The Jaffe Briefing - March 30, 2022
TRENTON – Senate President Nick Scutari – arguably the father of legal weed in New Jersey – is fed up with all the delays to get recreational marijuana in the hands of all of us. The Cannabis Regulatory Commission is chugging along with all its policies and procedures, ensuring there is enough product for both medicinal users and recreational customers before it allows retail operators to light up. Scutari is now calling for hearings to get some answers about all the delays, as well as the high cost of medical marijuana. “These delays are totally unacceptable,” Scutari says, hoping the Assembly will join him in some joint legislative hearings. (Notice our clever use of the word “joint.” Very proud of that one.) And there is still this big question: If weed will be legal, why can’t we also be allowed to grow at home? We’re tired of tomatoes.
STATEWIDE – Come to work… please? There’s a job in New Jersey for anyone, as the “Help Wanted” numbers are reaching unprecedented levels. Our yearning forefathers were right, pointing to this far-off land and telling their children to pack their bags for America, where good work is available for anyone, and the potential is boundless. This generation of Americans doesn’t seem as entranced by all that, however, as there were at least 11.3 million jobs unfilled last month, the AP reports. Meanwhile, 4.4 million Americans told their bosses last month to shove it, quitting in historically high rates. While that all seems fun and liberating, it has also helped prompt this crazy inflation, as employers must pay more to keep their workforce intact. Another alarming stat from last month: there’s now 1.8 job openings for every unemployed person, in this magical land paved with gold.
BRIEFING BREATHER
Cows moo with regional accents.
IRVINGTON – OPRA can be an amazing thing. And, no, we are not talking about a talk show host. There’s such a thing as the “Open Public Records Act” (OPRA), in which the public can ask for public documents, reports, emails and whatever else from local government. It is designed to create more transparency; the media commonly files OPRA requests as part of their job. But, NJ.com reports, people are taking things a wee bit too far, sapping up the resources of the municipal workforce who has to then chase down all the requested information and ensure it is, indeed, “public.” And that is why Irvington is suing an elderly woman who has filed more than 75 OPRA requests within three years, calling her “voluminous” and “frivolous” requests burdensome, time consuming and expensive. Ok; she seems like a pest. But this all creates an interesting precedent. If residents are worried about getting sued, would it deter them from requesting information for which they are entitled? The OPRA law needs some tinkering, if possible, to strike a better balance.
STATEWIDE – With plenty of pandemic fatigue and infection numbers continuing to drop, can the feds rally everyone to get another booster? We will soon find out, as “older adults” – those 50 or over – can now get this second immunity boost, just as long as it is four months after the first booster. Probably the most shocking part of this story – at least for people of a certain age – is that Gen X is now being considered “older adults” by the Food and Drug Administration. Remember, U2 is still awesome.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
CHARLESTON, S.C. – A print advertisement seeking experienced business executives willing to relocate to Charleston appeared in a recent issue of NJBIZ. Not since flappers crowded the dance floors to do The Charleston has this coastal town raised so many eyebrows in the Garden State. The ad, featuring sunset vistas and high-rise office buildings overlooking placid waters, asks experienced New Jersey business leaders if they’re ready to help growing companies scale up “in a world-class community with a desirable climate, culture, cost of living and more?” Why would a network of business and governmental leaders known as the Charleston Regional Development Alliance go to such great lengths to portray Charleston as paradisiacal for New Jerseyans? You guessed it - a labor shortage. WIS News 10 reported this week that more than half of South Carolinians who are old enough and eligible to work are not employed. Maybe they’re all out, dancing?
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1992 that someone backs into an often shirtless Jose Canseco’s $225,000 Lamborghini. The entire civilized world laughs.
WORD OF THE DAY
Jornada – [hawr-nah-duh] – noun
Definition: A full day's travel across a desert without a stop for taking on water.
Example: Sometimes, the snail-like traffic to the Jersey Shore feels like a jornada.
WIT OF THE DAY
“The effort to pass anti-lynching legislation has spanned more than a century. After 200 failed attempts, Congress is now finally prepared to reckon with America’s history of racialized violence.”
- Cory Booker
BIDEN BLURB
“Living up to our founding principles as a nation means coming to terms with the sins of our past. Today, we take another step toward that more perfect union. I’m signing the long overdue Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law.”
- Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Warming