Assemblyman John F. McKeon was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 2001. From 1998 – 2010 he also served as Mayor of West Orange and as a member of the Town Council from 1992-1998. Assemblyman McKeon is the former Chairman of the Environment and Solid Waste Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and served as a co-chair of the Legislature’s Water Infrastructure Task Force. He currently serves as Chairman of the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, and is a member of Budget Committee, Judiciary Committee, Environment and Solid Waste Committee, and the Intergovernmental Relations Commission.
The Assemblyman is one of the state’s leading legislative advocates for protecting New Jersey’s environment. In 2004, he authored the historic Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act to safeguard thousands of acres of land in the Highlands Region the source of drinking water for half the state’s residents. More recently, in 2014 he played a pivotal role as the Assembly’s prime sponsor and biggest advocate of a referendum passed by voters that creates the first permanent source of funding for the preservation and stewardship of open spaces, farmlands, historic sites, parks and waterways. He also led the way for the implementation legislation that passed in 2016 to make sure the money collected for the funds are distributed as intended by the voters. John has strengthened New Jersey’s nationally renowned recycling programs by sponsoring the Recycling Enhancement Act and getting the strongest electronic waste recycling bill in the nation passed and signed into law in 2017. He was a prime sponsor of the landmark Global Warming Response Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – which set a mandatory cap on greenhouse emissions of carbon dioxide.
Last session (2021-2022), he led the fight for the Environmental Justice Bill, and the Plastic Bag Ban, both which aim at ending environmental racism and protecting New Jersey for generations to come.
Assemblyman McKeon was raised in the Townships of Orange and West Orange, where he graduated from West Orange Mountain High School. He is a graduate of Muhlenberg College and Seton Hall University School of Law. He currently resides in West Orange with his wife, Ann Mader McKeon, Esq. and has three daughters, Lacey, Melissa and Jaclyn and one granddaughter.