Health
Bill Establishes Reproductive Health Travel Advisory for New Jerseyans – On September 23rd, Senator John Burzichelli introduced Bill S3663, which would require the New Jersey State Department to maintain descriptions of other states’ abortion and reproductive health care services and establish a reproductive health travel registry for residents. The registry would categorize states based on their abortion laws, with blue indicating accessible care, yellow signaling the risk of civil or criminal charges, and red warning of the potential denial of abortion care. The effort comes in response to post-Roe v. Wade abortion restrictions nationwide.
Misinformation Penalties for Health Care Workers (Approved by Assembly Panel) – On September 23rd, the state Assembly Health Committee advanced Bill A1884 with a 5-3 vote, which allows professional boards to levy misconduct charges against medical practitioners sharing misinformation or making false health claims to their patients. The bill does not explicitly define penalties for misconduct and allows each board to establish its own regulations. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Herb Conaway stated the bill would address growing misinformation concerns across the health care space following the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill has faced opposition from anti-vaccine activists, who argue it could hinder doctors from treating patients effectively.
Public Administration
Codifying Guidelines for NJ Police Investigations of Bias Incidents – On September 19th, the Assembly Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance Bill A1921, which would codify the state’s guidance for police bias incident investigations. Currently, the guidelines are attorney general office directives, not formalized under state law. The bill mandates law enforcement agencies report bias incidents to a statewide crime system within 24 hours of first contact with victims and notify the bias crimes unit for violent cases. The bill also requires the Division of Criminal Justice to provide ongoing bias incident training for officers. This bill advances amid rising bias incidents across New Jersey, with state bias incidents increasing to 1,885 cases in 2021, 2,211 cases in 2022, and likely higher counts still in 2023, based on preliminary data.
Assembly Passes Bills Tackling the ‘Structurally Racist’ System of Awarding Public Contracts – On September 23rd, the state Assembly Community Development and Women’s Affairs Committee unanimously passed 12 bills aimed at reducing racial and gender disparities in awarding public contracts. The bills advanced on Monday aim to support minority- and women-owned businesses by setting a 30% state contract award goal for disadvantaged businesses, requiring outreach and training programs offered to minority- and women-owned businesses, and mandating the Treasury conduct a procurement disparity study every five years. Additionally, key state agencies must consider minorities and women in hiring and contract awards and tax credits will be offered to employers hiring individuals with certain disabilities. Opposition came from industry lobbyists who, while supporting the overall intent of the bills, argued they do not focus on the “root causes” of the disparity in awarding contracts, such as overregulation and the lack of minority- and women-owned businesses in the state.
These bills followed a state-commissioned disparity study released in January which found that woman-owned businesses, despite making up nearly 38% of the sector, received less than 10% of state spending on professional services contracts. Similarly, minority-owned businesses, which represent 28% of construction firms, were awarded less than 4% of contracts for projects valued between $65,000 and $5.7 million.
Cannabis
Lawsuit Filed Against New Law Restricting Hemp Sales – On September 24th, several hemp businesses filed a lawsuit against a new law that restricts businesses without a cannabis license from selling hemp products. The law would criminalize hemp sales across stores in the state, including products containing less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, which is legal under federal law. Plaintiffs argue that these restrictions will result in immediate and irreparable financial harm, leading to business closures and layoffs. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill over two weeks ago despite uncertainty about its effect on the hemp industry, citing an immediate need to keep unregulated hemp products away from children. Under the new law, businesses have until October 12th to pull all hemp products, including CBD lotions, hemp drinks, and delta-8 gummies, from their stores. The state Cannabis Regulatory Commission has around six months to establish rules and guidelines on issuing licenses to retailers.