Senator Gill is one of the Legislature’s most forceful advocates for women and children. 

Voterzview.com has described Senator Gill as “without question, one of the smartest and most decent officeholders in the State.” 

Senator Gill sponsored the first law in the nation to criminalize the practice of racial profiling.  She sponsored the law making human trafficking a crime, one of the toughest in the nation.  She sponsored the law that expands health insurance coverage for young adults from the age of 18 to 30, capturing more than 100,000 uninsured individuals in New Jersey.  She sponsored the laws which now require a voter-verified paper record for electronic voting machines, along with a random mandatory audit - the first statistical based audit for voting machines in the country.  Senator Gill was a sponsor of legislation abolishing New Jersey’s death penalty. She has also secured significant funding for community based organizations that provide services to women and children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. 

In order to prevent the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New Jersey, Senator Gill sponsored of The Blood-borne Disease Harm Reduction Act, which would allow municipalities to establish needle exchange programs under state supervision.  New Jersey was the last state in the nation to enact legislation allowing access to sterile syringes as part of a comprehensive plan to fight this epidemic.  

Since New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation and rebates have not successfully addressed the issue, Senator Gill has sponsored legislation for a special session of the Legislature devoted to property tax reform.  She has sponsored legislation to allow families to receive up to $3,000 in tax credits for the care of an elderly relative.  She has sponsored legislation to make more seniors and disabled residents eligible for low-cost prescription drugs. She has sponsored legislation for fair funding for all school districts. 

In reaction to the crisis in Dafur, Senator Gill sponsored the law making New Jersey one of the first two states in the nation to prohibit the investment of state pension funds in companies that conduct business in Sudan. 

Recently in response to the subprime mortgage crisis, Senator Gill has introduced the “Save New Jersey Home Act of 2008.”  This legislation specifically requires creditors to provide a three year period of extension to borrowers who are obligated to repay introductory rate mortgage loans on residential properties under certain circumstances, and requires the creditor to provide to a series of written notices to eligible borrowers prior to any interest rate reset. 
 

Senator Gill served four terms in the Assembly prior to being elected to the Senate in November, 2001.  Senator Gill serves as the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, and she is the first woman and African American to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Senator Gill was born March 15, 1948, in Glen Ridge and is a graduate of Upsala College and Rutgers University School of Law. She is a member of the New Jersey State and federal bars, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, where membership is limited to trial lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill and excellence in advocacy by achieving a trial verdict award in the amount of one million dollars or more.  She is currently a partner in the Montclair law firm of Gill and Cohen, P.C.  

Senator Gill is the recipient of numerous awards. She was honored in Selma, Alabama as one of “100 Women in the 20th Century” who contributed to the struggle for civil rights, the New Jersey Monthly magazine “Profiles in Courage”, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association “Women of the Year,” and the Outstanding Contributions to Women and Families Award.  In 2005 the International Affairs Division of the United Nations presented Senator Gill with its “Distinguished International Award” when she addressed the United Nations Program Initiative “Gender Equality:  Empowerment of Women-Health, Education, Leadership and Economic Development.”  Recognized as a national leader on women’s issues, Senator Gill is a 2006 graduate of the Center for Women Policy Studies’ Foreign Policy Institute for State Legislators.  In 2008 Senator Gill was also a recipient of the New Jersey State Bar Association‘s First Annual Robert B. Meyner Award for Exceptional Advocacy and Legislative Efforts. 

She is mother of an adult son, and a grandmother.