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Governor Chris Christie will offer a eulogy Tuesday instead of his State of the State Address after his friend and political mentor, Assemblyman Alex DeCroce died at the Capitol early this morning as the two-year legislative session was coming to a close.

DeCroce died of unknown causes just as he and his fellow lawmakers passed dozens of bills on the last day of the lame duck session.  If signed by the governor, the new laws include:

• Teen Driving: Parents would have to take a 90-minute class before their child can obtain a license. 
• For Profit Schools: Companies would be able to build and operate schools in the state's three largest cities: Newark, Camden and Trenton.
• Gambling: Off-track betting will be available in some restaurants and bars, and if the state can get federal approval, it will allow betting on sporting events. 
• Water Quality: Builders won't need to meet stringent clean water regulations for new sewer lines, a measure vigorously opposed by environmentalists and the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection.
• School Budgets: Local voters will now cast their yea or nay during the general election, which draws greatly higher turnout.
• Minimum Wage: Workers would get a raise from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. Another bill will let individuals can get hitched in New Jersey with no-wait marriage licenses. That's if they're heterosexual. But Democrats also announced Monday their legislative priority for 2012 will be a gay marriage bill.

Lost in the blizzard of lawmaking Monday was also a flurry of bill vetoes and signings by Christie. He vetoed a bill that would have made hypodermic needles available in drug stores without a prescription.

It's a widely-used service for preventing the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users in other states. He signed a bill making it a felony to delay reporting the disappearance of a child and the use of open-space funds to allow towns to buy flood-prone homes.