SENATE APPROVES RESOLUTION URGING PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS TO ESTABLISH SOUTH JERSEY VETERANS’ HOSPITAL

VAN DREW: PREDICTIONS OF ACTIVE HURRICANE SEASON UNDERSCORE NEED TO UPDATE COASTAL EVACUATION PLANS

VAN DREW: MEADOWLANDS SUPER BOWL UPS THE ANTE FOR SPORTS BETTING

Governor Chris Christie today signed legislation to simplify and make more predictable regulations governing land-use development applications at the municipal level, encouraging development and lowering costs for New Jersey businesses and job creators. 

A bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Van Drew which would create a 15-member task force to study New Jersey’s efforts to reach kids with reading disabilities was approved by the Senate Education Committee today by a vote of 4-0.

“Our most sacred responsibility in this world is to give future generations the tools and education they need to succeed,” said Senator Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic. “However, when you consider that many students with reading disabilities are given generic special education – as opposed to specialized reading curriculum – we are doing these kids a great disservice. This bill would charge a task force to perform a soup-to-nuts review of the State’s outreach efforts for kids with reading disabilities, and steer New Jersey’s statutes and regulations to better provide for their unique educational needs.”

A bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) and Senator Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D-Hudson) that would help homeowners expedite the construction of wheelchair ramps was approved 5-0 today by the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee.

The bill (S-2401) would require a construction official to issue a permit within three business days of receiving an application for the installation of a wheelchair ramp on residential real property.

TRENTON – Sen. Jeff Van Drew along with his Assembly colleagues is sponsoring an omnibus bill that would significantly change New Jersey’s affordable housing laws, making homes available to people who need them while giving towns more flexibility in meeting their housing obligations.

“It’s been more than three decades since the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel decision on exclusionary zoning,” Senator Van Drew said today. “It’s clear the laws that have been enacted in response to that decision been more successful in building a thicket of rules and regulations than in building affordable housing. Though created with the best of intentions, the system New Jersey has now doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. It’s time to fix it.”

TRENTON – A resolution sponsored by Senators Raymond J. Lesniak and Jeff Van Drew which would urge Congress to lift the federal ban on sports wagering was approved by the Senate today.

“During our current national economic crisis, states need to look to all untapped revenue streams in order to balance the books and continue to provide the services that our citizens depend on,” said Senator Lesniak, D-Union. “Sports wagering could help plug some of the revenue holes the State is currently facing and provide new capital for investment in a wide variety of economic growth projects. Rather than allow this money to funnel down the drain into illegal gambling rings, the federal government should overturn the ban and allow for State regulation and oversight on sports betting.”

TRENTON –  Senator Jeff Van Drew today said the national economic crisis should motivate action to empower New Jersey voters to “fundamentally restructure state government spending” through constitutional reforms that would save millions of taxpayer dollars annually.

            “This economic crisis should awaken everyone to the need to change our culture of reckless spending,” said Senator Van Drew, D-Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland. “Inaction is intolerable at a time when people are being driven from their homes, jobs are being lost and seniors are watching their lifetime savings shrinking before their eyes.”

TRENTON – Key South Jersey lawmakers today applauded the Corzine Administration for agreeing not to place more than 350 civilly committed sexual predators on the grounds of South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton.

            “I want to thank the members of the Corzine Administration who heard our voices and responded to the petitions of thousands of concerned residents of Cumberland County,” said Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3rd District. “When the forces of government respond to the valid concerns of the people, everyone wins.”