numbers of nourishment in Florida skyrocketed which increased in the rest of the country as well.

>> when you talk about preservation at least here in New Jersey where short tourism brings in a whole lot of dollars for the state um you know folks talk about uh Shoreline armoring as opposed to this nourishment there's also the fact that you know we've had for years groups say that this you know really is is disparate in terms of who is helped by doing these nourishment projects and at the cost of these natural habitats I'm wondering how you weigh the two considering what the cost is going to be and the fact that our beaches bring in a lot of money you know revenue for New Jersey.

>> Nourishment is intended to protect what's behind the beach.

It's important that everyone understand that.

There are a lot of arguments people make say the beach is very important economically, people come to spend money so we have to put the beach there.

That is an argument that we have heard repeatedly.

The case is if we didn't have static economic development find the beaches, they would want to move they would need to move.

they're prevented from moving because of the static Economic Development behind it so therefore the alternative or some of the tool you are two of the old Alternatives sorry uh our nourishment which is considered a soft stabilization technique because it relatively softer sand isoft and the the other option would be hard structures or stabilization as mentioned before which consist of sea walls.

For economic purposes, it is worth nourishing beaches but for most of the time, it really isn't.

>> Thank you so much for your research and time.

Patterson is rolling out a summer crime strategy aimed at improving safety and addressing quality-of-life issues.

Some activists say the plan is using approaches that have failed for years.

The city will get just under $1 million to put Cops in hotspots, areas where violent crime spikes.

And a crackdown on after-hours nightclubs.

It also calls for more collaboration with community-based violence intervention groups along with increasing youth summer jobs and summer camp opportunities.

The announcement comes amid tensions between the police and the community spurring the Attorney General's takeover of the department.

Critics argue the money would be better spent on violence intervention groups even vocational training and interventional services that address the underlying issues of crime.

>> This is not militarization of the city.

We are out there with partners.

Our role is to make people feel safe and keep the peace.

You will see in our summer strategy that not only do we agree with violence interruption and victim services, but we are encouraging the expansion of and advocating for funding, for community groups to go out there and do exactly that.

This credible messaging throughout the city to reduce violence.

>> A landmark federal law takes effect today and it is a game changer for millions of pregnant workers.

The pregnant workers fairness act requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant and postpartum people meaning they can ask for a chair to sit on during their shift or a parking space closer to the office, flexibility in their schedule for doctors visits and time off to recover from childbirth.

It also extends to just about every job in every industry.

Employers with at least 15 employees have to comply.

Experts estimate 3 million workers could benefit from the policy change.

Full guidelines and examples of accommodations will be published by the end of the year.

While other federal laws are in place to protect pregnant workers, many have loopholes forcing women to choose between healthy pregnancy and the paycheck.

New Jersey is set to receive more than $260 million to help bridge the digital divide.

The White House outlined how big the -- billions in federal money will be sent to help states in need of updating their high-speed inner at -- Internet structure.

It will be used to expand broadband access in areas that don't have it.

Politicians who fought for the funding say it will help everyone from low income families to students without a reliable Internet connection at home and small business owners keep up with the changing economy.

The Biden administration set high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury but a necessity in order to access health care, get an equal education, keep a job and stay connected.

Stocks took a positive turn today.

Here's how the markets closed.

The pandemic stolen learning is still being felt in school districts brought the state.

Newark is no exception.

The state's largest public school system identified about 10,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students in need of mandatory summer school this year.

That is double the number from last year.

Our Senior correspondent has a look at what's driving the increase and how the summer program aims to fill the gaps.

>> The realities of the pandemic linger on.

>> We are concerned that many of our students are experiencing learning loss.

>> There's a major push in Newark public schools to enroll more students and summer school.

>> While we have intensified tutoring before and after school and even on the weekends, the idea that we wanted to intensify the summer offerings has been our reality.

>> the district found that more than 10,000 students are in need of extra help.

>> Within the 10,080, there are 6000 that are of concern to us where we been making calls on a daily basis.

We need all of their kids to school and to school on time July 5.

>> They are opening 14 schools around the city for students K through seven and moving from four to 12 high schools.

From credit recovery courses to accelerated learning.

A new approach to more intensified learning.

>> You can have accelerated geometry, algebra, history.

That is great because you can move yourself up and also those classes are usually smaller.

The teacher can focus on needs.

>> It will help students to grasp core concepts that they struggled with during the year in larger classes.

Some say it's only focused on acceleration.

>> if you are going to have an accelerated approach, you also have to recognize that acceleration starts where a student is not where you want them to be.

We need a differentiated learning program.

There needs to be a program for students who have been struggling.

>> attendance is another struggle him about Newark learned its lesson doing away with a policy from the state days of expelling summer school students for days missed.

>>'s policies told students if you don't come to school, then you don't have to come at all.

>> They are communicating that some students need to be there.

>> We have a mandatory program at the elementary level where we are requiring a population of students to attend from non-:00 to 12:00 -- 9:00 to 12:00.

It has breakfast and lunch.

>> failure to attend will prevent a child from moving onto the next grade, but it will mean they start with a greater deficit.

While the deficits do exist, he says there is no benefit in talking to the kids about them.

>> If you are talking to the child about the gap, you're automatically not as good.

Effective think about -- setting goals about where the child needs to be next.

>> He says reducing the pressure helps children learn better when in the summer they want to be outside playing.

>> No kid learns that they are not comfortable.

With the adults pressure for kids that they are so far behind we need to do this now, that sometimes gets in the way.

Thinking about what does the classroom experience look like?

How do I make sure the child has enough space to get up, roam around, talk with friends and learn.

That's really critical focusing on the social emotional development.

>> He says there will be a big focus on fun even during the more intensive classes that begin next Wednesday.

>> That does it for us tonight.

A reminder to download our podcast so you can listen anytime.

I'm Briana Vannozzi Thank you for being with us, have a great evening we will see you back here tomorrow.

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