Delaware

GOVERNOR CORZINE ANNOUNCES NEW FLOOD CONTROL RULES

TRENTON - Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced significant changes to the rules of the Flood Hazard Area Control Act, as recommended by New Jersey’s Flood Mitigation Task Force report. He also announced that the state will pay the local communities’ share of FEMA’s costs associated with the July 2006 floods.

GOVERNOR CORZINE SIGNS LEGISLATION APPROPRIATING $80 MILLION FOR OPEN SPACE ACQUISITION AND PRESERVATION

HACKETTSTOWN – Governor Jon S. Corzine today held a ceremonial bill signing for legislation appropriating $80 million from the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the acquisition or development of lands for recreation and conservation.

ROBERTS: NJ NOW ONLY STATE IN NATION
WITHOUT SYRINGE ACCESS
Speaker Says Restrictions on Sterile Syringes
Continue to Exacerbate HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C Infection Rates

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today said New Jersey now stands as the only state to cling to overly restrictive laws on hypodermic syringes.

LAWMAKERS, ADVOCATES JOIN FORCES, SEEK DEA BAN ON HALLUCINOGENIC SALVIA DIVINORUM
Delaware, New Jersey Lawmakers Say They Will Pursue State Bans
Until Federal Government Finally Takes Action

(TRENTON) -- Teaming with a Delaware state senator and the parents of a Delaware youth who committed suicide in January after experimenting with the hallucinogenic herb salvia divinorum, Assembly members Linda Stender, Jack Conners and Herb Conaway, M.D., today called for a federal ban on the leafy substance that young people can easily obtain over the Internet.

COMMITTEE ADVANCES VAN DREW/ALBANO BILL
TO PUT CUMBERLAND MOTOR SPORTS PLAN IN FAST LANE
Bill Would Facilitate Plan to Bring Auto Racing to South Jersey

(TRENTON) -- An Assembly committee today released legislation Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano sponsored to facilitate the creation of special sports and entertainment districts in Cumberland County.

CONNERS/CONAWAY TO SPONSOR BILL OUTLAWING
HERBAL HALLUCINOGEN SALVIA DIVINORUM
Potent 'Diviner's Sage' Plant Produces Powerful LSD-Like High;
Legal Substance Attracts Teen-age Interest via Internet Sites

(DELRAN) -- Expressing alarm over the ready access that teenagers have to a legal hallucinogen over the Internet, Assemblymen Herb Conaway, MD, and Jack Conners announced today that they will sponsor legislation to ban the possession and use of salvia divinorum in New Jersey.

ADLER - 'CLEAN AIR ON THE HORIZON'

New Jersey's Indoor Smoking Ban Will Go in Effect on Saturday

CHERRY HILL - At a news conference at Ponzio's Diner, Senator John H. Adler touted the State's new indoor smoking ban, which will go into effect on Saturday, April 15th, as a "life-saving measure that will vastly improve dining in the Garden State."

"I strongly believe that restaurant owners are going to realize the smoking ban is the best thing to happen to dining in the Garden State," said Senator Adler, the main sponsor of the smoking ban in the Senate. "Families will be able to enjoy their meals without suffering the health risks of breathing in second-hand smoke, and workers will miss fewer days due to smoke-related illnesses. Some restaurant owners have already embraced it, and we're hoping to bring more people in as we see the successes of the smoking ban."

STENDER MOVES TO BAN HERBAL HALLUCINOGEN
Potent Salvia Divinorum Plant Produces Powerful LSD High

(SCOTCH PLAINS) -- Assemblywoman Linda Stender today announced that she is crafting legislation to ban salvia divinorum, a potent hallucinogen that is being sold as a trendy legal drug to young people on the Internet and in stores that sell youth-oriented paraphernalia.

ASSEMBLY APPROVES DANCER LEGISLATION THAT STREAMLINES LICENSING PROCESS FOR LIVE
HORSE RACING PARTICIPANTS

Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, that would make New Jersey a member of the National Compact Licensing Program and streamline the licensing process for participants in live horse racing with pari-mutuel wagering, was approved today by the General Assembly.

The bill, A-2464, would enact the Interstate Compact for Horse Racing Licensees and recognize the creation of the Interstate Licensing Compact Committee to streamline the licensing process for all parties involved with pari-mutuel wagering. That includes horse owners, riders, agents, trainers, starters, timers, judges, grooms, drivers, and any other person(s) acting in any capacity in connection with the training of horses or the actual running of the races.

Salem County Republican Chairwoman Rita Shade will not seek re-election in June. Shade says her new duties as Town Manager of Newport, Delaware make it difficult for her to keep her party post. Shade is the third GOP county leader to retire since the last election: Gail Peterson, the Camden GOP Chairwoman, has already announced she would not run again, and Kenneth LeFevre resigned as Atlantic County GOP Chairman earlier this year. Republican County Chairmen in Bergen, Gloucester, Monmouth and Passaic are expected to face challenges, and there is speculation that Mercer County GOP Chairman John Hansbury will not run again.