217th New Jersey Legislature explained

217th New Jersey Legislature
Body:	New Jersey Legislature
Country:	United States
State:	New Jersey
Term Start:	January 12, 2016
Term End:	January 9, 2018
Before:	216th Legislature
After:	218th Legislature
Chamber1:	New Jersey Senate
Membership1:	40
Control1:	Democratic Party
Chamber1 Leader1 Type:	President
Chamber1 Leader1:	Stephen M. Sweeney
Chamber1 Leader2 Type:	Minority Leader
Chamber1 Leader2:	Thomas Kean Jr.
Chamber2:	New Jersey General Assembly
Membership2:	80
Control2:	Democratic Party
Chamber2 Leader1 Type:	Speaker
Chamber2 Leader1:	Vincent Prieto
Chamber2 Leader2 Type:	Minority Leader
Chamber2 Leader2:	Jon Bramnick

The 217th New Jersey Legislature began on January 12, 2016 and ended on January 9, 2018, in the last two years of the Governorship of Chris Christie.

Background

The elections for the Assembly were held on November 3, 2015, while elections for the Senate, and Assembly were held on November 5, 2013 alongside the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election. In the 2015 Assembly elections Democrats gained four seats in the assembly giving them over 50 seats in the Assembly. The incumbents that lost re-election were Sam Fiocchi, Mary Pat Angelini, Caroline Casagrande, and Donna Simon.

Party composition

Assembly

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	52
	Republican Party	28
Total		80

Senate

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	24
	Republican Party	16
Total		40

Leadership

Senate

Position	Name	District
President of the Senate	Stephen M. Sweeney	District 3
Majority Leader	Loretta Weinberg	District 37
President pro tempore	Nia Gill Paul Sarlo	District 34 District 36
Assistant Majority Leaders	James Beach Linda R. Greenstein Teresa Ruiz	District 6 District 14 District 29
Majority Conference Leader	Robert M. Gordon	District 38
Majority Whip	Sandra Bolden Cunningham	District 31
Minority Leader	Thomas Kean, Jr.	District 21
Deputy Minority Leader	Diane Allen	District 7
Minority Conference Leader	Robert Singer	District 30
Deputy Minority Conference Leader	Jennifer Beck	District 11
Assistant Republican Leader	Joseph Pennacchio	District 26
Republican Budget Officer	Anthony Bucco	District 25

Assembly

Speaker: Vincent Prieto

Majority Leader: Louis Greenwald

Minority Leader: Jon Bramnick

Members

Senate

The Senate has 40 members, one for each district.^[1]

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served
			Dem		2008
			Dem		2017†
			Dem		2002
			Dem		2004
			Dem		2014†
			Dem		2009†
			Rep		1998
			Rep		2010†
			Rep		2008
			Rep		2012
			Rep		2008
			Rep		2012
			Rep		1992
			Dem		2010
			Dem		1998
			Rep		2008
			Dem		2002
			Dem		2016†
			Dem		1998
			Dem		1983
			Rep		2003†
			Dem		2004
			Rep		2009
			Rep		2008
			Rep		1998
			Rep		2008
			Dem		1982
			Dem		1986
			Dem	Newark	2008
			Rep		1993†
			Dem		2007†
			Dem		1994
			Dem		2008
			Dem		2002
			Dem		2012
			Dem		2003†
			Dem		2005†
			Dem		2008
			Rep		1982
			Rep		2017†

† First appointed to the seat

Former members from this term

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served	Term end	Cause
			Dem	Edison	2014	April 25, 2016	Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court^[2]
			Rep	Cedar Grove	2008^1	July 1, 2017	Appointed to the Board of Commissioners of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey^[3] ^[4]
			Dem	Atlantic City	2008	August 22, 2017	Death (heart attack)^[5]

¹ O'Toole had previously served in the Senate from 2001 to 2002

Committees and Committee Chairs, 2016-2017 Legislative Session

Committee chairs are: (All are Democrats)^[6]

Committee	Name
Budget and Appropriations	Paul Sarlo
Commerce	Nia Gill
Community and Urban Affairs	Jeff Van Drew
Economic Growth	Raymond Lesniak
Education	Teresa Ruiz
Environment and Energy	Bob Smith
Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens	Joseph Vitale
Higher Education	Sandra Bolden Cunningham
Judiciary	Nicholas Scutari
Labor	Fred H. Madden
Law and Public Safety	Linda R. Greenstein
Legislative Oversight	Robert M. Gordon
Military and Veterans' Affairs	James Beach
State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation	Jim Whelan
Transportation	Nicholas Sacco

Assembly

The Assembly has 80 members, two for each district.

