New Jersey is known for its stupid bills and resolutions. They are perhaps our most important domestic product. My personal favorite: designating a state sap, but you can choose from a bunch of nonsensical bills ranging from regulating the size of delivery boxes to… well, here’s a (very) partial list:
- A4497 – Menstrual Justice for Haitian Migrant Women Act.
- S3102 – Designates the Eastern bumblebee as a native pollinator of the State of New Jersey.
- SR31 – Requesting the US Congress to declare the “Statue of Liberty Anthem” the official anthem of the Statue of Liberty.
- A1706 – Designates “Ultimate” as an official state sport.
- A2444 – Requires DOH to investigate racial aspects of ovarian cancer.
- S2420 – Creation of a Cold War Medal for New Jersey.
- A4671 – Requires that members of the Assembly be referred to as “members” rather than “members of parliament” or “members’ wives.”
- A4296 – Establishes an exception to the import ban on woodchucks.
When the Assembly decided to recognizeAt “National Kimchi Day” in early 2023, Rep. Brian Bergen (R-Morris) was the ONLY person to vote “no”; Bergen condemned what he rightly saw as “a complete and colossal waste of this body’s time,” adding: “We have much more important things to do. And by the way, for those of you who don’t know, it’s not free. We pay people to write these resolutions.”
Perhaps Because Republicans in Trenton are an ineffective minority with little prospect of effective legislative reform. Aside from the people of New Jersey, they churn out a lot of bills that have no business being passed. They rename state roads. They honor unknown residents. They waste time and money pretending they’ve “done something” instead of building an attractive brand of passionate taxpayer advocacy.
Some bills are designed to attach themselves to a current news story in order to attract attention. Both sides are guilty of this.
Today, authorities charged a New Jersey woman with allegedly trespassing at a zoo after she climbed over a fence to “touch a tiger at the zoo after entering the animal’s enclosure.”
Jon Bramnick, state senator from Union County and Republican candidate for governor, says the incident is a reason to pass his bill that criminalizes “reckless trespassing on a wild animal” and carries penalties that include a $15,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
“We must pass this bipartisan bill to ensure that people who trespass into closed animal enclosures face legal and financial consequences,” Bramnick said. “This type of reckless behavior puts the trespasser’s life at risk and often results in police killing the animal.”
A big problem? No.
Already illegal? Yes.
This should be the two-part test to determine whether legislation makes sense, but not much makes sense in Trenton. Why are Republicans getting involved? To their own detriment?
Republicans have to get serious about legislating if they want to be taken seriously. If I were in charge of this caucus, folks, there would be a new rule: No caucus member should introduce new bills unless it can be explained how the proposal would (1) improve prosperity and/or (2) expand the freedom of the people of New Jersey. Saving an idiot from being mauled by a wild animal meets neither of those criteria.
