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New Jersey Senate
Type
Type	Upper House of New Jersey Legislature
Leadership
President of the Senate	Richard Codey, D
President Pro Tempore	Shirley Turner, D
Majority Leader	Stephen M. Sweeney, D
Minority Leader	Thomas Kean, Jr., R
Structure
Members	40
Political groups	Democratic Party (23 seats) Republican Party (17 seats)
Meeting place
New Jersey State House, Trenton, New Jersey
Website

The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the State Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947 Constitution changed the term to four years. Since 1968 it has consisted of 40 Senators, who are elected in a "2-4-4" cycle, representing districts with average populations of 210,359 (2000 figures). The "2-4-4" cycle was put into place so that Senate elections can reflect the changes made to the district boundaries on the basis of the decennial United States Census. (If the cycle were not put into place, then the boundaries would sometimes be four years out of date before being used for Senate elections. Rather, with the varied term, the boundaries are only two years out of date). Thus elections for Senate seats take place in years ending with a "1", "3" or "7" (i.e. next elections in 2011, 2013 and 2017).

Interim appointments are made to fill vacant legislative seats by the county committee or committees of the party of the vacating person (since a constitutional amendment passed on November 8, 1988). The office is on the ballot for the next general election (even if the other Senate seats are not up for election in that year, such as in years ending with a "5" or "9", such as 2009 or 2015), unless the vacancy occurred within 51 days of the election. Then the appointment stands until the following general election.

Contents 1 Senatorial courtesy 2 Acting governor 3 Composition 3.1 Leadership 3.2 List of New Jersey State Senators (by District) 4 Committee Chairs 5 List of past Senate Presidents 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Senatorial courtesy

Senatorial courtesy is a Senate tradition that allows home county legislators to intercede to prevent consideration of a local resident nominated by the Governor for a position that requires Senate confirmation.^[1] Any of the senators from the nominee's home county can invoke senatorial courtesy to block a nomination, temporarily or permanently, without any obligation to justify the basis of their actions.^[2]

Governor Corzine nominated Stuart Rabner on June 4, 2007, to be the next Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, replacing James R. Zazzali, who was nearing mandatory retirement age.^[3] Shortly after the nomination, two members of the Senate from Essex County, where Rabner resides, blocked consideration of his confirmation by invoking senatorial courtesy. State Senator Ronald Rice had initially blocked the nomination, but relented on June 15, 2007, after a meeting with the governor.^[4] Nia Gill dropped her block on June 19, 2007, but did not explain the nature of her concerns, though anonymous lawmakers cited in The New York Times indicated that the objection was due to Rabner's race and Governor Corzine's failure to consider a minority candidate for the post.^[1]

Also in June 2007, Loretta Weinberg used senatorial courtesy privileges to hold up consideration of a new term in office for Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.^[2]

[edit] Acting governor

In the event of a gubernatorial vacancy, the New Jersey Constitution had specified that the President of the Senate (followed by the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly) would assume the role of Acting Governor and retain their role in the Senate (or Assembly). An Acting Governor would then assume the governorship while retaining the reins of power in their house of the legislature.^{[citation needed]}

The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey will take office for the first time in January 2010, following conjoint election with the Governor of New Jersey. The position was created as the result of a Constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters on November 8, 2005. While the amendment itself took effect as of January 17, 2006, and made some interim changes to the succession to the governorship, the first lieutenant governor was not elected until November 3, 2009.

[edit] Composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Democratic	Republican		Vacant
End of previous legislature			40	0
Begin	23	17	40	0
Latest voting share	57.5%	42.5%

[edit] Leadership

The leadership for the 213th legislative session, which started on January 8, 2008, is as follows:

• President of the Senate: Richard Codey (District 27)
• President Pro Tempore: Shirley Turner (District 15)
• Majority Leader/Conference Chair: Stephen M. Sweeney (District 3)
• Minority Leader: Thomas Kean, Jr. (District 21)
• Deputy Majority Leaders: Paul Sarlo (District 36) and Joseph Vitale (District 19)
• Assistant Majority Leaders: John Girgenti (District 35) and Ronald Rice (District 28)
• Majority Whip: Sandra Bolden Cunningham (District 31)
• Chair, Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee: Barbara Buono (District 18)
• Minority Conference Leader: Robert Singer (District 30)
• Deputy Minority Leaders: Diane Allen (District 7) and Anthony Bucco (District 25)
• Minority Whip: Kevin J. O'Toole (District 40)
• Minority Budget Officer: Anthony Bucco (District 25)

[edit] List of New Jersey State Senators (by District)

• District 1: Jeff Van Drew (D)
• District 2: Jim Whelan (D)
• District 3: Stephen M. Sweeney (D)
• District 4: Fred H. Madden (D)
• District 5: Dana Redd (D)
• District 6: James Beach (D)
• District 7: Diane Allen (R)
• District 8: Phil Haines (R)
• District 9: Christopher J. Connors (R)
• District 10: Andrew R. Ciesla (R)
• District 11: Sean T. Kean (R)
• District 12: Jennifer Beck (R)
• District 13: Joseph M. Kyrillos (R)
• District 14: Bill Baroni (R)
• District 15: Shirley Turner (D)
• District 16: Christopher Bateman (R)
• District 17: Bob Smith (D)
• District 18: Barbara Buono (D)
• District 19: Joseph Vitale (D)
• District 20: Raymond Lesniak (D)
• District 21: Thomas Kean, Jr. (R)
• District 22: Nicholas Scutari (D)
• District 23: Marcia A. Karrow (R)
• District 24: Steve Oroho (R)
• District 25: Anthony Bucco (R)
• District 26: Joseph Pennacchio (R)
• District 27: Richard Codey (D)
• District 28: Ronald Rice (D)
• District 29: Teresa Ruiz (D)
• District 30: Robert Singer (R)
• District 31: Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D)
• District 32: Nicholas Sacco (D)
• District 33: Brian P. Stack (D)
• District 34: Nia Gill (D)
• District 35: John Girgenti (D)
• District 36: Paul Sarlo (D)
• District 37: Loretta Weinberg (D)
• District 38: Robert M. Gordon (D)
• District 39: Gerald Cardinale (R)
• District 40: Kevin J. O'Toole (R)

[edit] Committee Chairs

• Budget and Appropriations - Sen. Barbara Buono
• Commerce - Sen. Nia Gill
• Community and Urban Affairs - Sen. Ronald Rice
• Economic Growth - Sen. Raymond Lesniak
• Education - Sen. Shirley Turner
• Environment - Sen. Bob Smith
• Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens - Sen. Joseph Vitale
• Judiciary - Sen. Paul Sarlo
• Labor - Sen. Fred Madden
• Law and Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs - Sen. John Girganti
• Legislative Oversight - Sen. Paul Sarlo
• State Government - Sen. Nicholas Scutari
• Transportation - Sen. Nicholas Sacco
• Wagering, Tourism and Historic Presevation - Sen. Jim Whelan

[edit] List of past Senate Presidents

The following is a list of past Presidents of the New Jersey Senate since the adoption of the 1844 State Constitution:^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New Jersey Legislature Homepage
• New Jersey Senate Bill Search
• Project Vote Smart - State Senate of New Jersey
• Senate Democratic Office
• Senate Republican Office

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