Nevertheless, critics of the commission argue that it is outdated because mafia control over the docks in the region ended long ago. Those critics include the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents most of the workers in the ports, and the New York Shipping Association, whose members operate the terminals where huge cargo ships are unloaded.
Sympathetic to the complaints, Chris Christie, Mr. Murphy’s Republican predecessor, signed legislation intended to dissolve the committee in one of his last acts as governor. After mr. Murphy took office, the committee took him to federal court, arguing that New Jersey could not unilaterally rescind an agreement between the two states that Congress had blessed.
The agency won that legal round, but lost when New Jersey appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. At that time, the committee itself asked the Supreme Court to consider the matter, which it refused last year.
It was then that Mr. Murphy informed the commission that the state would withdraw its commissioner on March 28 of this year. The shipping association, which pays fees that make up most of the agency’s budget, said it would stop doing so at the same time.
But New York officials have strongly resisted attempts to dissolve the commission, and the rare move they took on Monday showed how strong their objections are. The last high-profile confusion between the two states was 30 years ago when New Jersey sued New York over ownership of Ellis Island near the Statue of Liberty.
In a statement, Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat like Mr. Murphy and Ms. James, the Attorney General, said New York “cannot afford to lose the waterfront commission’s unique authority and expertise on crime-fighting.”
Terminating the agency, she added, “would cause immediate and irreparable harm to New York State, from increased crime to higher prices to labor inequality.”