The bitter battle between New Jersey and New York over congestion pricing is approaching a critical deadline as the year winds down.

Right now, the two sides are locked in negotiations over a lawsuit the Garden State filed to stop congestion pricing from going into effect on January 5th.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said this week her state has made generous offers to New Jersey to settle the suit.

But if New Jersey lawmakers hold out until that January 5th deadline, the whole plan could be put on hold and eventually killed by President elect Trump.

Raven Santana explains where the legal battle stands now.

It does not feel like it's in good faith at this time.

No, it does not.

And I feel for the resident of New Jersey.

The feud between New Jersey and New York over negotiations for congestion pricing have stalled with less than 20 days away until the plan was officially set to start.

During a press conference this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul didn't hold back when accusing Governor Murphy of acting in bad faith, saying he failed to accept a generous settlement deal to end the state's congestion pricing lawsuit.

Hochul continued to warn folks that Murphy's failure to come to the table would directly impact residents in our state.

If you're one of the 80% of New Jersey residents who get stuck on New Jersey Transit or waiting an hour to pass train or you want a nice new bus station, this is going to all be affected if congestion pricing doesn't go through.

The program was reintroduced with a lower total rate of $9 last month by Governor Hochul.

After a month long hiatus and legal challenges.

The plan ultimately aims to fund improvements for New York City's mass transit system by charging motorists a toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, in turn, reducing gridlock, traffic and improving air quality.

The toll is set to increase to $12 in 2028 and then $15 in 2031.

New Jersey filed a suit last year, arguing that federal officials allowed New York to move ahead with congestion pricing without fully addressing how the tolling program could shift traffic and pollution in the region.

And the question I would put back to Governor Murphy is, well, what would be sufficient for you?

Because if the answer is exempting all New Jersey drivers, that is a nonstarter.

New Jersey drivers are driving into Manhattan and they are bringing the emissions from their vehicles with them.

That is the problem.

Right?

And so how do we work in partnership to solve that core problem?

Tri-State Transportation Campaigns executive director Rene Reynolds says.

Governor Hopeful's multimillion dollar settlement offer is a once in a generation opportunity.

It makes no sense to me that now at the 11th hour, the governor is attempting to tank what I believe to be a climate forward initiative, a public health forward initiative, an initiative that is geared at moving people by increasing our mobility when in the most congested part of New York City, we're gridlocked.

And New Jersey has a huge portion of the responsibility for that gridlock.

We were very concerned about the potential for people's lives to be impacted from a from an emergency response standpoint, how to ambulances, how to police had a fire trucks get through this congestion.

Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco says there are issues that will severely affect New Jersey in a negative way, especially in Bergen County, where the most congestion is near the bridge.

This has been flawed from the beginning.

There was never really a real environmental review.

And and so while you talk about the environment and the air pollution and everything like that here in Bergen County, it's even going to be magnified greater because the folks are going to not go through the route, not go through the tunnels, come to the bridge to avoid going right into the congestion pricing zone.

And so we're going to get additional environmental impacts, but we're also going to get traffic.

You talk about congestion.

I mean, the the average weight on the George Washington Bridge now is 45 minutes to an hour during rush hour.

It will get even worse in Stockholm.

Childhood asthma rates dropped by 50% after they put this policy into effect.

A deaths by people being hit by cars will drop once this goes into effect.

Tom Wright is president and CEO of Regional Planning Association.

Wright says he doesn't just think he knows congestion pricing will benefit Jersey based on its history in other countries.

President elect Trump has said that when he gets into office, he will not allow it to move forward.

So really the answer is to get it started before he comes into office.

Still, the road to a January 5th start remains bumpy for Governor Hochul.

In addition to her efforts to settle a lawsuit brought by Governor Murphy.

Today, a judge scheduled the preliminary injunction hearing for form New York based lawsuits challenging congestion pricing.

Friendly Spotlight News.

I'm Raven Santana.