New Jersey Public Question 1, School Projects Bond (2018)

Elections in New Jersey, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 16
• Early voting: Sept. 22 - Nov. 5
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: No
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: No
• Poll times: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

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On the ballot: U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Special state legislative • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

New Jersey Public Question 1
Election date November 6, 2018
Topic Bond issues and Education
Status a Approved
Type Bond issue	Origin State Legislature
List of New Jersey measuresNew Jersey Public Question 1Submit

New Jersey Public Question 1, the School Projects Bond, was on the ballot in New Jersey as a legislatively referred bond question on November 6, 2018. The measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported issuing $500 million in general obligation bonds for project grants related to vocational schools, college career and technical education, school water infrastructure, and school security.

A "no" vote opposed issuing $500 million in general obligation bonds for project grants related to vocational schools, college career and technical education, school water infrastructure, and school security.

Election results

New Jersey Public Question 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,250,746	54.15%
No		1,059,066	45.85%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

How was Question 1 bond revenue to be spent?

Question 1 issued $500 million in general obligation bonds, including:

• $350 million for career and technical education grants and school security project grants;
• $100 million for school water infrastructure grants; and
• $50 million for college career and technical education grants.

How was the state to decide which projects get Question 1 bond revenue?

Question 1 required a review and approval process for each type of grant, either involving the state Commissioner of Education or Secretary of Higher Education, in consultation with various government agencies.

Both county vocational school districts and county colleges were eligible to receive career and technical education grants. Priority was to be given to schools with (a) stackable credentials programs; (b) partnerships between vocational school districts and colleges; and (c) partnerships between schools or colleges and employers to provide technical training. To obtain career and technical education grants, the county that established the vocational school or college needed to provide 25 percent of the costs of the project.

The state Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the Schools Development Authority, was to decide the review process and criteria to receive school security grants. Question 1 defined security projects as the construction, improvement, or modernization of a school or school district for school security purposes, such as alarms and silent security systems.

The commissioner, in consultation with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, was to decide the review process and criteria to receive water infrastructure grants.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was:

“

Do you approve the “Securing Our Children’s Future2 Bond Act”? This bond act authorizes the State to issue bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $500 million. The money from the sale of the bonds would be used to provide grants to schools, school districts, county vocational school districts and county colleges. Money from the grants would be used to build, equip, and expand facilities to increase career and technical education program capacity Money would also be used for school security upgrades and school district water infrastructure improvement projects.

”

Ballot summary

The interpretive statement was:

“

This act would allow the State to borrow a total principal amount of $500 million. This money would be used to provide grants to county vocational school districts and county colleges to construct and equip buildings to increase capacity in career and technical education programs. The money would also be used to provide grants for security projects at kindergarten through grade 12 schools. The money would also be used to provide grants for school district water infrastructure improvement projects. Three hundred fifty million dollars would support county vocational school district projects and school security projects. Fifty million dollars would support county college projects. One hundred million dollars would support school district water infrastructure improvement projects.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2018

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 13, and the FRE is 44. The word count for the ballot title is 88, and the estimated reading time is 23 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 12, and the FRE is 38.5. The word count for the ballot summary is 113, and the estimated reading time is 30 seconds. In 2018, for the 167 statewide measures on the ballot, the average ballot title or question was written at a level appropriate for those with between 19 and 20 years of U.S. formal education (graduate school-level of education), according to the FKGL formula. Read Ballotpedia's entire 2018 ballot language readability report here.

Support

Supporters

Officials

The following state legislators sponsored the bond measure:

• Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-3)
• Sen. Steven Oroho (R-24)
• Sen. Robert Gordon (D-38)
• Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-25)
• Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-29)
• Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-14)
• Sen. Shirley Turner (D-15)
• Rep. Daniel Benson (D-14)
• Rep. John Burzichelli (D-3)
• Rep. Pamela Lampitt (D-6)
• Rep. Jamel Holley (D-20)
• Rep. Serena DiMaso (R-13)
• Rep. Angelica Jimenez (D-32)
• Rep. Pedro Mejia (D-32)
• Rep. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-15)
• Rep. Robert Karabinchak (D-18)
• Rep. Harold Wirths (R-24)
• Rep. Carol Murphy (D-7)
• Rep. Edward Thomson (R-30)
• Rep. Eric Houghtaling (R-11)
• Rep. Joann Downey (D-11)
• Rep. Parker Space (R-24)

Organizations

• New Jersey Chamber of Commerce

Arguments

• Tom Bracken, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said, "We all recognize that New Jersey’s workforce is one our state’s greatest economic assets and that we need to do all we can to ensure that our students represent the best trained and most highly qualified workforce possible."
• Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) stated, "It will provide students with job skills for the modern workforce, improve their safety and security in schoolrooms, and protect their health and well-being by ensuring clean water."

Opposition

Organizations

• Americans for Prosperity – New Jersey
• Americans for Tax Reform

Arguments

• Erica Jedynak, director of Americans for Prosperity – New Jersey, said, "Dangerously high property taxes are the #1 issue facing New Jersey now and we cannot afford $500M in new debt. Americans for Prosperity is a strong proponent of giving every student in New Jersey access to a high-quality education while at the same time promoting accountability and transparency. We believe that the shortest path to achieving these goals is to introduce innovation into the education system, and re-aligning existing resources to reflect new priorities, rather than solely issuing more debt. Unfortunately, the ballot question falls short of providing much needed innovation or fiscal prudence to a system that desperately needs both. Instead, devoid of fiscal planning, this measure intends to ask voters to add debt, which will lead to higher taxes. We are asking all New Jersey voters to Vote No."

