Deputy Mayor, Mukherji declined the $110,056 salary and a city-issued car, instead opting to earn one dollar per year due to "the austere economic climate." Mukherji was previously appointed by then-U.S. Senator Jon Corzine to his Military Academy Board in 2003. In 2004, Governor Jim McGreevey appointed him to the Governor's Council on Volunteerism and Community Service. He was also a Superior Court-appointed member of the Juvenile Conference Committee. Legislative career In the Assembly, Mukherji has been a primary sponsor of dozens of bills that passed both houses and were signed into law, including: Enacting a comprehensive, bipartisan overhaul of the state's outdated and ineffective bail system and expanding legal aid for low-income New Jerseyans; Combating the state's heroin, opiate, and prescription drug addiction epidemic by requiring physicians and pharmacists to access the state's Prescription Monitoring Program to prevent "doctor shopping;" Making New Jersey the first state in the United States to enact a ban on ivory commerce (in an effort to thwart profits for poachers and wildlife traffickers and to protect elephants and other endangered or threatened species), which effort garnered public support for Mukherji's ivory ban legislation by actress Meryl Streep and musician Billy Joel and inspired similar prohibitions in other states; Legislation expanding the state's Drug Court programs and creating a substance abuse recovery housing program at NJ's four-year public colleges and universities with on-campus housing in order to provide a supportive substance-free dormitory environment that recognizes the unique risks and challenges faced by recovering students, along with other legislation expanding access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and recovery services; Repealing prohibitions on sports betting in New Jersey to help Atlantic City's gaming industry rebound; "The Parkinson's Disease Public Awareness and Education Act," a first-in-the-nation law dedicating resources to create a public education and outreach campaign for Parkinson's disease diagnosis and treatment, inspiring a similar effort in Kansas; Combating bedbugs by requiring sanitation, protective, and labeling procedures in the sale of used mattresses and boxsprings; Legislation improving prison addiction recovery programs (allowing certain drug treatment programs to operate in state and county jails) to help break the cycle of recidivism; Creating criminal penalties for fatal hit-and-run boating accidents; Improving the state's higher education system, develop an advanced cyberinfrastructure plan, and initiate a Big Data consortium; and Securing state infrastructure investments for his home county of Hudson. Committees Committee assignments for the current session are: Judiciary,