New Jersey General Assembly
221st New Jersey Legislature
Type
Type	Lower house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 9, 2024
Leadership
Speaker	Craig Coughlin (D) since January 9, 2018
Speaker pro tempore	Annette Quijano (D) since January 30, 2025
Majority Leader	Louis Greenwald (D) since January 10, 2012
Minority Leader	John DiMaio (R) since January 11, 2022
Structure
Seats	80
Seat display Map display
Political groups	Majority  Democratic (52) Minority  Republican (28)
Length of term	2 years
Authority	Article IV,New Jersey Constitution
Salary	$49,000/year
Elections
Voting system	Plurality block voting
Last election	November 7, 2023
Next election	November 4, 2025
Redistricting	New Jersey Apportionment Commission
Meeting place
General Assembly Chamber New Jersey State House Trenton, New Jersey
Website
www.njleg.state.nj.us

TheNew Jersey General Assembly is thelower house of theNew Jersey Legislature, theupper house being theNew Jersey Senate.

Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average populations of 232,225 (2020 figures), with deviation in each district not exceeding 3.21% above and below that average.^[1] To be eligible to run, a potential candidate must be at least 21 years of age, and must have lived in their district for at least one year prior to the election, and have lived in the state ofNew Jersey for two years. They also must be residents of their districts. Membership in the Assembly is considered a part-time job, and many members have employment in addition to their legislative work. Assembly members serve two-year terms, elected every odd-numbered year in November. One current member of the Assembly,Gary Schaer,holds another elective office (Passaic City Council President),^[2] as he isgrandfathered in under a New Jersey law that banned multiple office holding in 2007.

The Assembly is led by thespeaker of the Assembly, who is elected by the membership of the chamber. After thelieutenant governor and the president of the New Jersey Senate, the speaker of the Assembly is third in the line of succession to replace thegovernor of New Jersey in the event that the governor is unable to execute the duties of that office. The speaker decides the schedule for the Assembly, which bills will be considered, appoints committee chairmen, and generally runs the Assembly's agenda. The current speaker isCraig Coughlin (D-Woodbridge).

Committee chairs for the 2024–2026 Legislative Session are:^[3]

• Aging & Senior Services - Shanique Speight (D-District 29)
• Children, Families, and Food Security - Shama Haider (D-District 37)
• Appropriations - Lisa Swain (D-District 38)
• Budget - Eliana Pintor Marin (D-District 29)
• Commerce, Economic Development, and Agriculture - William Spearman (D-District 5)
• Community Development & Woman's Affairs - Shavonda E. Sumter (D-District 35)
• Consumer Affairs - William Sampson (D-District 31)
• Education - Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-District 15)
• Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste - James J. Kennedy (D-District 22)
• Financial Institutions and Insurance - Roy Freiman (D-District 16)
• Health - Carol Murphy (D-District 7)
• Higher Education - Linda S. Carter (D-District 22)
• Housing - Yvonne Lopez (D-District 19)
• Judiciary - Ellen Park (D-District 37)
• Labor - Anthony Verrelli (D-District 15)
• Military and Veterans' Affairs - Cleopatra Tucker (D-District 28)
• Oversight, Reform, and Federal Relations - Reginald Atkins (D-District 20)
• Public Safety and Preparedness - Joseph Danielsen (D-District 17)
• Regulated Professions - Sterley Stanley (D-District 18)
• Science, Innovation, and Technology - Chris Tully (D-District 38)
• State and Local Government - Robert Karabinchak (D-District 18)
• Telecommunications and Utilities - Wayne DeAngelo (D-District 14)
• Tourism, Gaming, and the Arts - William Moen (D-District 5)
• Transportation and Independent Authorities - Clinton Calabrese (D-District 36)

Note: The first three subsections below end with a constitutional year: 1776, 1844, or 1947. The fourth subsection ends in 1966, the year of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that required legislative apportionment based on the principle of "one person, one vote".

The following is a list of speakers of the Assembly since 1703.^[4]

On December 6, 1775, Gov.William Franklin prorogued the New Jersey Legislature until January 3, 1776, but it never met again.^[5] On May 30, 1776, Franklin attempted to convene the legislature, but was met instead with an order by theNew Jersey Provincial Congress for his arrest.^[6] On July 2, 1776, the Provincial Congress approved a newconstitution which ordered new elections; on August 13 an entire new legislature was elected.

The Constitution of 1844 expanded the General Assembly to 60 members, elected annually and apportioned to the then-nineteen counties by population.^[7]

See:New Jersey Legislature#Colonial period andNew Jersey Legislative Council#Composition

Service as a state senator or member of the General Assembly is considered to bepart-time.^[8] Effective 2002, state senators and members of the General Assembly receive an annual base salary of $49,000 with the Senate president and the Assembly speaker earning slightly more (1/3 over the base).^[9] This was an increase from $35,000, which had been in effect since 1990. Beginning in 2026, the base salary will increase to $82,000. Additionally, each legislator receives an annual allowance of $150,000 for staff salaries.^[10] In the 2025 fiscal year, the total cost of the legislature in the state budget was $127,346,000.^[11] Of this amount, $18,690,000 was appropriated to the State Senate for salaries and other costs, and $25,208,000 was appropriated to the General Assembly.^[12]

Under state law that remained in effect until 2008, New Jersey Assembly, as well as Senate, members were allowed to serve in both one chamber or the other, as well as any other government positions they might have held at the time, although those who were still doing so as of 2008 ended up getting "grandfathered":

Name, Party-County – Second Public Office (name in bold represents state Assembly member still in both local and state offices as of 2023):

Assembly members:

• John J. Burzichelli, D-Gloucester – Mayor,Paulsboro
• Ralph R. Caputo, D-Essex – Freeholder,Essex County
• Anthony Chiappone, D-Hudson – Councilman,Bayonne
• Ronald S. Dancer, R-Ocean – Mayor,Plumsted Township
• Joseph V. Egan, D-Middlesex – Councilman,New Brunswick
• Elease Evans, D-Passaic – Freeholder,Passaic County
• John F. McKeon, D-Essex – Mayor,West Orange
• Paul D. Moriarty, D-Gloucester – Mayor,Washington Township
• Ruben J. Ramos, D-Hudson – Councilman,Hoboken
• Scott Rumana, R-Passaic – Mayor,Wayne
• Gary Schaer, D-Passaic – Councilman,Passaic
• Daniel Van Pelt, R-Ocean – Mayor,Ocean Township
• Joseph Vas, D-Middlesex – Mayor,Perth Amboy

• Category:Members of the New Jersey General Assembly
• New Jersey State Constitution
• List of New Jersey state legislatures

• New Jersey Legislature official website
• Assembly Democrats official website
• Assembly RepublicansArchived September 14, 2002, at theLibrary of Congress Web Archives official website
• New Jersey sectionArchived April 22, 2021, at theWayback Machine ofProject Vote Smart, a national database of voting records and other information about legislators.

• New Jersey Legislature
• State lower houses in the United States
• Legislatures of the Thirteen Colonies

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