January 8, 2025

Both the State Senate and Assembly have released their calendars through March of 2025. Beginning with the State of the State Address in Trenton on January 14, upcoming meeting dates for each House’s committees over the next few weeks will proceed as follows:

Senate

• Voting Session: Tuesday, January 14 (followed by the State of the State Address)
• Group 1 Committees: Thursday, January 30 
• Includes: Senate Community and Urban Affairs; Senate Labor
• Group 2 Committees: Monday, February 3
• Includes: Senate Budget & Appropriations; Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens
• Group 3 Committees: Monday, February 10
• Includes: Senate Commerce; Senate Economic Growth; Senate Environment & Energy
• Group 4 Committees: Thursday, February 13
• Includes: Senate Judiciary; Senate Law & Public Safety

Assembly

• Group A & B Committees: Thursday, January 16
• Includes: Assembly Consumer Affairs; Assembly Financial Institutions & Insurance; Assembly Health, Assembly Appropriations; Assembly Commerce, Economic Development & Agriculture; Assembly Oversight, Reform & Federal Relations
• Group C & D Committees: Thursday, January 23
• Includes: Assembly Children, Families & Food Security; Assembly Judiciary; Assembly Labor; Assembly Aging & Human Services; Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, & Solid Waste; Assembly Science, Innovation & Technology
• Voting Session: Thursday, January 30
• Group C & D Committees: Thursday, February 13
• Includes: Assembly Children, Families & Food Security; Assembly Judiciary; Assembly Labor; Assembly Aging & Human Services; Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, & Solid Waste; Assembly Science, Innovation & Technology

BioNJ will update upon any changes to the posted calendars, which are subject to change — as well as when relevant bills are posted to committee agendas.

Following the election of former State Senator Nellie Pou to Congress who served as its immediate-past Chair, Senator Theresa Ruiz (D-LD29) will serve as the Caucus’s Chair. She will be joined by Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-LD5) serving as Vice Chair, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D-LD19) serving as Treasurer, and Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill (D-LD27) serving as Secretary. 

Last week, it was reported that Senator Kim — after having served on the committees on which interim Senator George Helmy served following Senator Kim’s appointment immediately following election results in November — will serve on several committees that are relevant to the life sciences sector in the 119th Congress. 

Senator Kim will serve on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (Senate HELP); Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC); Commerce, Science & Transportation and Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs committees.

It is also worth noting that Senator Kim’s appointment to the seat immediately following the election has resulted in greater seniority in the Senate than 11 other newly elected members of the chamber.

BioNJ has appreciated Senator Kim’s receptivity to the thoughts of the life sciences sector in New Jersey during his tenure in the House, and we look forward to continuing with the new Senator to collaborate to ensure that the Garden State remains home to one of the most innovative clusters of life sciences entities globally — particularly given the purviews of the committees on which he will serve.

Given the very small majority that the Republican Party has in the House, the vote was very close. His re-election follows an endorsement by President-Elect Trump last week, and Speaker Johnson would have been prevented from re-election if only two republican members voted against his re-election to be Speaker. Following some deliberation with two members of the Republican Party, Speaker Johnson achieved the 218 necessary votes on the first vote to secure re-election to the Speaker of the House. 

In addition, members of the 119th Congress were sworn in, including the new members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation which includes Reps. Herb Conaway (D-NJ3), Nellie Pou (D-NJ9) and LaMonica McIver (D-NJ10) after having served for several months in 2024 following a special election to succeed the late Rep. Donald Payne, Jr.

BioNJ looks forward to continuing to support the work of the full State delegation in pursuit of ensuring that New Jersey continues to be a premier source of biomedical innovation.

At the end of 2024, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government running until March 14. While one of the final iterations of the package included many of the sector’s priorities, the CR that ultimately passed unfortunately none of the health provisions were included. 

As a result, BioNJ will continue to meet with the New Jersey congressional delegation to convey the importance of priorities like the Pediatric Priority Review Voucher program (PPRV), the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act (PAHPA) and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform, among others — as well as the virtues of addressing some of the opportunities to address the negative consequences that the Inflation Reduction Act’s health provisions have already had on innovation.

On January 6^th, the U.S. FDA released draft guidance entitled “Considerations for the Use of Artificial Intelligence To Support Regulatory Decision-Making for Drug and Biological Products.” The document focuses on artificial intelligence models that are used to generate support for regulatory decisions regarding safety, effectiveness, or the quality of drugs in submitted data.

To view the posted draft guidance and submit comments by April 7^th, 2025, click here.

BioNJ is the voice of New Jersey’s life sciences sector in Trenton and Washington. BioNJ’s Public Policy Support Series sponsorship opportunities are now available for 2025. Help ensure BioNJ continues to deliver our message of improved Patient access and enhanced innovation through a Public Policy Support Series Sponsorship.  

Click here for more information.

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