TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senators Nicholas Sacco and John Adler that will allow New Jersey residents living overseas, including those in the military, to vote by absentee ballot in all State and local elections was signed into law today by the Governor.

            “For too long, New Jersey’s election laws have lagged far behind the state of current technology,” said Senator Sacco, D-Hudson and Bergen.  “With the prevalence of e-mail and other forms of electronic transmission, State election regulators can easily and cheaply communicate with potential voters, wherever they are in the world.  Thanks to this new law, we can increase participation in the democratic process in New Jersey, particularly for those in our military serving overseas.”

A four-hour impasse over public employee benefits reform legislation Monday night in the General Assembly left a number of top Assembly Democrats fuming after several Hudson Democrats held out their votes on the measure causing the delay.  The boycott -- apparently orchestrated by State Senator Nicholas Sacco, who holds three public jobs in addition to his wife's employment with the Hudson County School of Technology, forced Democrats to rely on Republicans to pass the measure, a common occurrence in the Senate but a rarity in the lower House which infuriated veteran Democrats. 

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) will conduct mass demonstrations on Friday at the offices of thirty State Senators to protest legislation they say targets teacher and school employee pensions. NJEA officials say that thousands of union members will participate.

“We stand ready to work with the Legislature to root out the real causes of pension abuse and corruption that genuinely harm the state’s finances,” said NJEA President Joyce Powell. “But we will not tolerate – not now, not ever – any attempt to scapegoat teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, crossing guards, and other school employees for sins they have never committed.

NJEA members are sending legislators a message, Powell said: “We aren’t the problem. Craft legislation that eliminates the abuse you have tolerated for so long, and don’t target innocent people who educate New Jersey’s kids and keep them safe.”

TRENTON - The Senate Law & Public Safety Committee unanimously approved legislation today sponsored by Senators Nicholas Sacco and Paul Sarlo that would expand New Jersey's DNA database to include those found guilt of disorderly persons offenses.  

"DNA fingerprinting is an invaluable tool that allows our law enforcement community to quickly identify suspects, convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent," said Senator Sacco, D-Bergen and Hudson.  "By expanding it to include those convicted of disorderly persons offenses, we can further bolster the database and provide investigators with new leads into currently unsolvable cases.  This technology has made our streets safer and our criminal justice system fairer."

SACCO BILL TO GIVE MUNICIPALITIES GREATER DISCRETION OVER EXTENDING CURBS

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Nicholas P. Sacco which would allow municipalities, counties, or other institutions of a public or semi-public nature which oversea roads to construct curb extensions without prior approval from the Commissioner of Transportations was unanimously approved by the Senate Transportation Committee.

The Hudson County peace agreement was meant to be formalized in Jersey City today, with virtually every major elected official in the county coming together the put the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) together again.

This morning, citing scheduling conflicts among several officials, the HCDO postponed the event to an unscheduled time next week. But multiple sources say that the real reason the presser was cancelled was because the most important player – Union City Mayor and State Sen. Brian Stack – refused to attend.

Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Director Craig Guy said, however, that Stack did not refuse to attend the press conference.

A big whoop rose from the mostly Latino crowd when a woman held aloft a doll of Sen. Hillary Clinton in Schuetzen Park in North Bergen on Wednesday night. But that was low-key compared to the raise-the-roof response elicited a few minutes later when the New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate actually appeared on stage.

"I know how incredibly important family is to the Latino community," Clinton told several hundred cheering supporters. "Let’s take care of families with real resources."

Barack Obama may have rallied thousands of Jersey City residents on Mayor Jerramiah Healy's turf last week, but the Hillary Clinton campaign sought to make one thing clear today: the bulk of Hudson County public officials are with them, even if Healy, the mayor of the county's biggest city and chairman of its party, is not.

Governor Jon S. Corzine and Sen. Bob Menendez headlined a press conference today at The Turning Point restaurant in their hometown of Hoboken, emceed by Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan and attended by over two dozen elected officials, at least a few of whom occupy different sides of the Hudson County Democratic split.

And while Clinton wasn't there today, Menendez promised that she would be in New Jersey before the February 5th.

Less then a week after his arrest on federal corruption charges, Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna attended a fundraiser for the Hudson County Democratic Organization. Sources say that Della Donna, who is accused of diverting cash campaign contributions for personal expenses, and of allegedly extorting money from a local bar owner in exchange for helping him with issues involving the local police, obtaining a variance, and dealing with tickets for improper garbage disposal.

SACCO ENCOURAGED BY MVC REFORM RECOMMENDATIONS

TRENTON - Senator Nicholas Sacco, the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, today said he was encouraged by preliminary reports concerning recommended service improvements at Motor Vehicle Commission agencies in New Jersey.