EDISON – Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney has been named “Legislator of the Year” by the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association (PBA). The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at The Pines Manor in Edison.
“I am honored to have been chosen to receive this award, from an organization whose members dedicate their time, talent and lives to ensuring the safety of the people of New Jersey,” said Senator Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem. “The men and women of the New Jersey State PBA pride themselves in ‘helping those who help others,’ and they deserve our respect and thanks for all they do to help keep the people of this state safe.”
The ceremony will take place during the PBA’s Annual Valor Awards Banquet. According to NJ PBA Executive Vice President Keith Dunn, this year’s awards ceremony will mark the seventh year that this award has been presented to a member of the Legislature.
During his tenure in the Legislature, Majority Leader Sweeney has sponsored a number of bills aimed at protecting the rights of New Jersey’s law enforcement officers and their families.
One measure, S-668, would amend current law to allow spouses of police officers and firefighters who choose to remarry to continue to receive the weekly workers’ compensation benefits to which they are entitled. Under current law, spouses who remarry receive a lump sum payment of roughly the amount of what they would receive in benefits over two years. This measure is currently awaiting approval by the full Senate.
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