Campaign finance

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

See also: Campaign finance requirements for New Jersey ballot measures

No ballot question committees registered to support or oppose the bond measure.

Background

Bond issues on the ballot in New Jersey

See also: Bond issues on the ballot

Voters of New Jersey cast ballots on five bond issues, totaling $1.925 billion in value, from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2017. All but one bond issue, a $450 million bond to fund stem cell research at state universities, was approved. This means that voters passed $1.475 billion in bond measures from 2007 through 2017.

The following table contains information on the five bond issues that appeared on the ballot in New Jersey from 2007 through 2017:

Year	Measure	Amount	Primary purpose	Outcome
2007	Question 2	$450 million	Stem cell research	d
2007	Question 3	$200 million	Open space, farmland, and historic areas	a
2009	Question 1	$400 million	Open space, farmland, and historic areas	a
2012	Question 1	$750 million	State colleges	a
2017	Question 1	$125 million	Public libraries	a

Path to the ballot

See also: Legislatively-referred state statute

In New Jersey, a bond measure needs a simple majority vote of each chamber of the New Jersey State Legislature to be placed on the ballot.

First passage in the state legislature

The bond measure was introduced into the state legislature as Senate Bill 2293 (S2293) on March 13, 2018. The bill was designed to issue $1 billion in bonds, rather than $500 million.

On April 12, 2018, the New Jersey State Senate approved S2293. The bill then went to the Assembly Education Committee, which amended S2293 to include funds for school water infrastructure. On June 21, 2018, the New Jersey General Assembly voted 76 to 0, with three members not voting, to approve the amended S2293. As the legislation was amended, a concurrence vote was needed in the state Senate. On July 1, 2018, the state Senate voted to pass the amended S2293 in a vote of 37 to 1 with two members not voting.

Vote in the New Jersey General Assembly June 21, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority of those voting in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 39  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	76	0	3
Total percent	100.00%	0.00%	N/A
Democrat	51	0	2
Republican	25	0	1

Vote in the New Jersey State Senate July 1, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority of those voting in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 19  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	37	1	2
Total percent	97.37%	2.63%	N/A
Democrat	23	0	2
Republican	14	1	0

Governor's conditional veto of legislation

On August 23, 2018, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) issued a conditional veto on Senate Bill 2293, saying, "While I certainly endorse the priorities established in this bill, I also believe that their long-term fiscal implications must be carefully considered." Gov. Murphy recommended revisions to S2293, including cutting the bond measure from $1 billion to $500 million.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) said the governor had time to communicate his proposed changes but waited until the last minute. Sen. Sweeney said, "I'm not overjoyed with this. Even though the governor reduced the amount, we felt we were right but we need to move forward." Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-25) criticized the governor's conditional veto. He said, "Governor Murphy's massive cut to the school security funding in the original version of our bipartisan legislation is a total lapse in judgment."

Second passage in the state legislature

On August 27, 2018, the New Jersey State Legislature voted on a revised Senate Bill 2293, which was designed to issue $500 million in bonds. The state Senate passed the bill in a vote of 31 to 0. The state House passed S2293 in a vote of 65 to 0. Gov. Murphy signed S2293 on August 27, certifying the measure to appear on the ballot for the election on November 6, 2018.

Vote in the New Jersey State Senate August 27, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority of those voting in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 16  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	31	0	9
Total percent	100.00%	0.00%	N/A
Democrat	20	0	5
Republican	11	0	4

Vote in the New Jersey General Assembly August 27, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority of those voting in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 33  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	65	0	15
Total percent	100.00%	0.00%	N/A
Democrat	44	0	10
Republican	21	0	5

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in New Jersey

Poll times

In New Jersey, all polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration requirements

Check your voter registration status here.

To register to vote in New Jersey, each applicant must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the county in which they are registering for at least 30 days prior to the election. Seventeen-year-olds may register to vote, although they may not vote until they have turned 18. Individuals serving a felony sentence or on probation or parole because of a felony may not register to vote. The voter registration deadline is 21 days before the next election. Registration applications can be downloaded from the state website and mailed to the county commissioner of registration or superintendent of elections. Registration applications are also available at various county offices and state agencies, such as the Division of Elections and Division of Motor Vehicle offices.

Automatic registration

New Jersey enacted automatic voter registration in 2018.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

New Jersey has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

New Jersey does not allow same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

In order to register to vote in New Jersey, applicants must be a resident of the county in which they are registering for at least 30 days prior to the election.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

New Jersey does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a false or fraudulent registration may result in a "fine of up to $15,000, imprisonment up to 5 years, or both pursuant to R.S. 19:34-1."

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The New Jersey Secretary of State’s Office allows residents to check their voter registration status online by visiting this website.

See also

2018 measures

• 2018 ballot measures
• Bond issues on the ballot
• Education on the ballot

New Jersey

• New Jersey ballot measures
• New Jersey ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Senate Bill 2293