218th New Jersey Legislature

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.

218th New Jersey Legislature
← 217th Legislature 219th Legislature →
New Jersey State House Northern Panorama, 2012
Overview
Legislative body	New Jersey Legislature
Jurisdiction	New Jersey, United States
Term	January 9, 2018 – January 14, 2020
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	Craig Coughlin
Minority Leader	Jon Bramnick
Party control	Democratic Party

Background

The elections were held on November 7, 2017 alongside the 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Phil Murphy and Sheila Oliver were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In the elections for Senate republicans lost a net gain of one seat^[1] while in the Assembly elections republicans lost a net gain of two.^[2] In the only state senate election of 2019 incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Andrzejczak lost re-election to Republican Mike Testa.^[3]

Party composition

Assembly

New Jersey General Assembly partisan breakdown

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	54
	Republican Party	26
Total		80

Senate

Partisan breakdown of the New Jersey Senate

Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	25
	Republican Party	15
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	Teresa Ruiz	District 29
Deputy Majority Leaders	Sandra Bolden Cunningham Paul Sarlo	District 31 District 36
Assistant Majority Leaders	James Beach Linda R. Greenstein	District 6 District 14
Majority Conference Leader	Robert M. Gordon	District 38
Majority Whip
Minority Leader	Thomas Kean Jr.	District 21
Deputy Minority Leader	Robert Singer	District 30
Minority Conference Leader	Steve Oroho	District 24
Deputy Minority Conference Leader	Chris A. Brown	District 2
Minority Whip	Joseph Pennacchio	District 26
Deputy Minority Whip	Kristin Corrado	District 40
Republican Budget Officer	Anthony Bucco	District 25

Assembly

Democratic Leadership	Republican Leadership
Senate President, Craig Coughlin Majority Leader, Louis Greenwald Speaker Pro-Tempore, Gordon M. Johnson Conference Chair, Shavonda E. Sumter	Minority Leader, Jon Bramnick Deputy Minority Leaders, Ronald S. Dancer, David W. Wolfe, Amy Handlin Minority Whip, Nancy Munoz Conference Chair, Tony Bucco

Members

Senate

Senators for the 2018-19 legislative session are:^[4][5][6]

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served
District 1	Mike Testa	Rep	Vineland	2019‡
District 2	Chris A. Brown	Rep	Ventnor City	2018
District 3	Stephen M. Sweeney	Dem	West Deptford Township	2002
District 4	Fred H. Madden	Dem	Washington Township (Gloucester)	2004
District 5	Nilsa Cruz-Perez	Dem	Barrington	2014†
District 6	James Beach	Dem	Voorhees Township	2009†
District 7	Troy Singleton	Dem	Palmyra	2018
District 8	Dawn Marie Addiego	Dem1	Evesham Township	2010†
District 9	Christopher J. Connors	Rep	Lacey Township	2008
District 10	James W. Holzapfel	Rep	Toms River	2012
District 11	Vin Gopal	Dem	Long Branch	2018
District 12	Samuel D. Thompson	Rep	Old Bridge Township	2012
District 13	Declan O'Scanlon	Rep	Little Silver	2018
District 14	Linda R. Greenstein	Dem	Plainsboro Township	2010‡
District 15	Shirley Turner	Dem	Lawrence Township (Mercer)	1998
District 16	Christopher Bateman	Rep	Branchburg	2008
District 17	Bob Smith	Dem	Piscataway	2002
District 18	Patrick J. Diegnan	Dem	South Plainfield	2016†
District 19	Joe Vitale	Dem	Woodbridge Township	1998
District 20	Joseph Cryan	Dem	Union Township (Union)	2018
District 21	Thomas Kean Jr.	Rep	Westfield	2003†
District 22	Nicholas Scutari	Dem	Linden	2004
District 23	Michael J. Doherty	Rep	Washington Township (Warren)	2009‡
District 24	Steve Oroho	Rep	Franklin	2008
District 25	Tony Bucco	Rep	Boonton Township	2019†
District 26	Joseph Pennacchio	Rep	Montville	2008
District 27	Richard Codey	Dem	Roseland	1982
District 28	Ronald Rice	Dem	Newark	1986‡
District 29	Teresa Ruiz	Dem	Newark	2008
District 30	Robert Singer	Rep	Lakewood Township	1993†
District 31	Sandra Bolden Cunningham	Dem	Jersey City	2007†
District 32	Nicholas Sacco	Dem	North Bergen	1994
District 33	Brian P. Stack	Dem	Union City	2008
District 34	Nia Gill	Dem	Montclair	2002
District 35	Nellie Pou	Dem	North Haledon	2012
District 36	Paul Sarlo	Dem	Wood-Ridge	2003†
District 37	Loretta Weinberg	Dem	Teaneck	2005†
District 38	Joseph Lagana	Dem	Paramus	2018†
District 39	Gerald Cardinale	Rep	Demarest	1982
District 40	Kristin Corrado	Rep	Totowa	2017†

