The 12-member Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee pulled off its first-ever remote hearing on Thursday, appearing via Zoom to pass 10 coronavirus relief-related bills and one resolution.

The measures included rental and mortgage assistance, extended deadlines for permits to help jump-start the frozen construction industry, and protections for consumers facing mounting personal debt from the pandemic's grip.

Thursday's remote hearing was symbolic in more ways than one. It signified the Legislature's attempt to spur activity in Trenton amid the COVID-19 outbreak that has closed off the Statehouse to appearances by public advocacy and business groups. The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee met earlier in the day to review several COVID-19 bills via Zoom.

"We have our work cut out for us," said Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, who alluded to his committee's task to make the revised Oct. 1 deadline—instead of the traditional July 1 date—to  have a balanced state budget in place.

The Legislature won three additional months thanks to Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Steven Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, agreeing to the extended legislative calendar year because of forced cancellations of voting sessions and hearings for the second half of March, all of April, and into this month.

At the start of the 2:30 p.m. hearing, Sarlo gave a pep talk to his members—that reaching a budget was doable "despite the state's first historic revenue decline of epic portions" due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"This committee will be at the forefront in the coming weeks on how to pay for all these services and putting our economy back together," Sarlo said, who was shown on Zoom with the Assembly chambers in the background. The other committee members voted remotely.

Sarlo said he was optimistic that efforts underway to reopen the state would "jump-start the economy."

On Monday, Murphy announced that $1.28 billion earmarked to go toward the state surplus was being shifted to offset the pandemic's economic carnage. That's a big change from his budget address in late February, when he proposed a $40.9 billion spending plan amid then-record state employment and business investment.

Like several measures signed by Murphy since mid-March, when he shuttered most businesses through a series of executive orders to slow the respiratory disease's spread, Thursday's approved bills were about moving past the wreckage for homeowners, consumers, and laid-off workers, among others.

More than a million state residents have filed for unemployment benefits according to the Labor Department.

S-2350, which received a 12-0 vote by the committee—known as "the furlough bill"—would implement a New Jersey "Job-Sharing Furlough Program" that seeks to capitalize on key provisions of the federal CARES Act to maximize payments to furloughed employees while fully protecting their health and pension benefits during the pandemic.

Legislators have urged Murphy and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to launch the program immediately, before the extra $600-a-week federal unemployment payments end on July 31.

S-2387, which would temporarily change filing deadlines for most tax appeals to July 1 this year, and require county boards of taxation to make decisions on the appeals by Sept. 30 instead of June 30, was approved 12-0. Supporters say the adjustment was needed since deadlines to file appeals fall between April 1 and May 1 for most types of appeals and county tax boards.

The New Jersey Supreme Court issued an order on March 19 indefinitely extending all filing deadlines for 2020 tax year appeals to the New Jersey Tax Court and the county boards of taxation. Sarlo, who co-authored S-2387 with Sen. Joseph Cryan, D-Union, said the extension caused concern among both taxpayers and local officials. That many appeals may not be resolved until 2021, which, they feared, could create a backlog, delay refunds and negatively impact municipal budgets.

"This will provide taxpayers more time to file appeals and ensures that decisions will be rendered this year so that successful appellants can receive refunds this year," Sarlo explained in a statement after the vote. "This is a temporary move in response to the crisis we are all experiencing."

S-2387 would take effect immediately upon enactment and apply retroactively to April 1.

Consumers are also on the radar of lawmakers.

S-2330/A-3908 would prohibit debt collectors from seizing any governmental financial assistance provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, prevent rating agencies from adversely affecting credit scores of persons impacted by the pandemic, ensure Medicaid covers the cost of COVID-19 treatment and allow more practitioners to perform testing, and permanently extend the length of time before legal action can be taken to collect any COVID-19-related medical debt. It passed the committee by a 10-0 vote with one abstention after clearing the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee earlier in the day.

Seven other bills and one resolution gained Senate Budget Committee approval:

• S-1055 would permit affordable residential rental units for qualified municipalities (8-2 vote with one abstention).

• S-2034 would establish the "Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program" with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency to help a homeowner reduce the remaining amount of money owed on a mortgage. The program would create a "short sale" back to existing homeowners in exchange for the state to secure a percentage of equity in their property (11-0 vote).

• S-2346 would extend certain permits, such as for the construction industry, during the COVID-19 emergency (10-0 vote with one abstention).

• S-2371 would establish the "New Jersey Hospitality Emergency Loan Program" within the state Economic Development Authority to provide no-interest loans to qualified tourism businesses, brewers, and other hospitality businesses using up to $100 million in funding (12-0 vote).

• S-2383 would have the commissioner of education establish a three-year "Bridge Year Pilot Program" for students graduating high school in 2021 and 2022 who were impacted by the public health emergency (12-0 vote).

• S-2388 would authorize certain forms of testing for COVID-19 (12-0 vote).

• S-2394 would require hospitals to permit at least one individual to accompany a pregnant woman throughout her labor (12-0 vote).

• SCR 103, a Senate concurrent resolution which recommends debt settlement efforts by companies to protect minority communities (12-0 vote).

Two other measures—S-2384, which would require health-care facilities to report data related to workers and first responders, and S-2392, to extend deadlines for meetings and acceptance of property tax payments by local governments—were held but could be taken up by the same committee on Tuesday afternoon.