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served
			Dem		2013^[7]
			Dem	Vineland	2016
			Rep	Ventnor City	2012
			Dem	Northfield	2014
			Dem	Paulsboro	2002
			Dem	Woolwich Township	2015
			Dem	Washington Township (Gloucester)	2006
			Dem	Gloucester Township	2012
			Dem		2016
			Dem		2015
			Dem	Voorhees Township	1996
			Dem	Cherry Hill	2006
			Dem	Delanco Township	1998
			Dem	Palmyra	2011
			Rep	Evesham Township	2016
			Rep	Evesham Township	2014
			Rep	Long Beach Township	2009
			Rep	Little Egg Harbor	2003
			Rep	Toms River	2012
			Rep	Brick Township	1992
			Dem	Freehold Township	2016
			Dem	Neptune Township	2016
			Rep	Matawan	2012
			Rep	Plumsted Township	2002
			Rep	Middletown Township	2006
			Rep	Little Silver	2008
			Dem	Hamilton Township (Mercer)	2011
			Dem	Hamilton Township	2008
			Dem	Trenton	1996
			Dem	Pennington	2015
			Rep	Hillsborough Township	2011
			Dem	South Brunswick	2016
			Dem	Franklin Township (Somerset)	2014
			Dem	New Brunswick	2002
			Dem	Edison	2016
			Dem	East Brunswick	2014
			Dem	Woodbridge Township	2010
			Dem	Sayreville	1996
			Dem		2015
			Dem	Elizabeth	2008
			Rep	Westfield	2003
			Rep	Summit	2009
			Dem	Plainfield	1992
			Dem	Rahway	2016
			Rep	Hackettstown	2009
			Rep	Franklin Township (Hunterdon)	2009
			Rep		2013
			Rep		2015
			Rep	Boonton Township	2010
			Rep	Morris Township	1996
			Rep	Parsippany-Troy Hills	2012
			Rep	Morris Plains	2008
			Dem	South Orange	2007
			Dem	West Orange	2002
			Dem	Bloomfield	2008^[8]
			Dem	Newark	2008
			Dem	Newark	2013
			Dem	Newark	2016
			Rep	Wall Township	2012^[9]
			Rep	Wall Township	2017
			Dem	Bayonne	2016
			Dem	Jersey City	2016
			Dem	West New York	2012
			Dem	Secaucus	2004
			Dem	Hoboken	2016
			Dem	Jersey City	2014
			Dem	Montclair	2006
			Dem	East Orange	2004
			Dem	Paterson	2012
			Dem	Paterson	2012
			Dem	Ridgefield	2012
			Dem	Passaic	2006
			Dem	Englewood	2006
			Dem	Englewood	2002
			Dem	Maywood	2012
			Dem	Paramus	2014
			Rep	River Vale	2012
			Rep	Old Tappan	2010
			Rep	Ridgewood	1990
			Rep	Wyckoff	2016

Former members from this term

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served	Left office	Cause
			Dem	South Plainfield	2002	May 9, 2016	Appointed to the District's Senate seat^[10]
			Dem	Newark	2008	June 30, 2016	Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court^[11]
			Rep	Wayne	2008	October 20, 2016	Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court^[12]
			Rep	Wall Township	2008	July 17, 2017	Appointed Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control^[13]

Vacancies

Senate

District	Original	Party	Period of vacancy	Appointee	Party of Appointee
18th	Peter J. Barnes III^[14]	Democratic Party	April 25, 2016 – May 9, 2016	Patrick J. Diegnan	Democratic Party
40th	Kevin J. O'Toole^[15]	Republican Party	July 1, 2017 – October 5, 2017	Kristin Corrado	Republican Party
2nd	Jim Whelan^[16]	Democratic Party	August 22, 2017 – October 5, 2017	Colin Bell	Democratic Party

Assembly

District	Original	Party	Period of vacancy	Appointee	Party of Appointee
18th	Patrick J. Diegnan^[17]	Democratic Party	May 9, 2016 – May 26, 2016	Robert Karabinchak	Democratic Party
29th	L. Grace Spencer^[18]	Democratic Party	June 30, 2016 – July 21, 2016	Blonnie R. Watson	Democratic Party
40th	Scott Rumana^[19]	Republican Party	October 20, 2016-???	Kevin J. Rooney	Republican Party
30th	Dave Rible^[20]	Republican Party	July 17, 2017 – August 24, 2017	Ned Thomson	Republican Party

