Lame-duck session is tame, too, in Trenton

Earlier this year, it seemed almost certain that lawmakers would decide after Election Day whether to make New Jersey the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage.

Now it's unclear if the Legislature even will address the matter.

The results of Tuesday's gubernatorial election and the battles for leadership posts in the Senate and Assembly have created an air of uncertainty over the lame-duck legislative session, the typically frantic weeks of work immediately after Election Day.

The sessions are traditionally safe havens for addressing controversial issues because departing officials have nothing to lose. But lawmakers this year don't know when they will return to Trenton, much less what the agenda will be.

Big ideas have been floated - including lifting some of the state's control in Camden and returning a measure of power to the mayor - but there is not yet a clear picture of which will be addressed.

"This election has people taking a very hard look at what's going to be in lame-duck," said Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester).

"I don't think we're going to be doing much," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union).

One proposal that had been bounced around - raising the gas tax to pay for transportation projects - already has been dropped.

Senate President Richard J. Codey (D., Essex) said legislative leaders were considering Nov. 23 as the first day of committee hearings, but that had not been confirmed as of Friday afternoon.

After years of rising spending and taxes under Democrats, some in the party have wondered privately how far they can push their agenda, especially after voters spoke up in the governor's race by choosing Republican Christopher J. Christie, who campaigned as a fiscal conservative.

Adding to the fog is the continued struggle over who will lead the Democratic Legislature as it prepares to work with Christie.

What issues the party will consider will remain undecided "until we sit down and discuss it as a caucus," said Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex). "We really need to get together and see where people are."

Sweeney has said he has the votes to become Senate president, which would make him the state's top Democrat once Gov. Corzine leaves office. But Codey has worked to retain power. The winner of the battle, to be decided after lawmakers return to Trenton to vote, would take control in January.

The Senate and Assembly have been off since late June as the focus turned to campaigning. Gay-rights groups and social conservatives have spent much of the time gearing up for a lame-duck battle over same-sex marriage. With Christie against the idea, the next few months may present the last window for years for gays and lesbians to win the right to marry in New Jersey.

But it is unclear if Democrats, after absorbing their first big loss in more than a decade, have the appetite to take on the politically risky topic, even though the New Jersey election focused on economic, not social, issues.

"Those people who are shaken by the results of this [gubernatorial election] would be taking it out on the wrong issues" if they backed away from the same-sex marriage debate, said Lesniak, who would vote in favor of the marriages.

Codey has said he would bring the gay-marriage bill up for a vote only if there is enough Senate support to approve it. With lawmakers divided, a "handful" of Senate Republicans would have to support same-sex marriage for it to pass, he said.

Corzine has said he hoped to see a bill approved this year. But Christie believes the issue should be decided by a public vote. "I'm no wallflower, and people know what my position is on the same-sex marriage bill," the governor-elect said. "I oppose it, and I certainly will continue to speak out in that regard."

In the 31 states where same-sex marriage has been decided by voters, it has been rejected every time.

Past lame-duck sessions have become frenzies of bill writing, often leaving little time to scrutinize controversial ideas. Democrats have pledged a different atmosphere this time.

"My goal would be that we have a postelection session that's productive but measured," said Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden).

Corzine and the chairs of the Senate and Assembly budget committees last week called for fiscal restraint during the final weeks of the session.

"The Legislature cannot spend another penny this year," said Buono, chair of the Senate budget committee.

Some Democrats had discussed privately the idea of raising the gas tax after the election, hoping to address the looming expiration of funding for the Transportation Trust Fund. Now they will wait, forcing Christie to make the difficult decision of how to pay for transportation projects.

"I think you want to give the new administration the opportunity to take a look at it," Roberts said.

Roberts said he hoped to return some power to Camden's mayor, relieving the city from the state control that has been in place since 2002, when the state poured in $175 million of recovery money.

Camden still receives large amounts of aid, but in sums similar to that of several other New Jersey cities. With less being invested there now, Roberts has said the state role should become more restrained. Trenton should have "significant oversight, but perhaps not control," he said.