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Senate President Richard Codey said yesterday he has introduced a bill to require drivers to decide whether they want to become donors before they can obtain or renew their license. The "New Jersey Hero Act" also would make New Jersey the first state in the nation to incorporate organ donation education into the high school curriculum beginning in the 2008-09 school year. "For the first time anywhere in this country, we are mandating a discussion -- one that can and will save lives and make everyone a hero," said Codey (D-Essex).

Excerpt - The duration and distance were short, but in those dizzying seconds and feet, Gov. Jon Corzine suffered injuries serious enough to land him in intensive care with a breathing tube down his throat and a doctor declaring him lucky to be alive. The 60-year-old governor underwent about two hours of surgery last night to repair multiple broken bones, including 12 ribs and a femur that protruded through the skin of his thigh following a car accident on the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township. With two of his adult children by his beside, Corzine, sedated and on intravenous...

New Jersey Senate President Richard (Dick) Codey is the driving force behind New Jersey's recent efforts to require “childproof guns” when the technology becomes “economically viable.” Codey recently issued a statement regarding a protest in front of the New Jersey state capitol, held by the Second Amendment Sisters. That statement mocked the group by referring to them as the “twisted sisters,” all because of the group’s opposition to his proposed gun control laws. Actually, the Second Amendment Sisters simply advocate a woman’s “right to choose” to own and carry firearms. But Dick Codey thinks the government should make that choice...

Supporting embryonic stem cell research is not only morally misguided but fiscally irresponsible, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler told a cheering crowd of 200 anti-abortion activists who gathered on the Statehouse steps yesterday to blast acting Gov. Richard Codey's $380 million research proposal. Schundler accused Codey of using the moral debate over whether stem cells should be extracted from embryos for potentially life-saving research to distract voters from the price tag. "To come up with that money, what are they going to do, of course? They are going to increase your taxes," Schundler told the crowd. "They have a $2...

N.J.'s big-bucks experiment Sunday, June 19, 2005 Series archive: Betting on BiotechFirst of four partsWith little fanfare and no direct approval of the electorate, the state of New Jersey has spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the biotech industry.Powerful forces are hard at work in Trenton, selling biotechnology as a way to simultaneously bolster the state economy and improve the health of citizens. Acting Governor Codey has been front and center, promoting a plan to spend $380 million more on research into embryonic stem cells.Much is at stake in a state where 200,000 jobs depend on the pharmaceutical industry...

November and December are the months when newly elected officials and their allies finally start telling voters about things they didn't want to mention during the campaign. New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine and his predecessor, outgoing Acting Gov. Dick Codey, finally 'fessed up about the Garden State's precarious fiscal health Thursday in speeches at the convention of the state's League of Municipalities. And it ain't pretty. "We're pretty much broke," conceded Codey. "We have more debt than we can afford. Next year's budget deficit is at least $5 billion. School construction and transportation funding have virtually dried up. And we...

TRENTON, NJ (Reuters) - New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine on Monday called a special session of the state legislature to start on Tuesday in a bid to end a budget crisis that has halted some state services and threatens to close Atlantic City casinos. The move means state legislators will stay in session until they resolve the crisis by passing a budget bill. Corzine on Saturday directed nonessential state services, including the state lottery, to shut down after a July 1 budget deadline passed without the agreement of Democrats in the state assembly on a 1 percentage point increase in...

A Quinnipiac University poll found 60 percent of New Jersey voters oppose Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed 1 percent sales tax increase, which is seen by a number of Democrats as the only alternative to help close a $4.5 billion budget deficit.

Former Governor and current State Senate President Dick Codey sponsors the legislation. He says, "We would be the first in the country to build a building dedicated solely to stem cell research." He adds, "We would be using existing tobacco bond monies so, we're not spending new money." $150 million dollars would be needed leading many critics to ask, "What else could that money be used for?" Codey says, "This is about saving lives in the future." He asks, "If the cure for diabetes or something else came out of this New Jersey facility, wouldn't that be a great legacy…it...

Saying "pain will have to be shared," Gov. Jon Corzine's transition team is urging him to increase taxes, lay off some state workers and cut the pay of others to help get state finances under control. The proposals -- including higher gasoline taxes, sales taxes on clothing and Internet downloads and a phase-out of the state worker pension system -- were met with a lukewarm response by Democratic legislative leaders and howls of protest from Republicans.

