New Jersey lawmakers convened their 220th session in Trenton Tuesday, swearing in new members in both the Assembly and Senate even as Gov. Murphy confounded Republicans by declaring a new public health emergency. Murphy said the declaration was necessary to confront the “omicron tsunami.”
The move keeps in place pandemic mandates like school masks that were due to expire Tuesday night. GOP lawmakers noted that angry constituents had voted for them in the November election, hoping to block such mandates.