† First appointed to the seat
‡ Elected in a special election
¹ Addiego had served as a Republican prior to 2019

Former members from this term

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served	Left office	Cause	Replaced by
38	Robert M. Gordon	Dem	Fair Lawn	2008	April 4, 2018	Appointed to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities[7][8]	Joseph Lagana
1	Jeff Van Drew		Dennis Township		January 2, 2019	Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives[9][10]	Bob Andrzejczak
25	Anthony Bucco	Rep	Boonton	1998	September 16, 2019	Death (heart attack)[11]	Tony Bucco
1	Bob Andrzejczak	Dem	Middle Township	2019†	December 5, 2019	Appointee defeated in special election for completion of unexpired term[12]	Mike Testa

Committees and Committee Chairs, 2018–2019 Legislative Session

Committee chairs are: (All are Democrats)^[13]

Committee	Name of Committee Chair
Budget and Appropriations	Paul Sarlo
Commerce	Nellie Pou
Community and Urban Affairs	Troy Singleton
Economic Growth	Nilsa Cruz-Perez
Education	Teresa Ruiz
Environment and Energy	Bob Smith
Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens	Joe Vitale
Higher Education	Sandra Bolden Cunningham
Judiciary	Nicholas Scutari
Labor	Fred H. Madden
Law and Public Safety	Linda R. Greenstein
Legislative Oversight	Brian P. Stack
Military and Veterans' Affairs	Vin Gopal
Select Committee on Economic Growth Strategies	Bob Smith
Select Committee on NJ Transit	Steve Sweeney
State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation	James Beach
Transportation	Patrick J. Diegnan

Assembly

The Assembly has 80 members, two for each district. Membership of the General Assembly is as follows:^[14][15]

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served
District 1	R. Bruce Land	Dem	Vineland	2016
	Matthew W. Milam	Dem		2019[A 1][A 2]
District 2	John Armato	Dem	Buena Vista Township	2018
	Vince Mazzeo	Dem	Northfield	2014
District 3	John J. Burzichelli	Dem	Paulsboro	2002
	Adam Taliaferro	Dem	Woolwich Township	2015[A 1]
District 4	Paul Moriarty	Dem	Washington Township (Gloucester)	2006
	Gabriela Mosquera	Dem	Gloucester Township	2012[A 1]
District 5	Patricia Egan Jones	Dem	Barrington	2015[A 1]
	William Spearman	Dem	Camden	2018[A 1]
District 6	Louis Greenwald	Dem	Voorhees Township	1996
	Pamela Rosen Lampitt	Dem	Cherry Hill	2006
District 7	Herb Conaway	Dem	Delanco Township	1998
	Carol A. Murphy	Dem	Mount Laurel	2018
District 8	Joe Howarth	Rep	Evesham Township	2016
	Ryan Peters	Rep	Hainesport Township	2018
District 9	DiAnne Gove	Rep	Long Beach Township	2009[A 1]
	Brian E. Rumpf	Rep	Little Egg Harbor	2003[A 1]
District 10	Gregory P. McGuckin	Rep	Toms River	2012
	David W. Wolfe	Rep	Brick Township	1992
District 11	Joann Downey	Dem	Freehold Township	2016
	Eric Houghtaling	Dem	Neptune Township	2016
District 12	Robert D. Clifton	Rep	Matawan	2012
	Ronald S. Dancer	Rep	Plumsted Township	2002[A 1]
District 13	Serena DiMaso	Rep	Holmdel Township	2018
	Amy Handlin	Rep	Middletown Township	2006
District 14	Daniel R. Benson	Dem	Hamilton Township (Mercer)	2011[A 1]
	Wayne DeAngelo	Dem		2008
District 15	Verlina Reynolds-Jackson	Dem	Trenton	2018[A 1]
	Anthony Verrelli	Dem	Hopewell Township (Mercer)	2018[A 1]
District 16	Roy Freiman	Dem	Hillsborough Township	2018
	Andrew Zwicker	Dem	South Brunswick	2016
District 17	Joseph Danielsen	Dem	Franklin Township (Somerset)	2014[A 1]
	Joseph V. Egan	Dem	New Brunswick	2002
District 18	Robert Karabinchak	Dem	Edison	2016[A 1]
	Nancy Pinkin	Dem	East Brunswick	2014
District 19	Craig Coughlin	Dem	Woodbridge Township	2010
	Yvonne Lopez	Dem	Perth Amboy	2018
District 20	Jamel Holley	Dem	Roselle	2015[A 1]
	Annette Quijano	Dem	Elizabeth	2008[A 1]
District 21	Jon Bramnick	Rep	Westfield	2003[A 1]
	Nancy Munoz	Rep	Summit	2009[A 1]
District 22	Linda Carter	Dem	Plainfield	2018[A 1]
	James J. Kennedy	Dem	Rahway	2016
District 23	John DiMaio	Rep	Hackettstown	2009[A 1]
	Erik Peterson	Rep	Franklin Township (Hunterdon)	2009[A 1]
District 24	Parker Space	Rep	Wantage Township	2013[A 1]
	Harold J. Wirths	Rep	Hardyston Township	2018
District 25	Michael Patrick Carroll	Rep	Morris Township	1996
	Aura K. Dunn	Rep	Mendham Borough	2019[A 1]
District 26	BettyLou DeCroce	Rep	Parsippany-Troy Hills	2012[A 1]
	Jay Webber	Rep	Morris Plains	2008
District 27	Mila Jasey	Dem	South Orange	2007[A 1]
	John F. McKeon	Dem	West Orange	2002
District 28	Ralph R. Caputo	Dem	Bloomfield	2008[A 3]
	Cleopatra Tucker	Dem	Newark	2008
District 29	Eliana Pintor Marin	Dem		2013[A 1]
	Shanique Speight	Dem		2018
District 30	Sean T. Kean	Rep	Wall Township	2012[A 4]
	Ned Thomson	Rep		2017[A 1]
District 31	Nicholas Chiaravalloti	Dem	Bayonne	2016
	Angela V. McKnight	Dem	Jersey City	2016
District 32	Angelica M. Jimenez	Dem	West New York	2012
	Pedro Mejia	Dem	Secaucus	2018[A 1]
District 33	Annette Chaparro	Dem	Hoboken	2016
	Raj Mukherji	Dem	Jersey City	2014
District 34	Thomas P. Giblin	Dem	Montclair	2006
	Britnee Timberlake	Dem	East Orange	2018[A 1]
District 35	Shavonda E. Sumter	Dem	Paterson	2012
	Benjie Wimberly	Dem		2012
District 36	Clinton Calabrese	Dem	Cliffside Park	2018[A 1]
	Gary Schaer	Dem	Passaic	2006
District 37	Valerie Huttle	Dem	Englewood	2006
	Gordon M. Johnson	Dem		2002
District 38	Lisa Swain	Dem	Fair Lawn	2018[A 1]
	Chris Tully	Dem	Bergenfield	2018[A 1]
District 39	Robert Auth	Rep	Old Tappan	2010
	Holly Schepisi	Rep	River Vale	2012
District 40	Christopher DePhillips	Rep	Wyckoff	2018
	Kevin J. Rooney	Rep		2016[A 1]

