State-Level Institutional Capacity Assessment
NJ · Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) · diversified services
Population
9.3M
GSP
$770B
Total Budget
$56B
Budget / capita
$6,022
Legal Regime
Home Rule
Binding Constraint
Strategic Execution · Primary constraint
Sustaining the New Jersey Innovation Authority (codified as state law January 5 2026 — the first state innovation office enshrined in statute) through the Sherrill administration's first term while addressing the 53% pension funded ratio. NJ has the rare combination of state-level codified innovation infrastructure + Recoding America Fund initial cohort engagement + 7 innovation markers (highest in this batch) — but the pension underfunding represents structural fiscal drag that will eventually force trade-offs against the innovation platform. The Cluster A work is converting NJIA codification into measurable cross-agency practice while protecting it from the fiscal pressure.
6-Dimension Assessment
New Jersey operates within the gravitational fields of two of the country's largest metros (NYC + Philadelphia). North Jersey is essentially a New York commuter economy + pharmaceutical corridor (Merck, BMS, J&J HQ); South Jersey is Philadelphia-adjacent (Subaru USA, Comcast, port logistics). The state's relatively low federal-grants share (22.4%) reflects its strong income-tax base. The 53% pension funded ratio is structural fiscal drag. The Sherrill administration (Jan 2026, D succeeds Murphy) inherits the NJ Office of Innovation now codified as the NJ Innovation Authority — first state innovation office enshrined in statute (Jan 5 2026).
Peer States
Massachusetts
Systematizationdiversified services
Connecticut
Strategic Executiondiversified services
Maryland
Strategic Executiondiversified services
Peer states share structural profile (cluster, scale, archetype). Peer match is intra-level — states match states.
Innovation Pathway Recommendations
Building state-level institutional infrastructure for data-driven decision-making across major budget line items and policy decisions. Draws on the Results for America State Standard of Excellence framework, the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, and the state-government adaptations of the J-PAL / Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab evaluation methodology applied through state-level offices (Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact, MN Performance Management, NC Office of Strategic Partnerships).
For Cluster A (Strategic Execution)
For Cluster A states, the work is institutionalizing R4A Platinum-level practices and contributing to the national evidence base. Conduct rigorous evaluations, publish findings, and build the Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact / Minnesota Performance Management model as the agency-spanning function rather than a single office.
H1 absorption pattern: state Office of Evidence and Impact stands up but produces reports no one reads; performance metrics defined by departments themselves, optimizing for legibility rather than impact. Or, R4A certification achieved but practices don't outlive the certification cycle — evaluation office staffed but not influential on actual budget decisions. The H2+ test is whether evidence actually changes the marginal-dollar allocation between programs from one budget cycle to the next.
Establishing and resourcing a state-level digital service team (NJ OOI, CA ODI, GA Technology Authority, MN IT Services, UT OOI, FL Digital Service) to modernize benefits delivery, citizen-facing portals, and inter-agency data exchange. Draws on the USDS / Code for America playbook applied at state scale, the Beeck Center's Digital Government Network (formerly Digital Service Network, merged early 2026), and Bloomberg's What Works Cities adaptation.
For Cluster A (Strategic Execution)
For Cluster A states, build statewide identity infrastructure (single sign-on across agencies), API-first benefits architecture, and proactive notification systems. Lead nationally on inter-agency data sharing standards.
H1 absorption pattern: 'state digital transformation' becomes a multi-year ERP procurement that ports paper processes to PDFs without changing the underlying service experience. Healthcare.gov pre-rescue is the canonical case at federal level; CMS-funded MITA Medicaid IT projects are the state equivalent. The H2+ test is whether the state is building durable internal digital service capacity or just procuring vendor-led platforms.
Restructuring how state government hires, classifies, pays, retains, and advances its workforce. Draws on the federal CHCO Council reform agenda, Recoding America Fund priorities, Beeck Center research on state digital service workforce, and the 30+ states (Maryland, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, others) that have removed degree requirements for state jobs.
For Cluster A (Strategic Execution)
For Cluster A states, set the national pace — eliminate degree requirements, build skills-based hiring infrastructure, raise pay to private-sector parity for technical roles, and create career mobility frameworks between agencies and digital service teams.
H1 absorption pattern: civil service 'modernization' becomes a fellowship program that brings in technologists for 2 years, then loses them all to private sector and reverts. The H2+ test is whether the underlying classifications, pay schedules, and protections have actually changed for the permanent workforce — not just a graft-on accelerator that the agency culture rejects when grant funding ends.
State Community Context
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This is a living diagnostic. Spot something wrong or out of date? Suggest a sourced edit, or add context for other public innovators. Contributions are reviewed before they go live — sourced corrections are applied to the underlying data, improving it over time.
Data as of Compiled May 2026; USAFacts FY2023; Recoding America Fund Oct 2025 · high confidence
Sources · Data as of Compiled May 2026; USAFacts FY2023; Recoding America Fund Oct 2025 · high confidence
The Civic Infrastructure Diagnostic Framework’s structural elements — the four cluster labels, the six capacity dimensions, and the binding-constraint framing — are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may use or adapt them with attribution. Tool implementation and full article text © 2026 JTV Advisory LLC.