The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) is an independent agency of the government of New Jersey created by an act of the state legislature in 2007 in order to make government more efficient, accountable and transparent. [1] [2] [3] The state comptroller is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, with the advice and consent of the New Jersey Senate, to a renewable six-year term.
In 2010, the powers and responsibilities of the Office of the State Inspector General and the Medicaid Inspector General were incorporated under OSC.
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller is tasked with examining all aspects of government expenditures in New Jersey, including:
OSC has four divisions: Audit, Investigations, Medicaid Fraud, and Procurement, along with a COVID-19 Compliance and Oversight Project and a Police Accountability Project.
OSC’s audits have resulted in cost savings for the State of New Jersey and inspired legislative reforms. A 2010 audit found that nearly one in six state phone lines was unused, and cutting them off resulted in the State saving $3.2 million annually. [5] In 2016, an OSC audit found that public colleges and universities were relying heavily on high mandatory student fees without justifying their increases each year. [6] In response, the Legislature required public colleges to adopt OSC’s recommendations and make fee increases more transparent.
In 2019, an OSC audit of the Economic Development Authority (EDA) found insufficient oversight of businesses that received tax incentives, along with a lack of data to show whether incented jobs were actually created or retained as the tax incentive program required. [7] OSC’s statutorily-required follow-up review of the EDA is currently underway.
Notable investigations released by the Division include a 2012 report on the Delaware River Port Authority that found it wasted millions in toll payer money to the benefit its commissioners; [8] a 2014 investigation into the Newark Watershed Corporation that uncovered the executive director’s self-dealing and risky investment activity; [9] and a 2011 report that the state was spending millions every year on clothing allowances for white-collar workers who do not even wear uniforms. [10]
More recently, the Investigations Division identified a loophole in how the state administers workers’ compensation benefits that allowed insurance companies to pass costs onto the pension fund, exacerbating its underfunded status. [11] The Investigations Division also conducts regular reviews of the New Jersey State Police’s (NJSP) motor vehicle stop activities, internal affairs and disciplinary processes, and training as part of a statutorily-required effort to ensure the NJSP does not tolerate racial profiling or other discriminatory conduct by State Troopers. The most recent report [12] was issued in 2022.
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The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the official state police force of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction, designated by troop sectors.
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Christopher James Christie is an American politician and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he was the United States Attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008 and a Morris County commissioner from 1995 to 1997. He was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and 2024.
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The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) is an independent government entity in the U.S. state of New Jersey dedicated to broadening and expanding the state's economic base.
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Matthew Boxer was the New Jersey State Comptroller. Matthew Boxer was sworn in as New Jersey's first independent state comptroller on January 17, 2008 after the recreation of the office in 2007. He served in this position until the end of his term in December 2013.
Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a proposed commuter-rail project to increase passenger service capacity on New Jersey Transit (NJT) between Secaucus Junction in New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City. New infrastructure would have included new trackage, a new rail yard, and a tunnel under the Hudson River. A new station adjacent to New York Penn Station was to be constructed as running more trains into the current station was deemed unfeasible. An estimated budget for the project was $8.7 billion. Construction began in mid-2009 and the project was slated for completion in 2018, but it was cancelled in October 2010 by Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, who cited the possibility of cost overruns and the state's lack of funds. Six hundred million dollars had been spent on the project. The decision remains controversial.
Ralph Joseph Marra Jr. is an American lawyer who served as the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He held this position from the resignation of Chris Christie in December 2008 until the appointment of Paul J. Fishman in October 2009. In January 2010, after Christie became Governor of New Jersey, Marra was appointed to a top legal position in the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. After serving about a decade, he became senior counsel at Calcagni & Kanefsky, LLP in Newark, New Jersey.
Kimberly Ann Guadagno is an American lawyer and politician who served as the first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
Chris Christie took office as the 55th Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010, began his second term on January 21, 2014, and left office on January 16, 2018.
The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, better known as Bridgegate, was a political scandal in the U.S. state of New Jersey in 2013 and 2014. It involved a staff member and political appointees of then-governor Chris Christie colluding to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey by closing lanes at the main toll plaza for the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.
Charlie McKenna is the former Executive Director of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority and former Chief Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey.
Michele Brown is he President and CEO of Choose New Jersey, Inc. She became the CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) in 2012 and in 2015 became the head of Choose New Jersey, a private group which, similar to the EDA, seeks to enhance investment in the state.
Stronger than the Storm was an advertising campaign to promote tourism in New Jersey in 2013. It portrayed the state as being resilient and having recovered from the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which had caused severe damage in Autumn 2012. The media blitz included billboards, radio spots, and television commercials featuring the Jersey Shore and including appearances by the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, and his wife and children. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided funding for the promotional campaign. The awarding of the contract to marketing firm MWW and the propriety of Christie's use of the ads during a re-election campaign has drawn media and governmental scrutiny. In January 2014, HUD initiated an audit of the expenditure. The audit is one of two simultaneous federal inquiries begun in 2014 involving the Chris Christie administration use of federal funds provided by the Hurricane Sandy relief bill.
Marquis D. Jones Jr. served as a State of New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Ocean County, from 2008 to 2015. Jones was one of only two African Americans to serve on the Ocean County Superior Court bench at the time. Prior to being appointed judge, Jones was First Assistant Corporation Counsel/Acting Corporation Counsel, in Newark's Law Department, working under Cory A. Booker, then Mayor of Newark, from 2006 to 2008. Upon taking the bench as Superior Court Judge, Booker called Jones "inspirational."
Phil Murphy became the 56th Governor of New Jersey on January 16, 2018. He won re-election in 2021, becoming the first Democrat since Brendan Byrne in 1977 to do so. His first term, overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been characterized as establishing the already liberal-leaning state as one of the nation's most progressive.
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