Gov. Christie Whitman today
signed the following pieces of legislation:

S-2013, sponsored by Senators Norman M. Robertson (R-Essex/Passaic) and William L. Gormley (R-Atlantic) and Assembly Members Joseph V. Doria, Jr. (D-Hudson) and Anthony M. Impreveduto (D-Bergen/Hudson), prohibits physicians, chiropractors, and other health care professionals from soliciting professional employment from accident and disaster victims within the 30-day period after the accident or disaster. The bill also provides for a criminal penalty against attorneys who violate the rules of professional conduct by contacting victims.

SCS for S-1613, sponsored by Senators C. Louis Bassano (R-Essex/Union) and Henry P. McNamara (R-Bergen/Passaic) and Assembly Members John E. Rooney (R-Bergen) and David C. Russo (R-Bergen /Passaic), establishes a certification requirement for persons removing or installing an unregulated storage tank. Unregulated storage tanks are those used for residential purposes and non-residential tanks under 2000 gallons.

S-1941, sponsored by Senators Richard J. Codey (D-Essex) and Donald T. DiFrancesco (R-Middlesex /Morris/Somerset/Union) and Assembly Members Joseph V. Doria, Jr. (D- Hudson) and Jack Collins (R-Salem/Cumberland/Gloucester), establishes the Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Political Leadership at the Center for the American Woman and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. The bill appropriates $100,000 to finance the chair. The bill is a tribute to the late Senator Lipman.

S-908, sponsored by Senators Joseph A. Palaia (R-Monmouth) and John Matheussen (R-Camden/Gloucester) and Assembly Member Tom Smith (R- Monmouth) reduces the minimum eligibility age for membership in the Junior Firemen's Auxiliary from 16 to 14.

S-1370, sponsored by Senator James S. Cafiero (R-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland) and Assembly Members John C. Gibson (R-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland) and Nicholas Asselta (R-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland), extends to elementary students certain drug counseling-related confidentiality protections currently available to secondary students. The bill is intended to encourage students to seek out drug counseling and foster greater communication between students and counselors.

S-1061, sponsored by Senators Martha W. Bark (R-Atlantic/Burlington/Camden) and John A. Girgenti (D-Passaic) and Assembly Members Richard A. Merkt (R-Morris) and Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), repeals, recodifies and supplements a number of statutes dealing with evidence and service of process. The bill embodies the recommendations of the New Jersey Law Revision Commission, which in 1996 undertook a review of these statutes.

S-273, sponsored by the late Senator Wynona Lipman (D-Essex/Union) and Assembly Member Craig A. Stanley (D-Essex), grants voting rights to student members of the Commission on Higher Education.

S-1954, sponsored by Senators C. Louis Bassano (R-Essex/Union) and Donald T. DiFrancesco (R-Middlesex/Morris/Somerset/Union) and Assembly Members Kevin J. O'Toole (R-Essex/Union) and Joel M. Weingarten (R-Essex/Union), permits the Governor to appoint up to three out-of-state alumni to the boards of trustees of each of the nine state colleges and universities. Previously, all members of the boards of trustees were required to be citizens of New Jersey.

A-2392, sponsored by Assembly Members Paul DiGaetano (R- Bergen/Essex/Passaic) and Doria (D-Hudson) and Senator C. Louis Bassano (R- Essex/Union), permits a chiropractor licensed to practice in New Jersey (or a bordering state) to certify a person as handicapped for purposes of handicapped parking. Under previous law, only a licensed physician or podiatrist could grant this certification.

A-2781, sponsored by Assembly Members Connie Myers (R- Warren/Hunterdon/Mercer) and Guy R. Gregg (R-Sussex/Hunterdon/Morris) and Senator Martha W. Bark (R-Atlantic/ Burlington/Camden), allows the issuance of a permit to farmers to kill deer because of crop damage incurred anytime in the prior year. In order to receive the special permit, the bill allows the Division of Fish and Wildlife to require a farmer to demonstrate that he or she has sustained crop damage due to deer during the previous 12- month period.

S-401, sponsored by Senator Robert E. Littell (R-Sussex/Hunterdon/Morris) and Assembly Members Paul R. Kramer (R-Mercer/Middlesex) and Marion Crecco (R-Essex/Passaic), criminalizes "jumping" emergency calls. The bill's purpose is to enhance public safety by preventing persons from disrupting medical personnel and firefighters during emergencies. As a result of the bill, it is now a fourth-degree crime to use intercepted information to interfere with fire fighting operations or the provision of medical services by first aid, rescue or ambulance squad personnel.

A-3250, sponsored by Assembly Members Richard A. Merkt (R-Morris) and Guy R. Gregg (R-Sussex/ Hunterdon/Morris) and Senators Louis F. Kosco (R- Bergen) and Dr. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen), forbids tax stamping, and therefore, the sale of re-imported cigarettes originally produced for export. The bill attempts to ban gray market cigarettes by amending the Cigarette Tax Act to prohibit tobacco distributors from affixing cigarette tax stamps on cigarette packages that are repatriated. There are currently 24 states that have enacted similar legislation.