NEW JERSEY SENATE

The 'New Jersey Senate' is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature. It consists 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 (If the cycle were not put into place, then the boundaries would sometimes be four years out of date before being used for Senate elections. Rather, with the varied term, the boundaries are only two years out of date).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" (e.g., 2001, 2003 and 2007 this decade).
Interim appointments are made to fill vacant legislative seats by the county committee or committees of the party of the vacating person. The office is on the ballot for the next general election (regardless if all other Senate seats are up in that year, such as in years ending with a "5" or "9", such as 2005 and 2009 this decade), unless the vacancy occurred within 51 days of the election. Then the appointment stands until the following general election.
Currently there are 22 Democratic Senators, and 18 Republican Senators.

Current Composition
Affiliation		Members
	Democratic Party	22
	Republican Party	18
	Vacant	0
'Total'		'40'

Contents

Senatorial courtesy

Leadership

List of New Jersey State Senators (by District)

External links

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. 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.
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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.Jones, Richard G. "Senator Drops Objections to Corzine Court Nominee", ''The New York Times'', June 20, 2007. Accessed June 20, 2007. "Senator Gill had delayed Mr. Rabner’s confirmation hearing by using “senatorial courtesy” — an obscure practice through which senators who represent the home county of nominees may block consideration of their confirmations."
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.Carmiel, Oshrat. "Deadline looms for Molinelli's job", ''The Record (Bergen County)'', June 20, 2007. Accessed June 20, 2007. "Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, whose term expired last month, may have to wait until the fall to be considered again for a second term if state Sen. Loretta Weinberg doesn't sign off on his nomination today.... Weinberg is invoking an unwritten practice called senatorial courtesy, which allows state senators to block consideration of gubernatorial nominees from their home counties without explanation. The courtesy tradition, as applied to Molinelli, requires each senator from Bergen County to sign off on his nomination before the Judiciary Committee can consider the nomination."

Leadership

The leadership for the 212th legislative session, which started on January 10, 2006, is as follows:

★ President of the Senate: Richard J. Codey (District 27)

★ President Pro Tempore: Shirley Turner (District 15)

★ Majority Leader: Bernard Kenny (District 33)

★ Minority Leader: Leonard Lance (District 23)

★ Conference Leader: Martha W. Bark (District 8)

★ Deputy Minority Leaders: Diane B. Allen (District 7) and Peter Inverso (District 14)

★ Minority Whip: Thomas Kean, Jr. (District 21)

★ Budget Officer: Robert Littell (District 24)

★ Assistant Budget Officer: Walter Kavanaugh (District 16)

List of New Jersey State Senators (by District)

District map (2001 redistricting) colored by 2004 to 2007 term Senator party

★ District 1: Nicholas Asselta (R)

★ District 2: James J. McCullough (R)

★ District 3: Stephen M. Sweeney (D)

★ District 4: Fred H. Madden (D)

★ District 5: Wayne R. Bryant (D)

★ District 6: John H. Adler (D)

★ District 7: Diane B. Allen (R)

★ District 8: Martha W. Bark (R)

★ District 9: Leonard T. Connors (R)

★ District 10: Andrew R. Ciesla (R)

★ District 11: Joseph A. Palaia (R)

★ District 12: Ellen Karcher (D)

★ District 13: Joseph M. Kyrillos (R)

★ District 14: Peter Inverso (R)

★ District 15: Shirley Turner (D)

★ District 16: Walter Kavanaugh (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: Leonard Lance (R)

★ District 24: Robert Littell (R)

★ District 25: Anthony Bucco (R)

★ District 26: Robert Martin (R)

★ District 27: Richard Codey (D)

★ District 28: Ronald Rice (D)

★ District 29: Sharpe James (D)

★ District 30: Robert Singer (R)

★ District 31: Joseph Doria (D)

★ District 32: Nicholas Sacco (D)

★ District 33: Bernard Kenny (D)

★ District 34: Nia Gill (D)

★ District 35: John Girgenti (D)

★ District 36: Paul Sarlo (D)

★ District 37: Loretta Weinberg (D)

★ District 38: Joseph Coniglio (D)

★ District 39: Gerald Cardinale (R)

★ District 40: Henry McNamara (R)

External links

★ New Jersey Legislature Homepage

★ New Jersey Senate Bill Search

★ Senate Democratic Office

★ Senate Republican Office