[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        A TRIBUTE TO FORMER NEW JERSEY STATE SENATOR BYRON BAER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. STEVEN R. ROTHMAN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 26, 2007

  Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my good 
friend, Byron M. Baer, a successful and beloved figure in New Jersey 
politics. Mr. Baer died Sunday, June 24, 2007 of complications from 
congestive heart failure.
  Byron Baer, a 50-year resident of Englewood, NJ, was a legendary 
figure in Bergen County, and indeed, the entire Garden State. He served 
11 terms in the New Jersey State Assembly before winning the District 
37 State Senate seat in 1993. He served in this capacity with great 
distinction until illness forced his resignation in September 2005.
  He is perhaps best known for legislation he introduced in 1974, the 
``Open Pubic Meeting Act'' (or Sunshine Law), an Act requiring that 
official business be conducted in public forums and not behind closed 
doors. As a champion of open government, Byron Baer worked tirelessly 
with the media and his colleagues in the State government to ensure 
that open meetings would become a national model for all States. He was 
singularly honored in 2006 when the Act was renamed the ``Byron M. Baer 
Open Public Meetings Act.'' He was also inducted in the Open Government 
Hall of Fame on the recommendation of the National Freedom of 
Information Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists.
  Among his many notable legislative accomplishments were the enactment 
of the Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act, a law establishing safeguards 
to prevent chemical industry disasters; a truth-in-pricing law; and 
reestablishment of the Office of the Child Advocate, an independent 
watchdog of the state's child welfare system; and he was a primary 
sponsor of New Jersey's Identity Theft Prevention Act.
  His passing will leave an enormous void in the New Jersey political 
arena. Although declining health contributed to his retirement two 
years ago, he remained a respected and revered resource for state 
legislators in Trenton. Byron Baer was devoted to his constituency, and 
he was a full-time lawmaker. As such, he understood every word and 
nuance in the legislative process and he never gave up in his efforts 
to fight for the environment, organized labor, children, migrant 
workers, and the less fortunate in our society.
  I join with his many friends and colleagues in mourning his passing 
and I extend my heartfelt condolences to his beloved wife, Linda, his 
brother, Donald, his children David Baer and Laura Baer Levine, his 
stepchildren Lara Rodriguez and Roger Pollitt, and his three 
grandchildren. He was a great man and he will be greatly missed.

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