S 497 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Designates portion of State Highway Route 35 in Laurence Harbor as "James Francisco and Walter Schmidt Memorial Roadway."

This bill designates a specific segment of State Highway Route 35 in Laurence Harbor (from milepost 45.37 to 47.26) as the "James Francisco and Walter Schmidt Memorial Roadway" to honor two New Jersey veterans who died in the Vietnam War. It requires the Commissioner of Transportation to install signs bearing this name but prohibits using public funds for the signs. Instead, the bill allows the state to accept private funding from organizations or individuals to cover the costs of producing, installing, and maintaining the signage. The legislation takes effect immediately upon passage.

Issues: ✓ Veterans

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Jun 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

General Assembly Passage

Jun 2026

Signed into Law

Jul 2026

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Signed Jul 22, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Technical Review Of Prefiled Bill → Introduced · 4 edits · Jan 13, 2026

MODERATE

This diff reflects the transition of S497 from a technical review version to its introduced version. The changes are primarily administrative: the bill status was updated, sponsor information was cleaned up, and a standard legislative statement explaining the bill's purpose was added. No substantive policy changes were made.

TECHNICAL

Bill status changed from 'As reported by the Senate Transportation Committee with technical review' to 'Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel,' reflecting the bill moving through the legislative process.

Several Assemblyman sponsor names and district listings (Clifton, Sauickie, Fantasia, Inganamort, Carter) were removed from the header section as part of formatting cleanup.

A standard STATEMENT section was added at the end summarizing the bill's purpose: designating a portion of State Highway Route 35 in Laurence Harbor as the 'James Francisco and Walter Schmidt Memorial Roadway' and explaining that only private funds may be used for signage.

Minor punctuation change removing a comma in 'including, but not limited to' to read 'including but not limited to.'

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jun 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Assembly (Passed Both Houses) (79-0-0)

lower

Jun 1, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Committee

Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by the Senate (37-0)

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Transportation Committee

upper

3 primary · 3 co-sponsors