Former members from this term

District	Name	Party	Residence	First served	Left office	Cause	Replaced by
District 34	Sheila Oliver	Dem	East Orange	2004	January 9, 2018	Took office as Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey[16][17]	Britnee Timberlake
District 15	Elizabeth Maher Muoio		Pennington	2015[A 1]	January 15, 2018	Appointed State Treasurer of New Jersey[18][19]	Verlina Reynolds-Jackson
District 36	Marlene Caride		Ridgefield	2012	January 16, 2018	Appointed Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance[20][21]	Clinton Calabrese
District 32	Vincent Prieto		Secaucus	2004[A 1]	February 26, 2018	Resigned to become President and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority[22]	Pedro Mejia
District 38	Joseph Lagana		Paramus	2014	April 12, 2018	Appointed to the District's Senate seat[23]	Lisa Swain Chris Tully
	Tim Eustace		Maywood	2012	April 13, 2018	Resigned to become Deputy Director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission[24]
District 22	Jerry Green		Plainfield	1992	April 18, 2018	Death (long illness)[25][26]	Linda Carter
District 5	Arthur Barclay		Camden	2016	June 18, 2018	Resigned following arrest for simple assault[27]	William Spearman
District 15	Reed Gusciora		Trenton	1996	June 30, 2018	Elected Mayor of Trenton[28][29]	Anthony Verrelli
District 1	Bob Andrzejczak		Middle Township	2013[A 1]	January 14, 2019	Appointed to the District's Senate seat[30]	Matthew W. Milam
District 25	Tony Bucco	Rep	Boonton Township	2010	October 24, 2019	Appointed to the District's Senate seat[31]	Aura K. Dunn

Committees and Committee Chairs, 2018–2019 Legislative Session

Committee chairs are: (All are Democrats)^[32]

