As the year comes to an end, there are many legislative actions that have taken place in Trenton.

To look back on 2024 was a consequential year in many ways, with court cases that reshaped the electoral process.

Two laws passed that changed the public's access to government records.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a look back at the laws that have had the greatest impact and those that well did in.

The past two years have had a Jekyll and Hyde feel to them in the state legislature.

For every corporate transit fee and historic affordable housing law applauded, you get a bill that guts the Open Public Records Act and the Elections Law Enforcement Commission, and two that miles of the New Jersey Working Families Party has had a front row seat.

I'm not going to say that they always do the anti-Democratic, always do the anti progress thing.

Right.

We've had some good things move through the state of New Jersey over the last two years, but it seems that the wave that the legislature legislates always has to uphold.

Who's going to get the next lucrative contract?

How can we retain power for ourselves?

And I think that that is evidence.

To wit, the assembly's near unanimous vote on the bill to reform the state's ballot, design.

Its answer to the lawsuit that basically killed the so-called party line and the advantages it bestowed on party candidates.

Not everyone loved it.

And some of the provisions that were left out like random izing the ballot positions and taking the ballot position selection process literally out of the hands of county clerks were seen as undemocratic.

Clearly, the legislature is in self-protection mode here.

They are acting in their self-interest like we all do.

You know, they are all people who run for office and they don't want to face more challengers than they need to face.

And that appears to have made necessary an accompanying bill to increase the number of signatures required to get on the ballot, an effort to guard against illegitimate candidates.

It was sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald of South Jersey.

In response, he said two concerns raised during the ballot design committee hearings.

It was widely noted by critics that dummy candidates are as common in South Jersey as Jersey Shore Taffy.

Petition requirements are intended to establish a necessary base level support to demonstrate that seriousness.

The Supreme Court has long recognized the state's interest in requiring candidates to demonstrate substantial support before appearing on the ballot in order to prevent an excess of unserious candidates from confusing voters eroding its confidence and its representative democracy.

There wasn't anybody advocating for making it more difficult to get on the ballot.

To summarize, that is one of the key points of what came out of that is legitimately ludicrous.

The overwhelming position of those hearings was that it needs to be more accessible to your average person to get on the ballot.

Speaker Craig Coffman praised members for their work in coming up with a bill that he believes will stand up to court scrutiny and with a wide open governor's race in 2025.

Getting an acceptable bill through this year was important, he added.

But anybody who thinks that there's not going, it's not going to be different than any other year is is this fooling himself?

Right?

I mean, we're going to have candidates are going to have diverse positions.

We're going to have to try to make sure that we stay focused on the things that are reflect on New Jersey values that are consistent with what we have done.

All of us like to talk about the governor's race, but all all all seats in the state assembly are also up for grabs.

And the conventional wisdom in that is to not pass anything that may be too controversial in an election year.

The ballot bill hasn't made its way to the state Senate yet, but if self-preservation is a bicameral thing, it should make it through the upper house without many changes.

The heavy lifting apparently already having been done.

David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.