serve as Majority Leader on November 8, 2007. In December 2016, Sweeney was one of several Catholic elected officials who supported legislation legalizing assisted suicide, saying that state residents should be able to make their own decisions on a topic in which "the church takes positions that are not necessarily mainstream". Committees Joint Budget Oversight Budget and Appropriations Legislative Services Commission Senate Presidency On the afternoon of November 23, 2009, New Jersey Senate Democrats chose Sweeney as State Senate President over the incumbent, former governor Richard Codey. He took office on January 12, 2010. In the absence of the governor and lieutenant governor, Sweeney served as acting governor of New Jersey during the eastern seaboard storm of December 2010. In January 2010, Sweeney abstained when the New Jersey Senate voted on the question of allowing same-sex couples to marry. The bill was not passed. Sweeney later called his abstention a mistake and said that the issue was a civil rights issue, not a religious issue. In 2012, Sweeney was one of the prime sponsors of legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage. The bill was approved in both houses of the Legislature, but was ultimately vetoed by Governor Chris Christie; Christie favored putting the issue up for public referendum. In 2010, Sweeney helped design and pass thirty bills, known collectively as "Back to Work NJ," that aimed to help create jobs and economic growth in New Jersey. In 2011, Sweeney proposed sweeping reforms to the public employee pension and health benefits systems that he estimates would save taxpayers over $120 billion over a 30-year period. Sweeney also helped craft the state's two-percent property tax cap in order to control rising property taxes. Sweeney was named as a "Politician Who's Ahead of the Curve" by Philadelphia Magazine in 2011 for his continued support of shared services between local government units. With Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. and fellow Democrat Raymond Lesniak, Sweeney sponsored Senate Bill S2664, the "Market Competition and Consumer Choice Act" in 2011, which Verizon said would encourage the firm to create additional jobs in the state. Following Governor Christie's use of the line item veto on the state's 2011 budget, Sweeney was quoted by The Star-Ledger as being "incensed". Two days later, Sweeney was unapologetic about what The Star-Ledger described as a "tirade" against Christie, saying "[...] I don't apologize for it. The governor was wrong to hurt people", in