New Jersey, trying to overcome its reputation for corruption, traffic and toxic waste dumps, has rejected dozens of sardonic and sarcastic entries in a contest for a new tourist slogan. A list of five possible slogans released last week leaves out "New Jersey: We can always use another relative on the payroll," and "Come to New Jersey: It's not as bad as it smells." Voters get to pick the winner in the competition launched after acting Gov. Richard J. Codey threw out "New Jersey: We'll Win You Over." "It makes me think of when I was young and single and...

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey announced Wednesday that he is not interested in switching jobs with Gov.-elect Jon Corzine and serving the remainder of the U.S. senator's term.

(AP) HILLSIDE Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey announced Wednesday he is not interested in filling the remainder of Gov.-elect Jon Corzine's U.S. Senate term. Codey has hinted that he wasn't interested in going to Washington, though he's enjoyed widespread popularity since replacing Gov. James E. McGreevey, who resigned after a gay sex scandal a year ago. By law, Corzine must vacate his Senate seat when he becomes governor in January. The person Corzine appoints will serve in the U.S. Senate for a year, until a regular election for the six-year term is held in November 2006. Codey, 58, made his...

Something weird is going on in New Jersey. The state is usually quick to bash, trash and kick its politicians to the curb, and perhaps with good reason, given all the recent scandals and corruption cases. But Democrats and Republicans, pundits and professors, and just ordinary residents are gushing over a longtime member of the entrenched Trenton elite, a man widely viewed as an antipolitician of sorts, a bona fide Jersey guy, complete with rumpled suits, comb-over and a spaghetti-and-meatballs belly. They speak of one Richard J. Codey, acting governor, and they do it with affection. With a little more...

Despite talk of a fiscal crisis and this week's state budget wrangling by legislative leaders, lawmakers found room for a record $370 million for pet projects in their home districts. The $27.9 billion state budget includes a long list of "legislative additions" that suggest it's Christmas in July at the Statehouse. The projects are therefore known as "Christmas tree" items, and they are spread all over the state. The Newark School of Business at Rutgers University and St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson each get an extra $18 million. Lawmakers scrounged up another $1.5 million for Battleship New Jersey in Camden....

Governor snuffs out smoking in dorms PRINCETON - Saying it would reduce the risk of fires and protect students' health, acting Governor Codey signed legislation Monday banning smoking in dormitories at public and private colleges. "Today we are creating safer, healthier residence halls," Codey said in a written statement. The governor signed the legislation at Drew University in Madison where a cigarette ignited a dorm room fire on Feb. 14. Automatic sprinklers quickly doused the fire and no one was injured. The ban will go into effect in 60 days, and individual colleges will decide how to enforce it. According...

DAY TWO JIM REILLY’S SILENCE ON DEMOCRAT HOMELAND SECURITY SCAM CONTINUES - Corodemus, Kean & Local Officials Say Former Assembly Democrat Attorney Owes the Public Some Answers - Atlantic Highlands, Long Branch & Wall, NJ - One day after Assemblymen Steve Corodemus and Sean Kean called on Democrat Assembly candidate Jim Reilly to answer questions about his role in the political manipulation of homeland security funds by his Democrat allies in Trenton, local officials today joined the legislators in demanding those answers. “As a former attorney and staff member for the Assembly Democrats in Trenton, Jim Reilly had an opportunity...

Acting Gov. Richard Codey had a conversation recently with this wife, Mary Jo, about his next career move. She didn't like his new idea. Because the suggestion on the table was a move to the United States Senate. If Sen. Jon Corzine wins the gubernatorial election in November, he'll appoint his own replacement in Washington to serve out the final year of his term. Codey, by far the most popular politician in the state, now says he might want the job. "I think about it," he says. "People have raised the issue. They say to me, 'Dick, how can any...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey followed up on a promise to keep New Jersey in the forefront of stem-cell research Thursday by introducing legislation that would provide a big financial boost. In his State of the State speech in January, Codey said he would dedicate $150 million to a stem-cell research facility in New Brunswick. In addition to that money, the bill would provide the neglected state park system with $75 million for repairs and maintenance and dedicate $60 million for biomedical research. It would allow the state to tap unused bond capacity _ loans approved...

Gov. Richard J. Codey is working on a plan to bolster the state's Transportation Trust Fund with a temporary increase in the gasoline tax and additional money generated by privatizing the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway, according to a published report. The Record of Bergen County, citing an unnamed administration source, reported in Thursday's editions that the plan calls for a small gas tax increase to be pushed through shortly after the Nov. 8 election. The increase would be rescinded or phased out after the lease deal is signed and begins to generate cash. The Transportation Trust Fund...