Schroeder Focuses on Protecting Teenagers

With the state legislature returning for quorum meetings next week, Assemblyman Robert Schroeder is the final legislator to have his pending bills highlighted by Patch. Previously, the Washington Township resident has focused his attentions on law enforcement to protect and make changes for the. Schroeder's final batch of legislation again focuses on protecting youth and law enforcement members.

Shortly after the approval of Kyleigh's Law, Schroeder has been calling for its repeal withA3210. Currently teenage drivers must display a red decal on the motor vehicle they are driving. If repealed, he would like to see the requirement parents and guardians of graduated driver licensees (GDL) under the age of 21 to enforce certain operational restrictions applicable to these novice drivers and increase the penalities for those with a GDL who drive past the allowed curfew or with an excessive number of passengers.

To honor Kyleigh D’Alessio memory, Schroeder has proposed AJR46 to designate the third full week of Decemter as "Teen Driver Safety Awareness Week." D'Alessio, who Kyleigh's Law is named after, was a 16-year-old honor student and recognized athlete from Long Valley,  who died in a motor vehicle accident involving a young driver with multiple passengers.

In February, he signed on as a sponsor of A3763 aka "Katie's Law" after , a New Mexico State University student who was murdered in 2003, expands the DNA database to include samples from certain arrestees.

A3821 expands the law enforcement agencies eligible to receive grants from the Body Armor Replacement fund to include the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) and each county society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The bill specifically authorizes these agencies to purchase with such grants replacement body vests for humane law enforcement officers of the NJSPCA and of the county societies.

Prior to the sale or transfer of an amergency vehicle, A3677, requires that equipment such as handheld spotlights affixed to side mirrors, antennas used for emergency response communication equipment, mobile vision and mobile data terminals, sirens, strobe lights, or any other light with optional strobe functions typically used on an authorized emergency vehicle be removed. Any decal, insignia, or striping added to the authorized emergency vehicle must also be removed as well.

Small business employers could be able to take advantage of a health benefits purchasing alliance with A4006. As authorized by New Jersey’s purchasing alliance law, a small employer purchasing alliance is a group of small employers which join together, by means of a joint contract, for the purpose of negotiating a reduced premium for its members purchasing a small employer health benefits plan or plans for their eligible employees and the employees' dependents. 

For a four-year term, the NJ Advisory Council on Traumatic Brain Injury would be renamed the  NJ Advisory Council on Traumatic and Acquired Brain Injury and estalibsh the Acquired Brain Injury Fund according to A3730.

To reinforce the economic and trade sanctions applied against North Korea in accordance with several United Nations Security Council resolutions and Executive Orders signed by the President of the United States of America, Schroeder has proposed A4136 to prohibit investment by the state of pension and annuity funds in companies doing business in North Korea.

AJR59 directs the state Attorney General to take action to hold British Petroleum liable for any damages in New Jersey from any oil spills that occur in the Gulf of Mexico.