By Vin Gopal

Asbury Park Press, February 12, 2023

When the state Department of Education recently announced the release of stabilization aid to 16 Monmouth County school districts, it was good news for taxpayers as well as students and educators.

I was proud to see my sponsorship of $30 million in stabilization aid for districts losing funding due to declining enrollment has just been released by the state Department of Education. Six districts in our area have been awarded.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year as we enter 2023. I want to share my goals and priorities, including affordability, equity and safety for all residents.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ - Senate Education Committee Chair Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, Monday praised the New Jersey Department of Education’s decision requiring local education agencies to begin collecting data concerning the use of restraint and seclusion techniques on students.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ - Three towns in Legislative District 11 will receive more than $1 million combined in state funding to improve the safety and accessibility of their public transportation, State Senator Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, noted Monday.

Trenton – Legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz that would require state agencies to update demographic collection methods on Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian and Indian Diaspora residents in the state advanced out of the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee.

Asbury Park Press, November 2, 2022

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New Jersey state Sens. Vin Gopal and Declan J. O'Scanlon Jr. are a bit of an anomaly in this polarized political world: two representatives from different parties who like and respect each other.

How do Gopal, a committed Democrat, and O'Scanlon, a proud Republican, find ways to get along?

The Link News, October 19, 2022

Each government entity at the state and local levels in New Jersey would be required to conduct a review of its cybersecurity systems and make recommendations for any needed security improvements, under terms of legislation approved by the Senate today.

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal that would require Medicaid reimbursement for covered behavioral health services provided by a local education agency to any student who is who is eligible as a Medicaid beneficiary advanced out of the Senate Education Committee.

FY23 State Budget Appropriates $12 Million for Program to Expand Integrated Delivery of Youth Mental Health Care

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ - A growing number of young people experience mental health problems, a nationwide behavioral health crisis that is impacting New Jersey’s youth to devastating effect and even more so following the Covid-19 pandemic.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ - Amid a steep rise in auto-thefts statewide, Senator Vin Gopal, D-Long Branch, and Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, D-Newark, have partnered on two bills that would strengthen penalties for car thieves and promote prevention efforts across New Jersey.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ - A bi-partisan group of state lawmakers including Senator Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch), Senator Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro), Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver), and Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park) introduced legislation this week that would ease the restrictions imposed on the state’s breweries by the New Jersey Division of Alcohol Beverage Control’s new rules.  

TRENTON – In an effort to incentivize the hiring and continued employment of certain individuals in recovery from substance use disorder, the Senate Economic Growth Committee advanced legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal and Senator Jean Stanfield that would establish the “Recovery Tax Credit Program” within the Department of Human Services.

“People who have struggled with addiction have sometimes found difficulty in landing or keeping a job, even in good hiring climates,” said Senator Gopal (D-Monmouth). “When someone is in recovery, they need all the support they can receive, from their families, their communities, and their employers.”