Assembly members at Wednesday’s Assembly Budget Committee hearing pressed the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health and other department officials for details about state support for University Hospital in Newark, the state’s principal safety‑net hospital.

Assembly members said the hospital faces critical capital and staffing pressures and sought explanations for changes in the proposed FY26 state budget. “We have grandmothers in the hall who are having to … use bedpans in the hall next to,” Assemblywoman Munoz said, describing the hospital’s crowded emergency department and arguing that capital investment is urgently needed.

What lawmakers asked: Committee members raised several, specific concerns:
- Capital funding for a master facility plan: Lawmakers said last year the state gave $45 million to begin a long‑term expansion plan for University Hospital but that no capital dollars were proposed in the FY26 executive budget for follow‑on projects. The commissioner told lawmakers that some capital decisions are handled by other agencies and suggested follow‑up with those agencies; a department staffer said the Department of State manages certain capital appropriations.
- Trauma grants: Lawmakers asked about roughly $113 million that they said had been allocated for two trauma centers (University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson) but not yet dispersed. The commissioner said the tranche in question flows through other departments and agencies and that the department would follow up.
- Resident pay, staffing and GME funding: Lawmakers said University Hospital residents are paid far less per hour than residents at other regional programs and noted resident workload and pension/benefits concerns. The commissioner noted that graduate medical education supplements are administered through the department and said GME funding in the department’s programs increased substantially over the Murphy administration; she encouraged lawmakers to direct questions about resident payroll and employer decisions to University Hospital and Rutgers, which operate training programs.

Department response and next steps: The commissioner said the department does provide substantial subsidies that flow to University Hospital through GME and charity‑care programs and that the department increased certain operating subsidies over the past seven years (the department cited $83.5 million in an earlier year supporting University Hospital and proposed $257.8 million in the proposed FY26 cycle through department channels). She said capital funding decisions for the hospital go through other agencies and pledged to provide committee members with program‑by‑program detail and to help connect them with the agencies that manage capital distributions.

Why it matters: University Hospital is the state’s principal public hospital and a major trauma and training center for Newark and surrounding communities. Lawmakers said constrained capital and tight staffing threaten care quality and training pipelines, while department officials said operating and subsidy programs that flow through the Department of Health have been increased but that capital decisions fall to other agencies.

Follow-up requested: Committee members asked the department to provide a written breakdown of what flows through the Department of Health, what is administered elsewhere, and the status of the trauma‑center funds and capital disbursements so lawmakers can evaluate the consequences for patient care and resident training.