Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Republican legislators protest vaccination rule at New Jersey’s State House.

Brian Bergen, left, and Erik Peterson, Republican representatives, were briefly denied access to the State House chamber on Thursday because they did not show proof of a coronavirus vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test.Credit...Mike Catalini/Associated Press

The speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly said Friday that next week’s committee hearings would be held remotely, after several Republican lawmakers defied a new requirement to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative coronavirus test on Thursday.

Before Thursday’s voting session — the first since the requirement that anyone entering the State House complex in Trenton show a negative test or proof of vaccination — about a dozen Republican state representatives purposely tried to enter the Assembly chamber without those documents to cast their votes.

They were briefly stopped by uniformed troopers — a delay one lawmaker, Erik Peterson, characterized as “tyranny” — before being allowed in.

A reporter for Politico posted a video of the scene on Twitter. After being told he and his fellow Republicans couldn’t enter the chamber without proof of vaccination, Mr. Peterson turned to the people recording the scene on their cameras and said: “You see this? You see this, folks? Denying us entry into our house.” Then he added: “This is tyranny, folks! America, see what’s happening here!”

Representative Craig J. Coughlin, a Democrat who is Assembly speaker, said he was “outraged” after learning from state troopers that several lawmakers had been allowed into the chamber after not complying with the vaccination rules.

“The only thing that was asked of the legislators here today to do was to show that they weren’t infected, to care about their colleagues and the people in the chamber,” he said in a speech in the chamber. “Twenty-eight members of the minority caucus could not be bothered to exhibit common decency or humanity, all because they would rather have a couple of minutes of TV.”

The policy was set by the State Capitol Joint Management Commission, a panel of administration and legislative officials who manage the State House rules. Lawmakers can cast their vote remotely if they don’t comply with the rules, and a few of the 28 Republicans and 52 Democrats used that option on Thursday.

The session, the first in the lame-duck period between November’s election and the start of the new legislature in January, lasted less than 30 minutes and a child tax credit was approved.

While staff members were checking documents at entrances around the State House and rapid testing was available, enforcement was not uniform and the test kits were not used, said Cecilia Williams, a spokeswoman for Mr. Coughlin.

At the same time, the Senate met without similar drama. Republicans, who are the minority in both chambers, have sued to stop the vaccine requirement. Republicans flipped seven seats in the legislature in last month’s election.

“Voters were crystal clear: they want economic relief from Trenton — not more mandates and lockdowns,” Tom Szymanski, executive director of the New Jersey Republican Party, said Thursday.

Adeel Hassan is a reporter and editor on the National Desk. He is a founding member of Race/Related, and much of his work focuses on identity and discrimination. He started the Morning Briefing for NYT Now and was its inaugural writer. He also served as an editor on the International Desk.  More about Adeel Hassan

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT