Loretta Weinberg – CAWP NEW Leadership National Network

Loretta Weinberg was elected to the New Jersey State Senate (District 37) in November 2005. She is currently the Senate majority leader and also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She is vice chair of the Legislative Oversight Committee and co-chair of the select legislative committee investigating “Bridgegate.” She also sits on the New Jersey Israel Commission, New Jersey Historical Commission and State Legislative Services Commission. She has been appointed by the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court to an ad hoc committee to look at domestic violence and the court system.

Senator Weinberg was the first person to run as a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the State of New Jersey. Prior to joining the State Senate, she served in the New Jersey General Assembly for 14 years. In 2004, after 10 years of work, Senator Weinberg’s .08 Legislation, which lowers the legal alcohol level to .08 in New Jersey, was signed into law. She sponsored the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, which prohibits smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. She has also sponsored legislation that: overhauled the jury selection process; required health insurance companies to pay for at least 48 hours of hospital care for new mothers and their babies; created the Governor’s Advisory Council on Adolescent Pregnancy; and shaped a landmark autism research funding bill that gives $1.00 from every New Jersey traffic violation to autism research, which is projected to yield $20 million toward autism research within five years. Weinberg has been in the lead on every LGBT advancement in New Jersey throughout her legislative career, including marriage equality, transgender equality, and sweeping anti-discrimination and anti-hate crimes laws. She has also been instrumental in expanding awareness of aphasia, introducing a bill to designate June as Aphasia Month in New Jersey and sponsoring legislation that formed an Aphasia Study Commission.

Throughout her career in public service, Senator Weinberg has devoted many hours to her community and to local, statewide, and national organizations that seek to improve the lives of men, women, and children. She has been active in Shelter Our Sisters (Founding Member), the Bergen Family Center, the New Jersey Network of Women Elected Officials, the National Organization of Women Legislators, and the National Council of Jewish Women (Life Member). She is a long-time member of Temple Emeth in Teaneck.