Print      
Christie’s beach day spurs legislation
AP

TRENTON, N.J.—Governor Chris Christie’s trip with his family to a public beach shuttered during a government shutdown in New Jersey drew online mockery and international headlines. Now it’s led to a proposed law to stop it from happening again.

The Democrat-led Assembly passed a measure Monday that would force the governor’s beach house to close during a shutdown, while a second measure they approved would keep state parks open.

Those bills still need to be debated in the state Senate and would then need approval from the Republican governor.

Christie previously pledged to sign a measure the Legislature passed Monday that would pay state workers who were furloughed during the three-day shutdown this month. His spokesman declined to comment on the other measures.

‘‘If a beach is closed because of a state shutdown, it ought to be closed to everybody,’’ said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Democrat who proposed the measure to close the beach house during shutdowns. ‘‘Having it open to the governor and his guests while it’s closed to all the other New Jersey residents who are paying for them to be there isn’t right and it isn’t fair.’’

Christie’s beach trip inspired Wisniewski and other Democratic lawmakers to try to put a stop to it from happening again.

ASSOCIATED PRESS