UPDATE: N.J. Assembly joins investigation into Murphy staffer sex assault scandal

New Jersey's Democrat-controlled state Senate will launch its own investigation into the sexual assault controversy surrounding Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy's administration, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney will announce Tuesday afternoon the upper house of the state Legislature is convening a special, bipartisan, six-member committee that will specifically examine how Murphy's team handled allegations that a senior staffer who has since resigned raped a woman while working on the Democrat's campaign last year.

More broadly, the panel will also look into the state government's hiring practices and background checks and conduct a review of New Jersey's laws and policies regarding sexual assault, abuse, and harassment allegations.

The committee is expected to hold public hearings.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said in a statement that the account of Katie Brennan, who accused former New Jersey Schools Development authority chief of staff Albert J. Alvarez of raping her last spring, was "heart-wrenching and repulsive."

"And the repeated failures of authorities to hear her voice and respond to her attempts to achieve justice made me frustrated and angry," added Sweeney, New Jersey's highest-ranking state lawmaker.

"We need a full accounting of what went wrong and what needs to be done so that sexual survivors are heard, that they are treated with respect and compassion, and that they can trust the system to provide justice," Sweeney continued.

The committee will be chaired by Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, New Jersey's highest-ranking woman state lawmaker.

It will also include three other Democrats (Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson; Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex; and Fred Madden, D-Gloucester) and two Republicans (Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, and Kristin Corrado, R-Passaic).

"We expect the full cooperation of the administration so that we can obtain a full accounting and take the necessary actions to prevent these abuses from happening again," Sweeney added.

It's unclear if the state Assembly, the lower house of the Legislature, will be involved in this probe, or if it will launch its own.

Liza Acevedo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, said: "As Speaker Coughlin stated yesterday, all options are on the table."

"That remains the case today," Acevedo added.

The move comes a day after Murphy announced he ordered an independent investigation into the hiring of Alvarez, who resigned from the schools authority Oct. 2 -- the same day the Wall Street Journal contacted him for comment on the accusations.

That probe will be headed by Peter Verniero, a former state Supreme Court justice and state attorney general.

"Sexual misconduct in any form is and will be continued to be treated by this administration with the utmost gravity," Murphy said during a news conference Monday. "Now we must lead and prove that commitment. Words are not enough."

Murphy also insisted the investigation will be thorough.

"Peter Verniero is a highly qualified a lawyer," the governor said. "This will be no whitewash."

But lawmakers from both parties in the Legislature have called for a separate legislative probe.

Republicans say that's needed to get to the bottom of why Alvarez kept his state job even as Brennan told Murphy's team three times about the allegations.

Alvarez worked as director of Latino and Muslim outreach for Murphy's campaign at the time of the alleged incident in April of 2017, while Brennan was a supporter of the campaign and later a volunteer. Brennan, 31, of Jersey City, is now chief of staff of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, was never charged with a crime.

Mahen Gunaratna, a Murphy spokesman, said Alvarez was hired for the schools authority job after the transition team learned a criminal investigation into the accusations produced no charges. Gunaratna said Alvarez passed a background check.

But Murphy said Monday that while his administration handled the situation according to protocol, Alvarez shouldn't have been hired for the state position.

Neither Alvarez nor his attorney, John Hogan, have returned messages seeking comment. Hogan denied the allegations in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

Weinberg, the state Senate majority leader, announced Monday she wanted a joint legislative committee to examine how to improve how state officials and law enforcement handle sexual assault allegations in the wake of Brennan's account.

Weinberg told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday she's not worried about Murphy's independent investigation being a "whitewash" but insisted the Legislature should also look into the situation.

"We kind of know what happened here," Weinberg said. "I'd like the Legislature to get on with its business. I don't need Peter Verniero to tell us what to do next."

"The way I feel about Peter Verniero is: I hope he answers any questions the governor might have," she added. "But I don't need to wait for him to tell me what's wrong."

Murphy also says his administration will examine how the state can strengthen laws and policies to protect sexual assault victims.

Dan Bryan, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday that Murphy "believes it is critical that there be a system in place that makes sexual assault survivors feel as though they can achieve a sense of justice."

"The governor has mandated a legal review of the transition hiring process, an internal review of the existing processes in state government for reporting sexual assault, and has directed the attorney general to review how these cases are handled by law enforcement," Bryan added. "While the governor is aware of actions being taken by the Legislature to review hiring practices and sexual misconduct allegations, he is confident that the three steps being taken by the administration will significantly help improve our current system."

The state Attorney General's Office has also assigned the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to review the case amid questions over how the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office handled it.

It's unclear whether the Senate committee will have subpoena power to compel witnesses to testify and hand over documents. Corrado, one of the Republican senators on the panel, said that's needed to be "truly effective."

Oroho, the other Republican on the committee, said the panel will investigate "important matters" that will "help us to protect our institutions of government and improve the ability of our state to provide justice to the victims of sexual assault."

Both houses of the Legislature -- the Senate and Assembly -- are controlled by Democrats. But Murphy has had a sometimes strained relationship with lawmakers from his own party. He and Sweeney especially have clashed at times.

Meanwhile, another Republican lawmaker on Tuesday called for New Jersey's U.S. attorney to oversee its own investigation into Murphy's hiring practices.

"History has proven that so-called independent investigations by past administrations into their own actions are fallible," Wirths, R-Sussex, said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.