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Six state Senate Committees will meet Monday to discuss topics ranging from the nomination of Paula Dow to serve as state attorney general, to a recent audit of Atlantic City municipal government by the state comptroller's office, to the best way to move forward with the state's obligation to provide access to affordable housing.

The Judiciary Committee will meet at 1:00 p.m.in the Statehouse Annex to consider the nomination of Dow to serve as attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, Dow would be the first African-American woman to serve as the state's top law enforcement official. Dow is presently serving as acting attorney general and is the former Essex County prosecutor.

The State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee is scheduled to convene at 1:00 p.m. to hear testimony from State Comptroller Matthew Boxer on his office's audit report on financial mismanagement in Atlantic City's government. Committee chairman Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic) and a former Atlantic City mayor, called for the hearing to determine if the state needs to play a larger role in the day-to-day operations of the city's government.

The committee will also consider a constitutional amendment sponsored by Senators Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union) and Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) that would allow for in-person and account wagering on sports events at Atlantic City casinos and racetracks. The lawmakers have previously called on Congress to repeal the federal ban on sports wagering in order to allow New Jersey casinos to continue to be competitive against gaming interests in neighboring states, and Lesniak is leading a federal lawsuit effort to overturn the sports betting ban. They argue that a constitutional amendment is needed now so that the authorizing language is in place should they be successful in their efforts to overturn the federal ban.

The Economic Growth Committee, chaired by Lesniak, will meet at 10:30 a.m.to consider, for discussion only, his bill to abolish the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), and create what he argues would be a fairer, more effective mechanism for meeting the state's affordable housing goals. The hearing willbe the second on the measure, with a vote to be taken at a later date. Lesniak stressed that the bill is still "a work in progress," and noted that he was open to input from all sides to ensure his proposal is more successful than what he described as COAH's failed bureaucracy.

The Education Committee is scheduled to meet at 10:00 a.m.to consider legislation sponsored by Senators Ronald L. Rice (D-Essex) and Sandra Bolden Cunningham (D-Hudson) to require the New Jersey Schools Development Authority to compile and report information about contracts awarded to minority and female contractors. New Jersey already has a law requiring that a portion of publicly-financed contracts in the Garden State be set aside for contracting firms owned by women and minorities, and this bill would require the Schools Development Authority to report compliance with that law.

Similar legislation sponsored by Rice to expand the contracting standards to minority and women-owned financial institutions in New Jersey will be considered before the State Government Committee at 1 p.m.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM