Lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed: Gov. Chris Christie should stay the heck out of Island Beach State Park during a state government shutdown.

The state Assembly, by a 63-2 vote, with two abstentions, approved a bill Monday that prohibits use of the governor's beach house in the event of a government shutdown. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, awaits Senate approval and Christie's likely veto. Efforts to reach the governor's office were not immediately successful.

"Gov. Christie said he went to the beach during the shutdown to honor his obligation to his family," Wisniewski, a Democrat from Middlesex, said in a release. "Well, there were several other fathers in New Jersey who wanted to take their families out to that very same beach that weekend but were turned away."

Christie's infamous foray to the beach in early July sparked a firestorm of criticism just as his approval ratings are the lowest for any New Jersey governor in recorded history. During a state government shutdown that lasted through July 4 weekend, NJ Advance Media caught the governor sitting on the state-run beach with his family and took snapshots.

The Beachgate incident also sparked a number of internet memes, using Christie's image in the sun as a prop for photos with Forrest Gump and many others. Read more: Christie Beach Photo Spawns Epic Internet Meme

The bill (A-5132) would prohibit the use of any residential property owned by the state and provided exclusively or primarily for the governor's use – including the beach house at Island Beach State Park – during a state budget-related government shutdown.



The prohibition would apply to the governor, the governor's family or any other person or entity.

"If a beach is closed because of a state shutdown, it ought to be closed to everybody," said Wisniewski. "Having it open to the governor and his guests while it's closed to all the other New Jersey residents who are paying for them to be there isn't right and it isn't fair." The measure would not apply to Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton.