TRENTON, N.J. _ At long last, New Jersey is the "Garden State," at least in the eyes of the law.
Just hours before he and his family head overseas for a 10-day summer vacation, Gov. Chris Christie on Monday signed 50 bills into law, including one inspired by a Girl Scout troop who wondered why New Jersey had an official state bird, state flower, state shell, state dinosaur and even a state tall ship _ but no state slogan.
A law requiring "Garden State" to appear on New Jersey license plates was enacted in 1954, but until now the phrase had not received special legal status.
Also added Monday to the list of official state things is the striped bass, which is now the state saltwater fish. To make way for the bass, the brook trout was knocked from its perch as the state fish and is now merely the state freshwater fish.
Christie also acted on bills of slightly more consequence, including one, S-2153, directing the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to study options for constructing a rail station at the Vince Lombardi park and ride facility in Ridgefield, which would connect the existing rail station in Hawthorne with the light rail station at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen.
The authority is required to submit its report within a year.
Other bills Christie signed Monday include:
_S-1739/A-2167, requiring law enforcement officers to attend training every three years on the handling, investigation and response procedures for reports of sexual assault
_S-1640/A-3152, making it a crime to "cruelly restrain" a dog or leave pets exposed to excessively hot or freezing temperatures without proper shelter
_S-1326/A-1199, allowing witnesses or victims of any age to testify by closed circuit television in prosecutions for a crime involving domestic violence, certain sex crimes or crimes involving the abuse or neglect of a child
_S-3021/A-3908, directing the Division of Travel and Tourism to publish online a 9/11 Memorial Registry with the location of all 9/11 memorials owned, operated or maintained by a governmental entity in New Jersey
_S-156/A-2176, criminalizing the possession and sale of the designer drug known as "flakka" or "flocka," which is related to "bath salts" and frequently marketed as a legal alternative to cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy
