Senate And Assembly Vote To Hold Presidential Primary In June

The State Senate and Assembly passed a bill this week that would move the presidential primary election from February to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June, when regular primary elections are held in New Jersey municipalities.

The bill, S2883, was co-sponsored by Senator Kevin O’Toole of Legislative District 40.

This change would only affect presidential election years.

According to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee report, the bill would save the State General Fund and local governments $12 million in 2012. The estimate was based on the cost of holding a presidential primary in February 2008, which cost $11.8M statewide.

Costs associated with administering the election, paying poll workers, “ballot printing and postage, processing, legal advertising, polling place rental and voting machine delivery,” would be saved, the committee reported.

The bill, approved by both legislative houses, now heads to Governor Christie’s desk for a signature.

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UPDATE: The Anti Snow Dumping Act, which would make it illegal for commercial plows to dump snow from private property on public streets and other lands, was passed by the Senate this week. .

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Another of O’Toole’s bills, which aims at combating the impersonation of police and other law enforcement officers, was passed by the Senate this week. The bill, S2749, would “prohibit” the sale of emergency lights and other related paraphernalia to unauthorized people, increase the penalties for committing such an offense, and harshen the punishments for impersonating an officer of the law. After passage in the Senate, the bill was sent to the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee for review.

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The Assembly passed a bill that aims at making cross-municipality fire and emergency responses more efficient and better organized. The bill, co-sponsored by District 40 Assemblyman David Russo, “requires that battalion and deputy chiefs be included as part of the county fire mutual aid plan.” The sponsors said, “when a number of different fire departments are called to respond to an emergency situation, a clearly designated and delineated support command structure is essential.”

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UPDATE: The bill, co-sponsored by Assemblyman Scott Rumana, a District 40 representative, in an effort to save school districts money, was passed by the Assembly this week. It passed through the Senate earlier this month.