2005 State Legislature

Evaluation of the Legislature, 2003-2005
During the last two years, state lawmakers delivered several public interest victories. They protected consumers by passing NJPIRG’s comprehensive Identity theft prevention bill and re-establishing the state Office of Public Advocate. They helped the environment by reducing car pollution with the landmark NJ Clean Cars Act; by protecting the Highlands region, where nearly half the state’s drinking water is located; by cutting energy consumption by 1 percent through increasing the energy efficiency of eight common products; and by taking a significant first step towards cleaning up diesel pollution, cleaning up 30,000 buses and some publicly owned trucks. The Legislature also increased government integrity by passing a moderate pay-to-play ban and enacting the Clean Elections Pilot Project. All these bills were signed into law, except the Identity Theft Prevention Act, which the Governor has committed to signing.

However, lawmakers also passed a regressive pro-developer bill, called ‘fast track’, which expedites the development of open space in New Jersey’s most developed places, risking ‘rubberstamp’ environmental permits, and limiting public participation in New Jersey’s Development. Several other pro-development laws also advanced through legislative committees but were blocked by the efforts of environment groups, including NJPIRG. Efforts to repeal ‘fast track’ stalled.

Another disappointing “stall” relates to pay-to-play. Under the new state law, localities cannot pass pay-to-play bans tougher than the state’s, even if they used to have such bans. The Assembly passed the bill giving localities the ability to go stronger, however, the bill became stuck in the Senate.