See also

• List of New Jersey state legislatures

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20171108210959/http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/roster.asp
2. Johnson, Brent. "Meet the newest member of the N.J. Legislature", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 26, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2016. "Robert Karabinchak, a Democrat, was appointed to represent Middlesex County's 18th District in the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. He replaces Patrick Diegnan, a Democrat who recently moved across the Statehouse to replace Patrick Barnes III in the state Senate after Barnes was appointed as a state Superior Court judge in Middlesex County."
3. Web site: Johnson. Brent. Christie ally confirmed to join Port Authority board. NJ.com. October 5, 2017. March 14, 2017.
4. Web site: Cowen. Richard. Corrado tapped to replace O'Toole in state Senate. NorthJersey.com. October 5, 2017. July 26, 2017. Republicans in the 40th District on Wednesday selected Kristin Corrado to finish the unexpired Senate term of Kevin O'Toole, who resigned on July 1..
5. Web site: Jackson. Vincent. Huba. Nicholas. Sen. Jim Whelan suffered heart attack at Atlantic City home. The Press of Atlantic City. October 5, 2017. August 23, 2017.
6. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/committees/Committees.asp?House=S New Jersey Legislature Committees and Membership 2016-2017 Legislative Session
7. First appointed to the seat
8. Served in the Assembly as a Republican from 1968–1972
9. Served in the Assembly from 2002–2008
10. Johnson, Brent. "Meet the newest member of the N.J. Legislature", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 26, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2016. "Robert Karabinchak, a Democrat, was appointed to represent Middlesex County's 18th District in the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. He replaces Patrick Diegnan, a Democrat who recently moved across the Statehouse to replace Patrick Barnes III in the state Senate after Barnes was appointed as a state Superior Court judge in Middlesex County."
11. Johnson, Brent. "N.J. Assemblywoman becomes judge, leaves seat open", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 1, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2016. "Grace Spencer, who has represented New Jersey's largest city for eight years in the state Assembly, has been confirmed to become a state Superior Court judge in Essex County.... Gov. Chris Christie nominated Spencer (D-Essex) — whose legislative district includes Newark, the most populous municipality in the state — to the bench last month. She was confirmed by the state Senate on Thursday."
12. Ensslin, John C. "Assembly regulates ride-hailing services, votes on more than 100 bills", Asbury Park Press, October 20, 2016. Accessed December 12, 2016. "Assembly members also gave a standing ovation to Rumana, who took part in his final session as a legislator after learning that the Senate had confirmed his appointment to a judgeship. The former Wayne mayor, is following in the footsteps of his father, who also was a Superior Court judge in Passaic County."
13. Web site: Johnson. Brent. Christie appoints top Republican lawmaker to state post. NJ.com. August 24, 2017. July 18, 2017.
14. Johnson, Brent. "N.J. Senate confirms colleague to become state judge", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, April 25, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2019.
15. Web site: Cowen. Richard. Corrado tapped to replace O'Toole in state Senate. NorthJersey.com. March 20, 2019. July 26, 2017. Republicans in the 40th District on Wednesday selected Kristin Corrado to finish the unexpired Senate term of Kevin O'Toole, who resigned on July 1..
16. Web site: Jackson. Vincent. Huba. Nicholas. Sen. Jim Whelan suffered heart attack at Atlantic City home. The Press of Atlantic City. March 20, 2019. August 23, 2017.
17. Johnson, Brent. "Meet the newest member of the N.J. Legislature", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 26, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2019. "Robert Karabinchak, a Democrat, was appointed to represent Middlesex County's 18th District in the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. He replaces Patrick Diegnan, a Democrat who recently moved across the Statehouse to replace Patrick Barnes III in the state Senate after Barnes was appointed as a state Superior Court judge in Middlesex County."
18. Johnson, Brent. "N.J. Assemblywoman becomes judge, leaves seat open", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 1, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2019. "Grace Spencer, who has represented New Jersey's largest city for eight years in the state Assembly, has been confirmed to become a state Superior Court judge in Essex County.... Gov. Chris Christie nominated Spencer (D-Essex) — whose legislative district includes Newark, the most populous municipality in the state — to the bench last month. She was confirmed by the state Senate on Thursday."
19. Ensslin, John C. "Assembly regulates ride-hailing services, votes on more than 100 bills", Asbury Park Press, October 20, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2019. "Assembly members also gave a standing ovation to Rumana, who took part in his final session as a legislator after learning that the Senate had confirmed his appointment to a judgeship. The former Wayne mayor, is following in the footsteps of his father, who also was a Superior Court judge in Passaic County."
20. Web site: Johnson. Brent. Christie appoints top Republican lawmaker to state post. NJ.com. March 20, 2019. July 18, 2017.