New Jersey Gov. (and presidential candidate) Chris Christie has pocket-vetoed nationally watched legislation to require the state’s nonprofit hospitals to pay a daily rate (in effect a tax) to support public safety and municipal services.

The rates would have been  $2.50 per bed per day and $250 per satellite emergency facility per day, with an annual  2 percent increase  for inflation.

The legislation came after Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center’s tax-exemption status was challenged, leading to a court ruling that  officially nonprofit hospital was largely operating as a for-profit entity. The hospital then agreed to pay a $15.5 million settlement over the next decade.