Sen. Turner wants to find alternate funding sources for education and government programs besides property taxes.
By: Lea Kahn
Ask Lawrence resident and state Sen. Shirley Turner why she is seeking her second term, and she’ll reel off a list of unfinished business.
Among her chief concerns, Sen. Turner cited the need to ensure all children receive the same educational opportunities. She wants to reform the property tax system, create additional affordable housing units and provide health care insurance for low-income families.
But first, Sen. Turner must fend off a challenge by Republican Party candidate Norbert Donelly, a Lawrence resident who is running against her in the Nov. 6 general election for the 15th District Senate seat.
Sen. Turner was elected in 1997, after serving in the state Assembly and on the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders. A 35-year resident of Lawrence, she served on the township Zoning Board of Adjustment and was the vice president of the Lawrence Township Democratic Club.
Now, Sen. Turner is seeking re-election to continue some legislative initiatives that she started during her first term. Though these plans have not yet come to fruition, there has been some movement in those areas, she said.
Sen. Turner said she wants to find other ways to finance education and government, besides relying on the property taxes. Some of the revenue generated by the sales tax, income tax, the inheritance tax or the lottery could be earmarked for that purpose, she said.
Children who live in cities such as Newark, Camden and Trenton must be given the same opportunity for education as their peers who live in suburban school districts, Sen. Turner said. Preschool education for 3- and 4-year-olds must be implemented to put them on a more equal footing with their peers in other districts, she said.
There is also a great need for additional affordable housing units, she said. She has introduced legislation that would provide tax credits to developers who build affordable housing. Abandoned buildings in the cities also should be rehabilitated to provide for affordable housing, she said.
It is also important to provide health care insurance to low-income families, Sen. Turner said. Those families could see a private physician when they need medical attention, rather than wait to see a hospital emergency room doctor when a health problem worsens, she said.
Getting tractor-trailer trucks off local roads and back onto the N.J. Turnpike is another goal, Sen. Turner said. She favors cutting tolls on the Turnpike by 50 percent to encourage trucks to use that road instead of Route 206, Route 29 or Route 31.
Sen. Turner said she has not given up on legislation that she proposed several years ago. She introduced a bill that would have assessed impact fees on developers, providing money for new schools, for example. But that bill died in the state Assembly.
She also introduced a bill that would allow towns to adopt timed-growth ordinances, where new developments could not proceed until adequate roads and other infrastructure are in place, she said. Such legislation would channel development into urban areas, where roads and sewers are in place, she said, thereby preserving open space in suburban towns.
Although Sen. Turner belongs to the minority party in the Republican-controlled state Legislature, she said she has accomplished a list of achievements of which she is proud.
For example, Sen. Turner was a co-sponsor of legislation, recently signed into law, that holds HMOs responsible when they deny treatment to their members. The new law allows patients to appeal the HMOs’ decision in court.
The senator also was responsible for a new law that created the Women’s Micro-Business Credit Program. It offers loans of up to $5,000 to low-income women to help them set up home-based businesses. The goal is to help the women escape from welfare dependency and poverty by starting up their own businesses, she said.
And Sen. Turner is proud of her role in banning 102-inch-wide tractor-trailer trucks from Route 29. Now, she wants to adopt legislation that would ban 96-inch-wide trucks from that road, as well as a new law that would allow local police officers to inspect trucks. Currently, trucks can only be inspected by the New Jersey State Police.

