Christie’s pension plan puts NJ Democrats in a bind as budget deadline looms (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — No one wants to be the politician who guts spending, raises taxes or reneges on a promise. But thanks to Gov. Chris Christie and a sluggish economic recovery in New Jersey, those are the choices facing Democratic leaders in the state Legislature…
Prieto says he and Christie have found ‘common ground’ on renewal of key property tax law (via NJ.com)
TRENTON ‐ After a two-and-a-half-month stalemate, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) and Gov. Chris Christie have reached “common ground” on renewing a crucial law that mayors say has taken a significant bite out of property tax growth…
A bill that criminalizes bestiality passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee yesterday by a 6-0 bipartisan vote.
Illustration by Megan Archer
Use, or cause or procure the use of, an animal or creature in any kind of sexual manner or initiate any kind of sexual contact with the animal or creature, including, but not limited to, sodomizing the animal or creature. As used in this paragraph, “sexual contact” means any contact between a person and an animal by penetration of the penis or a foreign object into the vagina or anus, contact between the mouth and genitalia, or by contact between the genitalia of one and the genitalia or anus of the other. This term does not include any medical procedure performed by a licensed veterinarian practicing veterinary medicine or an accepted animal husbandry practice.
Penalties for those convicted include fines up to $15,000 and imprisonment for as long as five years. Additionally, the bill directs the courts to impose Community Service for up to 30 day at a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or a municipality”s animal control program. Is that a good idea?
Posted: June 13th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: New Jersey, News, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Bestiality, Crime, NJ Legislature, Sex with animals | 6 Comments »
Approved NJ Senate bills call for agencies to buy American products (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — The New Jersey Senate today approved a package of bills that calls for state agencies and bi-state commissions, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to buy products made in America. If approved by the Assembly as well…
A crazy June: Things to look out for in Trenton this month (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — Hold onto your seats. It’s June in Trenton, and that’s always a bumpy ride. With the state budget due by month’s end, horse-trading is rampant as just about everything that was proposed all year long under the Statehouse dome is up…
Beck: “Hubris and Ego have no place in this recovery process. We have all made some mistakes. Now we need to fix them.”
Thomas P. Largey, 82, and Senate President Steve Sweeney talk in Largey’s gutted Sea Bright home prior to Sweeney’s press conference. May 30, 2014. Photo by Art Gallagher
Senate President Steve Sweeney held a politically charged press conference in a partially gutted Sea Bright home this morning, ostensibly to create political pressure on Republicans in the State Legislature to join Democrats in overriding Governor Chris Christie’s conditional veto of the Sandy Bill of Rights.
Sweeney’s comments sounded like a campaign rally against Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Senator Jennifer Beck and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, JR.
The “Sandy Bill of Rights” passed both houses of the State Legislature unanimously in March. Christie conditionally vetoed the bill earlier this month, making over 150 changes to it. Some of the changes were to bring the law into compliance with federal Housing and Urban Development regulations, others removed what Christie called “partisan language.” One of Christie changes removed the requirement on the State that applicants for RREM grants be able to access the status of their applications online.
Sweeney penned an OpEd published in The Asbury Park Press last week wherein he appealed to Republican legislators who had unanimously voted for his bill “to do something they have yet to do under this (Christie) administration, and that’s to put aside their partisanship and override the governor’s veto.”
O’Scanlon responded with an OpEd of his own, wherein he said, “after further analysis we found a number of critical flaws that the Governor wisely and reasonably addresses in his conditional veto.”
Posted: May 30th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, 2017 NJ Gubernatorial Politics, Chris Christie, Christie Administration, Declan O'Scanlon, Dina Long, Hurricane Sandy, LD 13, Legislature, NJ Senate Republicans, NJ State Legislature, Stephen Sweeney, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senator Jennifer Beck | 2 Comments »
Governor Christie: My parents decided to adopt because they wanted to add to our family, and it gave me the ability to have a sister in my life for now the last 39 years, and it’s important that we don’t diminish the joy felt by families experiencing adoption. I want them to have that opportunity and I also want the young woman who makes the decision to give up her child to be protected as well. So we’re bringing all that together today through the signing that we just experienced. We’re bringing forth the needed changes and the safeguards that will protect the privacy of the woman who offers her child for adoption if she so desires that privacy and ensures that we allow the child and his or her adoptive parents to have access to medical information and other information later on to help them care for their own health and the health of their family. As a result of the legislation that I just signed New Jersey is bringing a new open approach to adoption and birth records by removing the lengthy and burdensome requirement of obtaining a court order in order for adopted children and adoptive parents to access those birth records, and by preserving privacy options for birth parents by allowing them to select a preference for contact, either direct contact or contact through a confidential intermediary or access to medical records only with continued privacy. Now these changes achieve our intended goals of protecting and respecting the interests of all of the people involved in the adoption process while at the same time making sure that the miracle of adoption, the miracle that was experienced by my own family and is still being experienced by us today is available to as many people in New Jersey who have an open heart and a willingness to share their home and their lives with a new member of the family.
Posted: May 27th, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: Chris Christie, News, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Adoptee Birth Records Bill, Adoption, Birth Records, Sen Diane Allen, Sen Joseph Vitale | 1 Comment »
Beck’s veterans property tax benefits expansion gains traction in Senate (via NJ.com)
Legislation sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Beck that would make veterans living in retirement and long-term care communities eligible for a state veterans property tax deduction and a tax exemption intended for disabled veterans cleared its Senate committee…
Governor Chris Christie has called a press conference for 2:30 this afternoon to announce his new judicial nominations.
The Star Ledger reported this morning that the governor would re-nominate Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, giving Rabner tenure, and nominate Superior Court Judge Lee Solomon to the Supreme Court. In a deal struck with Senate President Sweeney, there a remaining vacancy on the Supreme Court would continue to be filled on a temporary basis by Rabner’s choice, Judge Mary Catherine Cuff.
Christie’s press conference can be viewed live here:
NJ pension payment could be delayed by Christie, risking downgrades (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — New Jersey may delay a payment to the state pension fund by several days to help plug an $807 million budget gap, the state treasurer said Thursday, a risky move that could touch off union lawsuits and downgrades by Wall Street credit-rating…
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