Submitted by the candidate
When Senator Turner was elected to serve in the Legislature, she went with a commitment to all residents of the 15th District. She has helped to improve child safety, consumer protection, public health, education, ethics, and efficiency in government services.
As chair of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Turner was the prime sponsor of S1431, establishing a new state monitoring system and A2684, establishing fiscal oversight and accountability for public school districts. She cosponsored S1192 and S2905, for improved access to higher education through the NJ STARS program.
Senator Turner received national acclaim for her efforts to combat outsourcing. She was the prime sponsor of S494, requiring all services under State contract or subcontract be performed in the U.S. As a result, one company reopened its offices in Camden.
She is a strong proponent of environmental legislation, including c-sponsorship of the Global Warming Response Act to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions levels and 20 other bills preserving hundreds of thousands of open space and farmland.
She is a prime sponsor of S171, which would abolish the death penalty and S709, creating the death penalty study commission.
Shirley Turner has been a leader in consumer protection and was the prime sponsor of A727, prohibiting unsolicited telemarketing calls, and A4001, providing greater identity theft protections.
As a strong advocate for public health issues, she was the first legislator to call for elimination of smoking in public places and co-sponsored S1926 to establish the Smoke Free Air Act. She was also the prime sponsor of S1218, establishing nutrition guidelines for public schools to combat childhood obesity. Her efforts have also required mandatory minimum hospital stays for breast cancer surgery (S1704), maternity care (A2224) and health insurance coverage Pap smears (S516). She was a co-sponsor of S2236, expanding eligibility for the NJ FamilyCare Program for parents and adults without insurance.
Senator Turner was the prime sponsor of A1 and a cosponsor of A100, which established Fair and Clean Elections in the 2005 and 2007 elections. She co-sponsored A4326 to ban dual office holding.
She is the prime sponsor of S756 to authorize a constitutional convention to reform our state’s system of property taxation. She supports creating an equitable funding formula that would provide a fair system of educational support for all students. She has made a number of proposals to help generate other revenue to help fund education and government services and to help relieve the burden on residents. Her bill S739 would require developers to pay their fair share for school costs.
Her bill, S2072 would increase the casino revenue tax, now eight percent — far below Pennsylvania’s 55 percent.
One revenue generating idea that she does not support is that of selling or leasing New Jersey’s toll roads. Monetization jeopardizes the long-term wellbeing of our state’s residents. It is a long term economic and security risk.
She supports consolidation of municipalities and school districts to encourage sharing of education and services at all levels of government. She supports eliminating boards, commissions, and agencies that provide duplicative services and increase administrative costs. Her bills S1546, S2110 and S2111 would shift certain elections to help spare taxpayers extra costs.
Senator Turner received her graduate and undergraduate degrees from Trenton State College and Rider University.
She and her husband Donald have two children and five grandchildren.
