Legislators in New Jersey and New York are trying to enact protections for residential and small business tenants hurt by the COVID-19 crisis.

New Jersey lawmakers from both parties passed a bill Monday giving Governor Phil Murphy the power to suspend rent for small businesses for up to three months. The State Senate also passed a bill that sets aside $100 million for rental assistance for low- to middle-income households.

Murphy's office hasn't indicated whether he’ll sign any of these bills. But Beverly Brown Ruggia, an organizer with the advocacy group New Jersey Citizen Action, said the legislation was absolutely necessary. 

“I don’t think this bill is gonna drop," Brown Ruggia said. "There’s nobody in this state legislature, in the governor’s office, in the world of advocacy that doesn’t understand that renters in this state are under tremendous amounts of stress, tremendous amounts of duress.” 

Brown Ruggia has also pushed for another bill that goes even further. It codifies an executive order that Murphy issued last month — allowing a 90-day mortgage forbearance for landlords and an eviction moratorium for tenants. Murphy has said that any landlord who moves forward with eviction proceedings after the moratorium would be acting against the spirit of the order, but it’s still legal to do so.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake of East Orange. She said some of her constituents had already been threatened by their landlords. 

“This bill makes it so that if you are unable to pay, if you just reach out to your landlords and let them know that, that there has to be a rent suspension," Timberlake said. "So if there was a rent suspension then what is the reason for eviction if they’re covered during that time?"

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has also prohibited landlords from evicting tenants, but hasn't come up with a plan for how tenants will pay rent. Some activists and Democratic legislators are losing patience — with many calling for a rent strike and pause on evictions through December.

“I’m very frustrated because I’ve been talking about this for nearly a month now," said State Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens.

Gianaris has called for a 90-day rent suspension for tenants and small businesses. He says Cuomo needs to multi-task in order to deal with both a health and an economic crisis.

"There are millions of people in our state who are screaming loudly about the fact that they are in financial crisis and they are not receiving the kind of help that they need," he said.

A report released Wednesday by the Independent Budget Office predicted job growth wouldn't return to New York City until mid next year.