NJ School Mask Mandate In Jeopardy As Deadline Looms

NEW JERSEY — Tuesday is when date that Gov. Phil Murphy's multitude of pandemic-related executive orders — the most controversial being his K-12 school mask mandate — will expire.

Last week, amid the highest numbers in the history of the pandemic, the governor asked the state Legislature to extend his emergency orders for another 90 days. However, by Monday, the day before the expiration date, Murphy failed to garner enough votes to continue his emergency powers, even from Democrats within his own party. What Trenton lawmakers were instead likely to pass was a 45-day extension of Murphy's emergency powers.

But then, in an added twist, outgoing Senate President Steve Sweeney — in his final 24 hours in office — failed to even bring up the 45-day bill for a vote.

"I was told Sweeney was angered by something Murphy said in his press conference Monday," said state Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, a Republican who frequently criticizes Murphy.

Murphy declined to answer directly when asked by a reporter Monday if he would declare a new COVID-19 state of emergency, which would give him unilateral power to issue executive orders.

"You're right, the orders expire at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday," Murphy told the reporter. "The (mask) mandate is going to have to stay in place for some time longer. We're working very cooperatively with the legislative leadership to make sure we have a good path forward."

Sweeney appears to disagree. According to Politico, the man who used to be the state's highest-ranking Democrat told reporters Monday he was not informed Murphy was going to keep the K-12 mask mandate in place.

“We were not informed of them taking this action today and we will not move these resolutions today,” Sweeney said. He also said Murphy's announcement, made "without informing us first," was "just disrespectful. We are an equal branch of government. I wasn't consulted. It's just aggravating."

Sweeney, who was defeated in the November election by a New Jersey trucker, previously said he will not agree to Murphy's request to extend his emergency powers, telling NJ.com on Friday about the coronavirus pandemic:

“It’s not going to go away. The people who are vaccinated are vaccinated. And those who aren’t won’t. At this point, we’ve got to learn how to move forward with this.”

At noon Tuesday, state Sen. Nick Scutari (D-Union/Middlesex and Somerset) will be sworn in as the new Senate president,. Murphy could either reach an agreement with him on the emergency power extension or declare a new state of emergency.

Related: Most NJ COVID Patients Admitted For Non-COVID Reasons, State Says

"We know he's [Sweeney] getting tired of the governor's open-ended executive orders," Scharfenberger said. "That's the way it played out. Someone in committee came up with this compromise bill, 45 days, not 90 days. But then we didn't even vote on that. We've been getting tired of him [Murphy] issuing one executive order after another. It's very frustrating to be cut out of the governmental process over the past two years."

What Murphy said at his Monday news conference was that mask mandates in New Jersey schools will continue for the foreseeable future. But how long that extension will last is up for debate.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state teachers union, said Monday it was "pleased" with the decision, calling it a "common sense move."

“Everyone is eager for the day that masks and other COVID safety measures are no longer necessary, and the best way to achieve that is for New Jersey to continue following all of the school safety measures currently recommended for schools, including masking, social distancing and vaccination for all who are eligible," said NJEA President Sean Spiller.

The K-12 mask mandate is among about 100 COVID-19 executive orders passed by Murphy, including a moratorium on evictions and twice-weekly mandated COVID-19 testing for teachers and healthcare workers who are not vaccinated.

Even fellow Democrats seemed stunned that Sweeney did not bring the 45-day extension up for a vote Monday.

"The original bill had 90, then 45 [days of emergency power]," said state Sen. Joe Vitale, a Democrat from Middlesex County and a Murphy supporter. "But we're not voting on it."

"He does not [have the support]," said state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican from Monmouth County who last week said he would not vote to extend Murphy's emergency power.

"Today, finally, there was a sign of life and backbone. While today doesn’t go far enough, it’s a sign that there is a growing will to push back," he continued. "[Murphy] declared mask mandates would continue for the foreseeable future, even though the Legislature had yet to vote on the bill authorizing the extension of any mandates. This is not the way to get things done when you are supposed to be dealing with another co-equal branch of government.”

Get great local news. Sign up for Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com.