Though New Jersey's 2026 fiscal plan was signed into law on June 30, details on special line-item requests included in the state's new budget — commonly called pork spending — were not made public by the Legislature until late on Aug. 8.

Nearly 600 projects were funded in the new budget, and they run the gamut from programs to help Garden State residents afford their utility bills and student teacher stipends to aid for individual school districts and investments in municipal infrastructure.

The budget ballooned to $58.8 billion — an increase of about $727 million over the governor's proposal from earlier this year and $2.2 billion more than the fiscal year 2025 budget.

Revenue projections indicate that the state will earn about $57 billion in the new fiscal year, meaning the budget f

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