News
Greenberg, Mayer Review DOE’s Nuclear Storage Collaboration
We examine the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s collaborative process to locate, build, and operate one or more federal consolidated interim storage facilities (FCISFs) for commercial U.S. spent nuclear fuel—instead of continuing to store the material at over 70 nuclear reactor sites.
NJ’s credit rating just improved again. Here’s why it matters
The rating upgrade announcement is “very reputational,” said Marc Pfeiffer, a senior policy fellow at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, who studies local government in New Jersey.
NJSPL Summer Intern Presentation Videos
Last week, the New Jersey State Policy Lab’s most recent cohort of summer interns presented on their respective areas of public policy research on August 6th, and the recordings of these presentations are now available.
Prof. Cantor Discusses Housing as a Public Health Issue
Homelessness nearly doubled in 2025 with the lifting of the COVID-era eviction moratorium. Cantor noted that New Jersey has focused additional resources to support residents, but needs federal help. He’s also concerned that President Donald Trump’s recent executive order punishing homelessness as a crime will make things worse.
Relocate or repair question creating post disaster cracks
“Our study reveals that residents and officials across all levels of government are concerned about the financial implications of coastal risk strategies – underscoring the need to clearly demonstrate the long-term economic benefits of alternatives like voluntary relocation and to bolster both household and local fiscal resilience to climate and political shocks.” said Geronimo
Cultural Factors Driving Severe Repetitive Flood Losses
A central debate was whether public resources should support staying or leaving the island. Key concerns included the economic impacts of strategies on household and public finances, the effectiveness of strategies to mitigate future flood damages, and fairness in the distribution of costs and responsibilities.
NJSPL Report: Supporting Aging in Place in New Jersey
Our key findings indicate that the model faces significant regulatory, labor market, and financial challenges. These challenges prevented the ALPs from growing in the past decade, resulting in many older low-income New Jerseyans remaining underserved.
Stamato Commentary: Who cares? A murderer roams free, courtesy of Trump’s deportation policy
The Trump administration is exporting people from America not because they committed a crime, although, admittedly, some have, but because he needs “the numbers” — so ICE aims, even, now, at courthouses, to grab those that are in the process of following the legal route to acceptance, a process that can take years, adding to their vulnerability, because the nation has too few immigration judges.
Edwards: Disability, Job Satisfaction, and Accommodations
A new paper co-authored by Renée Edwards, Ph.D., Assistant Director at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and Managing Director of the Employer Disability Practices Center, examines the extent to which job satisfaction, requests for accommodations, and the likelihood of a request being granted vary by disability status. We further analyze whether being granted workplace accommodations moderates the relationship between work satisfaction and disability.
New city chatbot makes information more accessible, mayor says
“For local governments, chatbots create exciting opportunities to improve customer service, automate tasks and cut costs,” according to Marc Pfeiffer. “Residents routinely need information on topics like garbage collection, parking permits, construction projects and event schedules. Chatbots can provide 24/7 automated self-service for these frequent citizen inquiries.”
New Report – State of the Climate: New Jersey 2024
New Jersey 2024 Summary of Climate Trends The year 2024 was the warmest on record globally and the second warmest year on record in New Jersey. This year represented a continuation of the long-term climate change trend in global temperatures that drives regional effects and hazards in New Jersey. As such, this report focuses on changes in temperature, sea-level rise, precipitation, and extreme events in New Jersey.
Dean Shapiro Comments on Trump’s Firing of BLS Official
“The Trump administration … has made no secret about its desire to get rid of people who are trained in their jobs if they are not loyal to the current president,” says Stuart Shapiro, dean of the public policy school at Rutgers University and author of “Trump and the Bureaucrats: The Fate of Neutral Competence.”