Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, Middlesex and Somerset, addresses his colleagues on the floor of the State Senate.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, Middlesex and Somerset, addresses his colleagues on the floor of the State Senate.
Governor Codey Delivers Budget Message to Joint Session of Legislature
TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senate President and Acting Governor Richard J. Codey and Senator Ellen Karcher to create a statewide Office of the Environmental Prosecutor in order to pursue legal action against criminals who violate environmental laws in New Jersey was approved today by the Senate by a vote of 38-0.
“Our environment is a precious resource and New Jersey has to show a commitment to protecting it,” said Governor Codey. “An environmental prosecutor sends the message that we will pursue polluters in the Garden State wherever they turn up, and we will impose strict and appropriate penalties based on the severity of their crimes.”
TRENTON – The Senate will convene Monday to deal with multiple issues of increasing safety for New Jersey residents in a post 9-11 world.
Democratic Senators Nicholas P. Scutari, Fred Madden, Paul Sarlo, Barbara Buono and John Girgenti all will be advancing their bills to structure the responsibilities of government agencies – at all levels – to respond effectively during possible emergencies.
TRENTON – The full Senate and two of its committees are set to convene on Monday to consider several timely issues including a bill that would make the use of the Internet to lure an individual a third-degree crime.
Senators Paul Sarlo and John Adler introduced bill S-1429 after reports of a woman in Wood-Ridge being menaced by a stranger who parked his van near her home, leered at her, and frightened her into calling the police. The stranger had allegedly intended to commit a sexual assault against her after being enticed into coming to her home by a message he thought she had posted in an Internet chat room, but was, in fact, posted by an individual posing as the woman.
TRENTON – Senate President Richard J. Codey announced today that he plans to enact an Executive Order to expand a law he sponsored banning contingency fees paid to lobbyists to also apply to consultants and consulting firms seeking bond underwriting contracts from the State, as part of his broader effort to reduce the influence of money on government and regain the public trust.
“I see a real conflict in the fact that some of these third-party consultants are receiving enormous commissions, and in some cases a percentage based on the state contract itself, when the same consultants are also able to provide campaign contributions,” said Senator Codey. “Expanding the law I sponsored banning lobbyist contingency fees to third-party brokerage consultants will close this gaping loophole and further reduce the influence of money on government.”
TRENTON – Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Deputy Conference Leader William D. Payne today teamed with Essex County…
Americans are not strangers to gun violence. Many of us are confronted daily with television images depicting the harsh reality of gun violence on our local news programs. We are aware of the havoc wreaked by firearms upon individuals, families, and schools right here on American soil. And yet few of us stop to think about the many costs incurred by a community when handgun after handgun literally ends up in the wrong hands.
No community is immune from the perils posed by firearms. Gun violence stretches across all demographic groups in this country. However, urban communities are disproportionately affected by gun violence, and thus incur a sizable portion of the costs associated with this violence. These costs stretch across many parts of a community’s infrastructure, significantly burdening its health care, social service, and criminal justice systems, while greatly detracting from the economic productivity and overall quality of life of a community.
In a recent Washington Post article, conservative columnist Robert Novak asked America the question: “New Jersey, the Cloning State?” This question and the column that followed focused on a bill I sponsored to promote embryonic stem cell research in New Jersey–a bill which expressly prohibits and criminalizes human cloning. This bill was recently approved by the State Senate and now awaits approval in the Assembly. Despite its explicit ban on human cloning, misconceptions exist about this legislation in New Jersey and apparently in other parts of the country.
As much as I would like to credit New Jersey with taking the national lead on both advancing the field of embryonic stem cell research and banning human cloning, we are not the first to do either. California was the first state to pass legislation like the New Jersey stem cell bill, although the California bill did not contain a provision against human cloning. California passed a separate law specifically banning human cloning. In New Jersey, we can only take credit for being the first state to combine these two important issues into one piece of legislation.