New Jersey Legislature re-organizes
The New Jersey Legislature re-organized on Tuesday January 11, 2022 and opened the new two-year legislative session, officially the 2220th Legislature.
Sixteen new Members were sworn into office along with returning incumbents. New Jersey has a 120-Member Legislature, a 40-Member Senate and 80-Member General Assembly. The new Legislature will continue to be controlled by Democrats, albeit with smaller majorities. The new Legislature will include the first Asian American women, first Muslims, and first Pacific-Islander. Both chambers will also have new leaders.
Nick Scutari (D-22) defeated Nia Gill (D-34) by a voice vote to become Senate President. Scutari succeeds Steve Sweeney who lost his reelection bid in November. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) was elected Senate Majority Leader, succeeding retired progressive leader Loretta Weinberg and becoming the first Latina to ever hold the post. Steve Oroho (R-24) was elected Senate Minority Leader, replacing Tom Kean, Jr. who retired from the Legislature to focus on November’s rematch with Congressman Tom Malinowski in the redrawn 7th Congressional District. Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-23) was elected as the lower chamber’s Minority Leader, succeeding Jon Bramnick who ascended to Kean’s Senate seat after serving ten years as Assembly Minority Leader. The new leaders join Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin who retains his leadership position and becomes the longest-serving Democratic Assembly Speaker.
Check out this brief profile of the newcomers to New Jersey’s Legislature, as reported by our friend and esteemed reporter for NJ Advance Media, Brent Johnson in Tuesday’s Star Ledger:
SADAF JAFFER, SHAMA HAIDER, and ELLEN PARK
The three newly elected Democratic Assembly members will be the first Asian American women to hold seats in the Legislature. Haider and Jaffer are also the first two Muslims to join the body.
Haider and Park won the race for two open Assembly seats representing Bergen County’s 37th District.
Jaffer won the Assembly seat in Central Jersey’s 16th District being vacated by Democratic Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, who is moving up to the Senate.
And this isn’t Jaffer’s first brush with history. In 2019, she became the first South Asian woman to become as a mayor in New Jersey and the first Muslim woman to become the mayor of a municipality in the U.S. when she was elected to lead Montgomery Township.
DON GUARDIAN
The former Atlantic City mayor, a Republican, will now represent the city and surrounding areas as one of two Assembly members from South Jersey’s 2nd District. Guardian will also become the first openly gay Republican elected to the Legislature and New Jersey’s first openly gay lawmaker in more than three years.
CLAIRE SWIFT
The Republican, a former deputy state attorney general, will be the other Assembly member representing South Jersey’s 2nd District. She and Guardian ousted incumbent Democrat John Armato and beat newcomer Caren Fitzpatrick, a county commissioner in Atlantic County.
ED DURR
The Republican — a little-known truck driver with no elected experience — pulled off a stunning victory that made national headlines, ousting Sweeney, the Democratic Senate president, from his seat in South Jersey’s 3rd District.
Now, Durr will bring much more conservative stances to the seat. He also has spurred controversy, when xenophobic and anti-Muslim social media messages surfaced after the election. Durr later apologized and deleted his social media accounts.
BETHANNE McCARTHY PATRICK
As Durr’s running mate, the Republican will be one of two new Assembly members representing South Jersey’s 3rd District.
BETH SAWYER
The Republican is the other Durr running mate who will represent the 3rd District in the Assembly. She and McCarthy Patrick unseated Democratic incumbents John Burzicheilli and Adam Taliaferro.
MICHAEL TORRISSI
The Republican, a former Hammonton councilman, is one of two new Assembly members representing South Jersey’s 8th District.
BRANDON UMBA
The Republican, a former Lumbertown Township administrator, will be the other new Assembly member in the 8th District. He and Torrissi won two open seats.
KIMBERLY EULNER
The Republican, a former Shrewsbury councilwoman, will be one of two new Assembly members representing the Shore’s 11th District.
MARILYN PIPERNO
The Republican will be the other new Assembly member representing the 11th District. She and Eulner ousted Democratic incumbents Joann Downey and Eric Houghtaling.
VICKI FLYNN
The Republican, a former Holmdel school board president, will hold one of two Assembly seats representing Monmouth County’s 13th District after ousting incumbent Serena DiMaso in the Republican primary.
MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
The Republican, a former New Providence councilwoman, will hold one of two Assembly seats representing North Jersey’s 21st District. She won the race for the seat being vacated by Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, a Republican who is moving up to the Senate.
CHRISTIAN BARRANCO
The Republican, a union official, will hold one of two Assembly seats representing North Jersey’s 26th District. He ousted incumbent BettyLou DeCroce in the Republican primary.
WILLIAM SAMPSON
The Democrat, a former crane operator and union leader, will represent Hudson County’s 31st District in the Assembly after the local party declined to support incumbent Nicholas Chiaravalloti for re-election.
Murphy delivers 2022 State of the State address
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy delivered his 2022 State of the State address yesterday afternoon in Trenton. The address was pre-recorded and streamed on the Governor’s official social media accounts; it was also broadcast on several local television stations.
The Governor opened his address by declaring a new public health emergency related to the Omicron variant. Murphy asserted that the step was vital to ensure a coordinated statewide response to the spiking number of cases that are stressing New Jersey’s healthcare infrastructure. The Governor took this action after the Legislature declined to act during Monday’s legislative session to extend Murphy’s emergency powers. The Governor was adamant that Omicron would not change the resiliency of New Jerseyans, stating “Try as it may to knock us back and further divide us, one thing is certain: Omicron has not knocked us down,” Murphy said. “In fact, despite all of the challenges, we continue to move New Jersey forward.”
Murphy then segued and used much of the remainder of the address to recap first term accomplishments, including:
- Economic recovery: Murphy highlighted that New Jersey has jumped 43 spots in economic growth among the states since he took office;
- Healthcare: Making healthcare more affordable and accessible by lowering health insurance rates and increasing enrollment statewide;
- Minimum wage: Increasing the minimum wage from $8.65/hour four years ago to $13.00/hour today and eventually $15.00/hour;
- Education: Investments in a public education system ranked tops in the nation, according to the Governor;
- Infrastructure: Reforms and improvements that have turned around NJ TRANSIT;
- Fiscal stewardship: Making full payments to the State’s pension system;
- Opioid crisis: Policies to address New Jersey’s battling opioid addition;
- Environment: Enactment of the strongest environmental justice law in the nation and leadership on clean energy.
Turning to the year ahead, Murphy stated that his immediate top priority is the state budget. The Governor is scheduled to formally present his FY2023 budget to a joint session of the Legislature next month. The Governor pledged that his budget would not include any tax increases. Murphy also pledged that the budget would focus on “broad based economic recovery that works for everyone, not just a lucky few.” Murphy promised that his budget would include property tax relief measures although he did not provide specifics. The address did not detail any 2022 policy initiatives although we expect to hear more specifics when the Governor presents his budget next month.
Murphy closed by extending an offer of bi-partisanship to Republicans in the Legislature and congratulating new legislative leaders in both chambers. Read the Governor’s full address here.
Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio offered the Republican response in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. DiMaio pledged that Republicans would work with the Governor where possible but also expressed frustration at the Governor’s decision to renew his emergency declaration unilaterally instead of working with the Legislature to enact a set of measures that might be more appropriate to the current Omicron variant.
The New Jersey Legislature begins the new legislative session in earnest in late January.