Shirley (Shirley) K. Turner (D-SS15)
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Capitol: 609.847.3915
FAX: 609.633.7254
District: 609.323.7239
District FAX: 609.323.7633
Senator
State House 125 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08625-1101

District Office:
1230 Parkway Avenue
Ewing, NJ 08628
Elected: 1997    Next Election: 2027
Spouse: Donald Turner   
Committee Assignments
Vice ChairSenate Committee on Economic Growth
Vice ChairSenate Committee on Education
MemberSenate Committee on State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation
MemberJoint Committee on the Public Schools
MemberJoint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity
Counties Representing
Hunterdon / Mercer

Bio

Ms. Turner is serving her seventh term in the Senate. She previously served in the Assembly from 1994 to 1998. She is a former Mercer County freeholder and freeholder vice president.

The senator retired from Rider University in Lawrence after 44 years of service. She received a bachelor's degree in education from Trenton State College and a master's in guidance and counseling from Rider University. She has earned doctoral credits in education at Rutgers University.

Senator Turner's legislative initiatives include mandating insurance company coverage of minimum hospital stays for women undergoing mastectomies and childbirth, providing MicroCredit Business loans for women, and protecting consumers from identity theft and unwanted telemarketing calls. She also sponsored a law that prevents publicly-funded jobs from being outsourced to foreign countries and was the prime sponsor of the constitutional amendment, approved by voters in 2013, that raised the minimum wage with an annual cost-of-living adjustment.

The senator has sponsored legislation to reduce crime by keeping violent, repeat offenders behind bars and requiring suspected gang members and drug dealers to prove their bail money is from legal sources. She helped to create and expand drug court programs statewide for first-time, non-violent offenders.

As a career educator, the senator has sponsored numerous laws to improve the quality of education and make higher education opportunities more affordable and accessible to all students. She has also been a leader on civil rights issues, introducing legislation to eliminate racial profiling and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the community. She also sponsored the law that abolished the death penalty in New Jersey, replacing it with life imprisonment.

Senator Turner serves on the Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the State Council for Adult Literacy Education Services, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. She is a commissioner of the Education Commission of the States and serves on the organization's steering and finance committees.

Senator Turner and her husband, Donald, have two children, Jacqueline and Chet, and five grandchildren, Deron, Briana, Bryson, Faith and Chandler.








Municipal Association of South Carolina
1411 Gervais St., PO Box 12109, Columbia, SC 29211
Phone: 803.799.9574, Fax: 803.933.1299, mail@masc.sc