NJ Senate President Says We Must Learn Lessons From Sandy [AUDIO]

The lessons from super-storm Sandy are clear and the State of New Jersey must learn from them according to Democratic State Senate President Steve Sweeney.

He thinks if we don't learn from our all-too-recent history we are doomed to repeat it. Sweeney says he's working in a bi-partisan fashion with Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean to figure out what we can and must do better.

We've all heard about gas stations with fuel that couldn't be pumped because there was no power, but Sweeney says that's just the tip of the iceberg.

He explains, "There were seniors trapped 30 floors up because the elevators were out (due to power loss)…….My brother is the head of an emergency room in central New Jersey and he told me (some) places that provide kidney dialysis (have) no back-up generators."

Sweeney says, "We can do something about this stuff. We absolutely can do something and we're going to."

The Senate President says he had a bill in place long before Sandy requiring gas stations to have back-up generators. He's hoping to have that legislation passed and he's working with Kean to usher through measures requiring back-up power in every location where it's necessary.

"Another thing we're going to do is we're going to have a hearing in the near future and we're going to bring in the utilities," says Sweeney. "There have been a lot of lessons learned and the one thing you don't do is exactly what you've always done which is put it back the way it was."

Sweeney says he and Kean have agreed to get these things accomplished for the people of New Jersey. He says, "We both know we're not in it for the headlines."