State-Of-The-State addresses are familiar territory for a shore area state lawmaker who's served in the Assembly for many years but this time Jim Holzapfel will take his place on the floor as a State Senator for the 10th Legislative District.

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Senator Holzapfel seems to be undaunted by his new role as State Senator after last week's subdued mass swearing in ceremony following the sudden and shocking death of Republican Assemblyman Alex Decroce. When asked if he expects any big differences as he heads down the hall to the Senate Chambers? He says for one thing, the Senate is smaller. "There's 80 in one house (Assembly) and there's 40 in this one (Senate). So, I think it's going to be a little more, on a personal level, a little more interesting because you're going to be dealing with fewer people."

Holzapfel says because there are fewer Senators than there are Assembly members there are fewer political factions. He says he notices that the Senate turns around bills a lot quicker because of that. However, he says that's not necessarily a good thing. "I think a deliberative thing is not a bad thing because then you have an opportunity to find out what's wrong with the bill. What can be corrected and I think the worst things that have happened, were bills that were pushed through in 24 hours."

Holzapfel says he's hoping to be placed on the Senate Transportation Committee and continue where his predecessor Andy Ceisla left off. "I think Andy forged a tremendous record fighting for Ocean County. I'd like to continue that because I think it's important to us here in Ocean County." He says other than that, he'd like to be assigned to the Senate Law and Public Safety or Environment Committees.   For more information about the 10th Legislative district click here

 

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