217th New Jersey Legislature | |||||
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![]() New Jersey State House north panorama, 2012 | |||||
Overview | |||||
Legislative body | New Jersey Legislature | ||||
Jurisdiction | New Jersey, United States | ||||
Term | January 12, 2016 – January 9, 2018 | ||||
New Jersey Senate | |||||
Members | 40 | ||||
President | Stephen M. Sweeney | ||||
Minority Leader | Thomas Kean Jr. | ||||
Party control | Democratic Party | ||||
New Jersey General Assembly | |||||
Members | 80 | ||||
Speaker | Vincent Prieto | ||||
Minority Leader | Jon Bramnick | ||||
Party control | Democratic Party |
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.
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.
Affiliation | Members | |
---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 52 | |
Republican Party | 28 | |
Total | 80 |
Affiliation | Members | |
---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 24 | |
Republican Party | 16 | |
Total | 40 |
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 |
Speaker: Vincent Prieto
Majority Leader: Louis Greenwald
Minority Leader: Jon Bramnick
The Senate has 40 members, one for each district. [1]
† First appointed to the seat
District | Name | Party | Residence | First served | Term end | Cause |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18th | Peter J. Barnes III | Dem | Edison | 2014 | April 25, 2016 | Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court [2] |
40th | Kevin J. O'Toole | Rep | Cedar Grove | 20081 | July 1, 2017 | Appointed to the Board of Commissioners of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey [3] [4] |
2nd | Jim Whelan | Dem | Atlantic City | 2008 | August 22, 2017 | Death (heart attack) [5] |
1 O'Toole had previously served in the Senate from 2001 to 2002
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 |
The Assembly has 80 members, two for each district.
District | Name | Party | Residence | First served | Left office | Cause |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18th | Patrick J. Diegnan | Dem | South Plainfield | 2002 | May 9, 2016 | Appointed to the District's Senate seat [7] |
29th | L. Grace Spencer | Dem | Newark | 2008 | June 30, 2016 | Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court [8] |
40th | Scott Rumana | Rep | Wayne | 2008 | October 20, 2016 | Appointed as a judge to the New Jersey Superior Court [9] |
30th | Dave Rible | Rep | Wall Township | 2008 | July 17, 2017 | Appointed Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control [10] |
District | Original | Party | Period of vacancy | Appointee | Party of Appointee |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
18th | Peter J. Barnes III [11] | Democratic Party | April 25, 2016 – May 9, 2016 | Patrick J. Diegnan | Democratic Party |
40th | Kevin J. O'Toole [12] | Republican Party | July 1, 2017 – October 5, 2017 | Kristin Corrado | Republican Party |
2nd | Jim Whelan [13] | Democratic Party | August 22, 2017 – October 5, 2017 | Colin Bell | Democratic Party |
District | Original | Party | Period of vacancy | Appointee | Party of Appointee |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
18th | Patrick J. Diegnan [14] | Democratic Party | May 9, 2016 – May 26, 2016 | Robert Karabinchak | Democratic Party |
29th | L. Grace Spencer [15] | Democratic Party | June 30, 2016 – July 21, 2016 | Blonnie R. Watson | Democratic Party |
40th | Scott Rumana [16] | Republican Party | October 20, 2016-??? | Kevin J. Rooney | Republican Party |
30th | Dave Rible [17] | Republican Party | July 17, 2017 – August 24, 2017 | Ned Thomson | Republican Party |
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the validity of state laws under the state constitution. It has the sole authority to prescribe and amend court rules and regulate the practice of law, and it is the arbiter and overseer of the decennial legislative redistricting. One of its former members, William J. Brennan Jr., became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Nicholas Paul Scutari is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 115th president of the New Jersey Senate since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he has held a Senate seat since 2004, representing the 22nd legislative district. Scutari has served as Acting Governor of New Jersey on multiple occasions, the first time being in June 2022.
Kevin J. O'Toole is an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey Senate. O'Toole represented the 40th legislative district, which included parts of Bergen, Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties from 2008 to 2017.
Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who has represented the 18th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since 2016.
John Scott Wisniewski is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1996 to 2018, where he represented the 19th Legislative District. He was a Democratic candidate for Governor of New Jersey in the 2017 election, he lost in the primary election to Phil Murphy.
Scott T. Rumana is an Assyrian-American Republican Party politician, and was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 40th legislative district from January 8, 2008 until his resignation on October 20, 2016. On October 20, 2016, he was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate as a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court for Passaic County. He has also served as the mayor and as a councilman in Wayne and is a former member of the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Peter J. Barnes III was an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey Senate, where he represented the 18th Legislative District until 2016, when he was appointed New Jersey Superior Court judge. He previously served in the General Assembly from 2007 to 2014. Barnes previously served on the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the Appropriations Committee and the Environment and Solid Waste Committee.
William "Pat" Schuber is an American Republican Party politician who served as Mayor of Bogota, represented the 38th legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly and served 12 years as the Bergen County Executive
L. Grace Spencer is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly where she represented the 29th Legislative District from January 8, 2008, to June 30, 2016. Since July 2016, she serves as a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court.
New Jersey's 18th legislative district is one of 40 in the New Jersey Legislature. The district includes the Middlesex County municipalities of East Brunswick Township, Edison Township, Milltown, Highland Park Borough, Metuchen Borough, South Plainfield Borough and South River Borough.
J. Randall "Randy" Corman is an American Republican Party politician who served a single term in the New Jersey Senate, from 1992 to 1994, where he represented the 19th Legislative District, which covers portions of Middlesex County.
Christopher A. Brown is an American Republican Party politician who represented the 2nd Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate from January 9, 2018, to July 19, 2021, when he left office to accept a position with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from January 10, 2012, to January 9, 2018. He is a veteran of the Gulf War.
New Jersey's 40th legislative district is one of 40 districts that make up the map for the New Jersey Legislature. It covers the Bergen County municipalities of Franklin Lakes, Ridgewood, and Wyckoff; the Essex County municipalities of Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, North Caldwell, Verona, and West Caldwell; and the Passaic County municipalities of Little Falls, Hawthorne, Totowa, Wayne and Woodland Park.
Nancy J. Pinkin is an American Democratic Party politician, who has been the County Clerk of Middlesex County, New Jersey since 2021, before which she served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2014 to 2020 where she represented the 18th Legislative District.
Lee A. Solomon is a former justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He was nominated by Governor Chris Christie to serve on May 21, 2014 and confirmed by the New Jersey Senate and sworn in on June 19, 2014. He reached mandatory retirement age on August 17, 2024.
Robert J. Karabinchak is an American Democratic Party politician, who serves in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he has represented the 18th Legislative District since being appointed to office in May 2016.
The 2017 New Jersey State Senate elections were held on November 7, 2017, to elect Senators for all 40 legislative districts across New Jersey. These elections coincided with the election of Governor Phil Murphy. The winners of this election would serve in the 218th New Jersey Legislature, with seats apportioned based on the 2010 United States census. The Democratic Party grew its majority in the Senate, with incumbent Senate President Steve Sweeney re-elected to the top leadership post. Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. continued to lead his party as Minority Leader. This was the first state Senate election cycle in 10 years where any party flipped a Senate seat.
Christopher P. DePhillips is an American attorney and Republican Party politician who has represented the 40th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018. He replaced David C. Russo, who decided against running for re-election after 28 years in office. DePhillips had previously served as mayor of Wyckoff.
Edward H. Thomson III is an American Republican Party politician who represented the 30th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly from August 24, 2017 to January 9, 2024. He replaced Dave Rible, who left office to serve as Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Thomson had previously served as mayor of Wall Township. He has served since 2022 as the Minority Conference Leader in the General Assembly.
The 218th New Jersey Legislature began on January 9, 2018 following the 2017 Elections. The session started in the end of Chris Christie's governorship and continued in the first two years of Phil Murphy's governorship.
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.
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.