Committee	Name of Committee Chair
Agriculture and Natural Resources	Eric Houghtaling
Appropriations	John Burzichelli
Budget	Eliana Pintor Marin
Commerce and Economic Development	Gordon M. Johnson
Consumer Affairs	Paul D. Moriarty
Education	Pamela R. Lampitt
Environment and Solid Waste	Nancy Pinkin
Financial Institutions and Insurance	John F. McKeon
Health and Senior Services	Herb Conaway
Higher Education	Mila Jasey
Homeland Security and State Preparedness	Valerie Vainieri Huttle
Housing and Community Development	Benjie Wimberly
Human Services	Joann Downey
Judiciary	Annette Quijano
Labor	Joseph V. Egan
Law and Public Safety	Adam Taliaferro
Military and Veterans' Affairs	Cleopatra Tucker
Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations	Joseph Danielsen
Regulated Professions	Thomas Giblin
Science, Innovation and Technology	Andrew Zwicker
State and Local Government	Vincent Mazzeo
Telecommunications and Utilities	Wayne DeAngelo
Tourism, Gaming and the Arts	Ralph Caputo
Transportation and Independent Authorities	Daniel R. Benson
Women and Children	Gabriela Mosquera

Vacancies

Senate

District	Original	Party	Period of vacancy	Appointee	Party of Appointee	Winner of Special Election	Winner's Party
38th	Robert M. Gordon	Democratic Party	April 4, 2018 – April 12, 2018	Joseph Lagana	Democratic Party	Joseph Lagana[33]	Democratic Party
1st	Jeff Van Drew	Democratic Party	December 31, 2018 – January 15, 2019	Bob Andrzejczak[34]	Democratic Party	Mike Testa	Republican Party
25th	Anthony Bucco	Republican Party	September 16, 2019 - October 25, 2019	Tony Bucco	Republican Party	TBD	TBD

Assembly

District	Original	Party	Period of vacancy	Appointee	Party of Appointee	Winner of Special Election	Winner's Party
34th	Sheila Oliver	Democratic Party	January 9, 2018 – January 29, 2018	Britnee Timberlake	Democratic Party	Britnee Timberlake	Democratic Party
15th	Elizabeth Maher Muoio	Democratic Party	January 15, 2018 – February 15, 2018	Verlina Reynolds-Jackson	Democratic Party	Verlina Reynolds-Jackson	Democratic Party
36th	Marlene Caride	Democratic Party	January 16, 2018 – February 8, 2018	Clinton Calabrese	Democratic Party	Clinton Calabrese	Democratic Party
32nd	Vincent Prieto	Democratic Party	February 26, 2018 – April 12, 2018	Pedro Mejia	Democratic Party	Pedro Mejia	Democratic Party
38th	Joseph Lagana	Democratic Party	April 12, 2018 – May 24, 2018	Lisa Swain	Democratic Party	Lisa Swain	Democratic Party
38th	Tim Eustace	Democratic Party	April 13, 2018 – May 24, 2018	Chris Tully	Democratic Party	Chris Tully	Democratic Party
22nd	Jerry Green	Democratic Party	April 18, 2018 – May 24, 2018	Linda Carter	Democratic Party	Linda Carter	Democratic Party
5th	Arthur Barclay	Democratic Party	June 18, 2018 – June 30, 2018	William Spearman	Democratic Party	William Spearman	Democratic Party
15th	Reed Gusciora	Democratic Party	July 1, 2018 – August 5, 2018	Anthony Verrelli	Democratic Party	Anthony Verrelli	Democratic Party
1st	Bob Andrzejczak	Democratic Party	January 14, 2019 – February 1, 2019	Matthew Milam	Democratic Party	No special Election will be held	No special Election will be held
25th	Tony Bucco	Republican Party	October 25, 2019 – November 25, 2019	Aura K. Dunn	Republican Party	TBD	TBD

Governors

Governor Phil Murphy

Former Governor Chris Christie

Outgoing Governor Chris Christie delivered is last State of the State on January 9, 2018. He touted his legacy as Governor, such as his response to Hurricane Sandy, among other things.^[35] On January 15, 2019 Governor Phil Murphy gave his first State of the State Address. In his address he called on the legislature to raise the minimum wage from $8 to $15, legalize recreational marijuana, and to act on tax reform. He also touted his achievements in his first year such as raising income taxes on people making more than $5 million a year, beginning to make community college tuition free, increasing funding to Planned Parenthood, and tighter gun laws.^[36] Again on March 5, 2019 Murphy addressed the Legislature to deliver his budget address. In the address he called for universal pre-k, eliminating tuition for community college, a millionaires tax, and increased spending. Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said they are opposed to Murphy's proposed tax increases.^[37] On June 20, 2019 the Assembly and Senate passed a budget without Murphy's millionaires tax. In the Senate, seven republicans, Declan O'Scanlon, Kip Bateman, Tom Kean, Kristin Corrado, Bob Singer, and Sam Thompson, voted for the budget.^[38] Murphy line-item vetoed the budget.

See also

• List of New Jersey state legislatures

Notes

1. First appointed to the seat
2. Previously served in the Assembly from 2008–2013
3. Previously served in the Assembly as a Republican from 1968–1972
4. Previously served in the Assembly from 2002–2008