Murphy Farewell Speech Highlights a Jersey Legacy of Crime Decline, Tax Relief, and Film Boom

In his final State of the State, Gov. Phil Murphy touts a multi-term record of lower shootings, debt relief for nearly 800,000 residents, and credit upgrades, while boosting New Jersey’s film industry with new studios; he highlights expanded voting rights, clemencies, jail-prison reductions, a rising minimum wage and a millionaires tax, and a school cellphone ban with proposals to curb under-16 social media use, even as he faces ongoing investigations and notable controversies from the pandemic era and a traffic-enforcement slowdown inquiry.