New Jersey Senate Preview – Education, Pensions, and PILOTs this Week

This week, six NJ Senate committees will tackle bills that cover education, redevelopment, pensions and more.  All of these have the potential for significant impact if they move forward.

Hearings start Monday (11/10) through Thursday (11/13).

Here are some of the highlights…

S3915 | PILOT Revenue Sharing with Schools
Community and Urban Affairs
Monday, November 10, 2025 @ 10:00 a.m.

This is something we’ve been pushing for and needs to happen.

The bill would require municipalities to share PILOT revenue with their school districts. For residential projects, towns would give districts an amount based on the number of (public school) students living in the property multiplied by the state’s per-pupil funding amount. Nonresidential/mixed-use projects would give 5% of annual service charges or an in-kind equivalent.

It would also require local governments to send redevelopment applications to the county, school districts, and the Division of Local Government Services. Financial agreements and audits would have to be publicly posted.

This would finally align PILOT revenue with education costs and improve public access to redevelopment information.

S3713 / A3323 | Teachers’ Pension Credit for Extracurricular Pay
Budget and Appropriations Thursday, November 13, 2025 @ 1:00 p.m.

This bill would include extracurricular stipends (coaching, club supervision etc) in pensionable compensation.

With a pension system already buckling and teacher contracts light on accountability across districts, it’s hard to see how a change that increases long-term costs for local districts is even getting a look.

S2292 | Registration and Insurance for E-Bikes and Scooters
Transportation
Monday, November 10, 2025 @ 11:00 a.m.

The bill would require registration and insurance for electric bicycles and scooters. The MVC (or what everyone still calls it- the DMV) would issue certificates and collect an $8 annual registration fee. It would also require owners to carry liability and personal injury coverage.

This could discourage use among lower-income riders and create major enforcement challenges since most devices lack serial or VIN numbers. It also doesn’t acknowledge that many NJ communities have had motorized bikes as part of their culture for generations – and residents in those areas already know how to handle them.

More common sense needs to make its way into this bill.

S4713 | Charter School Accountability and Transparency Act
Education
Monday, November 10, 2025 @ 10:00 a.m.

Under this bill, Boards for Charter Schools would be required to hold open meetings. Charters would also be required to publish financials online and prohibit for-profit management contracts. Non-profit Charters would have to follow the same disclosure and ethics laws as public school districts.

This is a strong move and one that makes sense.

S4502 | Telecommunications Fee for Behavioral Health Crisis Response
Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens
Thursday, November 13, 2025 @ 1:00 p.m.

This bill would hit every mobile or internet based phone line in the state with a monthly fee. Revenue would (supposedly) support the 988 crisis line (call centers, mobile crisis teams and public awareness campaigns). The number being talked about is 40 cents/month.

Yeah, we’ve seen this before. The question is whether the revenue will really stay dedicated to behavioral health this time.

Legislative Calendar

Copy of Bills Discussed

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