Editor's Note: For more info, see Reef Bill Dies.

From John Toth's President's Report in the Jersey Coast Anglers Association's February 2008 newsletter:

Pot Bill

We had great hopes that this bill would pass since the Senate passed it unanimously during the closing session of the Legislature. It passed by 33 votes to 0 votes in opposition. All we had to do was to get Assembly Speaker Roberts to post it in the Assembly and it would most likely pass since the Senate endorsed it so well. I believe that the Senate passed the bill on January 3rd, and all we were all looking to see is if the Pot bill would be posted on the Assembly’s calendar. With each passing day, nothing was happening and we knew that January 7th, the last day of the legislature, was the do or die day. Accordingly, we all started to call Robert’s office and that included so many of you and others like Pete Grimbilas from Reef Rescue, the RFA, NJ Divers, Anthony Mauro from New Jersey Outdoor Alliance (NJOA), members from Manasquan Fishing Club, Saltwater Anglers of Bergen County and so many more! With each passing day and no reference to the Pot Bill on the Assembly’s calendar, I started to get a very bad feeling about this and my intuition told me that it was not going to be posted even though I was getting some positive feedback from several sources. My intuition is usually on the money and I was hoping for once that it would be wrong. Unfortunately, it was right. Roberts did not post the bill for reasons best known to him. There were a lot of bills that needed to be posted during the closing days of the legislature and perhaps the Pot Bill got lost in this confusion.

This means that we will have to start all over again in 2008 with our efforts to pass the Pot Bill. Pete Grimbilas from Reef Rescue emailed me that we would be getting together toward the end of January to figure out a strategy to start the Pot Bill all over again. When I expressed my disappointment and frustration over this, our Legislative Chairman, Tom Fote, reminded me that it took many setbacks on a number of issues like the bunker bill, making striped bass a game fish, etc., before they became law. It takes perseverance and stamina to keep pressing our fight and that is what we have to do to eventually win the day.

At the time of this writing, Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr. (R.) has sponsored the new Pot Bill (S336) along with Senator Jeff Van Drew (D). Senator Kean is the primary sponsor and Senator Jeff Van Drew is the co-sponsor. In the Senate, this new bill will have to be approved by the Senate Environmental Committee. In the Assembly, it will have to be approved by the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee. The following information shows you whom to contact in the Senate and in the Assembly to move this legislation on to final approval in the Legislature. Please not only ask for them to approve the bill, but to also co-sponsor it as well. Also, try to get other legislators to support this bill in the appropriate arms in the Legislature, especially from the Democratic Party that is the majority party in the Legislature.

S336 Prohibits the use of certain fishing gear on artificial reefs.
Last Session Bill Number: S2635

	District	Phone	Fax
Kean, Sean T. (R) as Primary Sponsor	11	732-974-0400	732-974-2564
Van Drew, Jeff (D) as Co-Sponsor	1	609-465-0700	609-465-4578

1/8/2008 Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment Committee


Senate Environment Committee

	District	Phone	Fax
Smith, Bob (D) Chair	17	732-752-0770	732-752-1590
Van Drew, Jeff (D)	1	609-465-0700	609-465-4578
Adler, John H. (D)	6	856-489-3442	856-489-4180
Gordon, Robert M. (D)	38	201-703-9779	201-703-8127
Bateman, Christopher (R)	16	908-526-3600	908-707-4578
Ciesla, Andrew (R)	10	732-840-9028	732-840-9757

1/8/2008 Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee


A1519 Prohibits the use of certain fishing gear on artificial reefs.
Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee

(Group D)	District	Phone	Fax
Fisher, Douglas H. (D) Chair	3	856-455-1011	856-455-2853
Albano, Nelson T. (D)	1	609-465-0700	609-465-4578
Amodeo, John F. (R)	2	609-292-5339	609-633-9806
Conaway, Herb (D)	7	856-461-3997	856-461-3823
Karrow, Marcia (R)	23	908-782-5127	908-788-2625

A1519 Prohibits the use of certain fishing gear on artificial reefs.
Last Session Bill Number: A3986

	District	Phone	Fax
Rible, David P. (R) as Primary Sponsor	11
Albano, Nelson T. (D) as Co-Sponsor	1	609-465-0700	609-465-4578
Wolfe, David W. (R) as Co-Sponsor	10	732-840-9028	732-840-9757
Holzapfel, James W. (R) as Co-Sponsor	10	908-757-1677	908-757-6841
Diegnan, Patrick J., Jr.(D) as Co-Sponsor	18	908-757-1677	908-757-6841
McHose, Alison Littell (R) as Co-Sponsor	24	973-726-0954	973-726-8397

Back to Top