Assembly members Valerie Vainieri Huttle & Jack Conners

COMMITTEE RELEASES BILL REQUIRING ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATIVE VOTING RECORDS

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assembly members Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Jack Conners sponsored to make legislative voting records available to the public electronically was released by an Assembly committee today.ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS
NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE:
June 1, 2006

CONTACT:
Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle
(201) 541-1118
Assemblyman Conners
(856) 461-3997
James Sverapa IV
(609) 292-7065

COMMITTEE RELEASES BILL REQUIRING ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATIVE VOTING RECORDS

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assembly members Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Jack Conners sponsored to make legislative voting records available to the public electronically was released by an Assembly committee today.

"Making our legislative voting records - from vote tallies to individual votes - available over the Internet is a concept that is long overdue," said Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen). "With so many technologies able to instantly transmit news and events as they happen, New Jersey residents expect and deserve to quickly and efficiently find out how their representatives voted."

Currently, voting history is publicly available via the Legislature's Web site. However, the current setup is cumbersome and extremely limited, only showing vote tallies on legislation.

Under this bill (A-3252), the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services would be directed to provide a complete voting history for each legislator for the current and immediate past session, including votes cast in committee as well as votes on the floor. These voting histories would be published on the Legislature's Web site, www.njleg.state.nj.us.

"Our federal government and many other state governments are already providing this level of service to the public," said Conners (D-Burlington/Camden). "We need to do the same, so that our state can continue to serve as an example of open and accountable government."

The Assembly State Government Committee approved the measure unanimously. It now heads to the Assembly Speaker, who decides if and when to post it for a floor vote.

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