By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
Lobbyists hanging out in the halls of the Statehouse trying to get a word in with legislators before a hearing. These are signs that things are coming back to normal at the Statehouse. But it’s a new normal, one completely colored by the enormity of the crisis the state endured.
“I hope part of the new normal is that we address these issues dealing with the storm — and there are gonna be many issues — that we do so on a bipartisan level,” said Sen. Jeff Van Drew. “Let’s get together, Republicans and Democrats. That’s what the people of the state of New Jersey want to see.”
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The Senate Education Committee today took up, among other things, a bill aimed at keeping special ed students from being shuttled among schools. The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee heard a bill enabling county sheriffs to more easily hire local police for part-time duty. And the Senate Community Affairs Committee considered a bill seeking to limit the number of state cars in use. But the storm is clearly on just about everybody’s mind.
“When you look at the first round of legislative agendas that have been put out by the various committees, you can see that they’re moving forward gingerly,” said Princeton Public Affairs Group Lobbyist Dale Florio.
“I think we need a lot more disclosure and openness from the utilities. I’m not gonna mention names right at the moment, but some were better than others in terms of giving us specific information. I mean, I’m the one getting a lot of phone calls and it’s very embarrassing to have next to nothing to tell people,” said Sen. Linda Greenstein.
“I think the infrastructure of the electrical power distribution system — we’re hearing a lot of reports from the out of state crews about the antiquated components, about the lack of trimming trees, and how the equipment for distributing power — the infrastructure — in other states is a lot more modern,” said Sen. Mike Doherty.
“We’re seeing that sometimes you have to go through this experience before it opens your eyes to the kinds of things that need to be prepared for, and I think that that’s what we’re all doing mental assessments about,” said Sen. Sandra Cunningham.
“There are families that have been completely displaced and will be displaced for a very long time. So that sense of normalcy for everyone, I don’t think will ever come back for awhile,” said Sen. Teresa Ruiz.
It’s as if everyone in the Statehouse has a slight hangover today. The storm hit the district of nearly every member of the Legislature. So while things here may look normal on the surface, they’re not really back to normal at all.