The Lame Duck session is the period between the November election and the last day of the legislative session, which is the last day lawmakers can take action on legislation.

On the last day of its two-year term, the New Jersey Legislature acted on more than 150 bills. That last day was, as is usually the case, the most productive of the two-year legislative session. It ended a lame duck session that saw the introduction of more than 630 new bills, around the holiday season.

An NJ Spotlight News analysis found that lawmakers took at least some action on more than 1,100 bills between Nov. 6 and Jan. 12, the last voting session of the Legislature’s two-year term.

A seasoned lobbyist made this point:

“It can take advocates and people who do this full time, sometimes people with advanced degrees, awhile to figure out amendments and figure out the full picture of a bill,” said James Sullivan, interim policy director of ACLU-NJ. “Oftentimes we’re showing up to a committee with testimony prepared, thinking that we have a position on the bill, only to find out the last minute there’s amendments put on the bill. And these amendments aren’t online.” View article here.

The charts below illustrate why it is so critical to schedule meetings with your legislators, so they know who you are when the craziness begins in a Lame Duck session! if you would like to meet with your legislators and would like NJACP to attend or help schedule a meeting reach out to mshea@njacp.org.