New Jersey General Assembly


The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, the upper house being the New Jersey Senate.
Since the election of 1967, 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, with deviation in each district not exceeding 3.21% above and below that average. 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 of New 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, as he is grandfathered in under a New Jersey law that banned multiple office holding in 2007.
The Assembly is led by the speaker of the Assembly, who is elected by the membership of the chamber. After the lieutenant governor and the president of the New Jersey Senate, the speaker of the Assembly is third in the line of succession to replace the governor 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 is Craig Coughlin.

Composition

List of state assembly members

Committees and committee chairs

Committee chairs for the 2024–2026 Legislative Session are:
  • Aging & Senior Services - Shanique Speight
  • Children, Families, and Food Security - Shama Haider
  • Appropriations - Lisa Swain
  • Budget - Eliana Pintor Marin
  • Commerce, Economic Development, and Agriculture - William Spearman
  • Community Development & Woman's Affairs - Shavonda E. Sumter
  • Consumer Affairs - William Sampson
  • Education - Verlina Reynolds-Jackson
  • Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste - James J. Kennedy
  • Financial Institutions and Insurance - Roy Freiman
  • Health - Carol Murphy
  • Higher Education - Linda S. Carter
  • Housing - Yvonne Lopez
  • Judiciary - Ellen Park
  • Labor - Anthony Verrelli
  • Military and Veterans' Affairs - Cleopatra Tucker
  • Oversight, Reform, and Federal Relations - Reginald Atkins
  • Public Safety and Preparedness - Joseph Danielsen
  • Regulated Professions - Sterley Stanley
  • Science, Innovation, and Technology - Chris Tully
  • State and Local Government - Robert Karabinchak
  • Telecommunications and Utilities - Wayne DeAngelo
  • Tourism, Gaming, and the Arts - William Moen
  • Transportation and Independent Authorities - Clinton Calabrese

    List of past Assembly speakers

History

Salary and costs

Service as a state senator or member of the General Assembly is considered to be part-time. 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. 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. In the 2025 fiscal year, the total cost of the legislature in the state budget was $127,346,000. 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.

"Double dipping"

Under state law that remained in effect until 2008, members of the New Jersey Assembly and Senate were allowed to serve in the legislature while still serving in any other government positions they might have held at the time. Those still doing so in 2008 were "grandfathered":
Assembly members: