Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblyman Raj Mukherji Introduce Bill to Make September 11 a State Holiday

OCEAN – Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblyman Raj Mukherji today introduced legislation to make September 11 a state holiday to be known as “9/11 Remembrance Day”.

“Nearly 3,000 of our countrymen and women were killed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. New Jersey lost 750 people that day, including 147 from my home county, Monmouth,” said Gopal, D-Monmouth. “Even 21 years later, those losses are still heartbreaking. We must never forget our fellow citizens lost in the towers, at the Pentagon, and on Flight 93.”

Gopal thanked the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners for passing a resolution in support of making September 11 a state holiday. 

Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson), who enlisted in the U.S. Marines two weeks after the September 11th attacks and sponsored the legislation in the Assembly, said 9/11 Remembrance Day would also honor all of the first responders and volunteers from New Jersey.

“By designating ‘9/11 Remembrance Day’ a state holiday, we will create a day of remembrance to ensure that our children’s children have an occasion to proactively remember all those whose lives were taken that day as well as commemorate all of the law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders from our state who ran towards danger and conducted rescue and recovery efforts without qualms,” Mukherji said.

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Senator Vin Gopal serves as Senate Majority Conference Leader and Chair of the Senate Education Committee. Elected in 2018, a lifelong resident of Monmouth County, Senator Gopal represents residents of Asbury Park, Allenhurst, Colts Neck, Deal, Eatontown, Freehold, Freehold Township, Interlaken, Loch Arbor, Long Branch, Neptune City, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank, Tinton Falls, Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury Township, and West Long Branch in the State Senate.