Bye bye, Burlington

Good morning!

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro notched a big win for his state Thursday as he seeks reelection and eyes recognition on the national stage — though his win gave a political headache to our governor, Mikie Sherrill.

Shapiro announced that the former Burlington Coat Factory, which has called New Jersey home for half a century, is moving its corporate offices to Philly, with $30 million in help from Pennsylvania taxpayers.

Sherrill has already won ire from New Jersey Republicans and business groups because of our state’s last jobs report, which was dismal, so Burlington’s move across the Delaware gave them more ammunition as they decry New Jersey’s high-cost status. Christina M. Renna, president & CEO, Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, said the relocation should serve as a wake-up call for Trenton policymakers.

“New Jersey does not compete for jobs and investment in a vacuum. Our neighboring states are aggressively pursuing businesses with competitive tax structures, economic incentives and policies designed to attract investment and encourage growth. Pennsylvania’s willingness to make a significant investment to attract Burlington demonstrates just how intense that competition has become,” Renna said.

Sherrill’s office has argued that President Trump’s tariffs, not her economic policies, are helping drive costs up for companies and causing them to relocate.

Politics: There’s more fighting between Sherrill and the White House, this time over disaster relief. The feds denied New Jersey’s appeal for a disaster relief declaration for February’s blizzard, a declaration that would have earned the state ~$90M in federal aid. Sherrill said this is politics.  “Once again, Donald Trump is using the federal government to punish those he sees as his political enemies, and everyday New Jerseyans are paying the price,” she said. The White House said the feds shouldn’t be on the hook for a clean-up job New Jersey can pay for itself. “New Jersey has the fiscal and operational means to respond to this snowstorm, yet Governor Sherill wants taxpayers across America to pick up the bill,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

Prisons: Dana DiFilippo has a scoop out of state prisons today. The union representing state corrections officers wants changes to a 2019 law that limits solitary confinement, with the union saying the changes would help reduce inmates’ attacks on them. A key change would limit who is entirely barred from solitary; the 2019 says certain populations deemed vulnerable, including gay and mentally ill prisoners, can’t be held in isolation.

“The vulnerable tag means you can’t discipline the inmates, and it’s very easy to be put in the vulnerable category. All you have to do is say you’re LGBQT and you’re vulnerable. All you have to do is say you have a psych history, and they make you vulnerable. The main thing is changing it so that somebody can’t just self-identify as vulnerable to get out of sanctions for bad behavior,” said William Sullivan, who heads the officers’ union.

Health benefits: Some more dysfunction from the state panels that decide on the cost of public worker health benefits: The commission that decides rates for teachers and other school workers deadlocked again on setting 2027 rates. Teachers union officials say the proposed increase, 34.4%, is too high, and because there’s a seat vacant on the commission, the union has been able to prevent the rate from being approved. A separate commission that sets rates for other public workers approved a lower rate for them, 17.3% on average.

More on disaster relief: Alex Brown from Stateline has more on the nationwide fight over Trump’s, shall we say, particular policy when it comes to approving disaster aid for states. Data shows he’ll OK federal aid for disasters in Republican-led states more often than for states run by Dems. “When it comes to states’ expectations, we can’t know what this White House will do,” said Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a former Obama administration official. Well … we sorta do.