January 14, 2024 – New Jersey State Policy Updates

Public Administration

Lame Duck Session Ends Without Action on Key Issues – The 2022-2023 legislative session concluded with a flurry of activity in the legislature and Gov. Murphy’s office, but several key issues remain on the docket for the next session, including a ban on smoking in casinos, expansion of affordable housing, liquor license reform, expanded paid family leave, a ban on book bans, revising the Open Public Records Act to curb data mining, and requiring age verification and parental permission to create accounts on social media. These issues may see more attention in 2024-2025. (NJ.com)

New Community Crisis Response Teams Offer Alternative to Policing – Gov. Murphy signed on Jan. 12 the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act, assembly bill A5326, codified as P.L.2023, c.259, which establishes a $12 million program to create community crisis response teams to handle mental health emergency calls in six NJ counties: Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Passaic. The legislation is in response to police killings of two Black men experiencing mental health crises, Najee Seabrooks in March 2023 and Andrew Washington in August 2023, and follows the expansion of ARRIVE Together, a program which pairs mental health workers with police officers on certain calls. (NJ.com) 

Murphy Signs ‘Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights’ – On Jan. 12, Gov. Murphy signed the New Jersey Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act (S723 codified as P.L.2023, c.262,) which establishes a set of protections and rights for around 50,000 domestic workers in the state who provide services for roughly a third of NJ families. The law establishes protection from discrimination and the right to unemployment, paid family leave, and workers’ compensation insurance as well as temporary disability benefits for workers who have been largely excluded from labor protections. Employers will face penalties for non-compliance. NJ is the 11th state to pass such legislation, and the new law will take effect in July. (NJ.com)

New Law Requires Translation of Government Documents into Seven Languages – Gov. Murphy signed S2459, codified as P.L.2023, c.263, on Jan. 12, which requires government agencies to offer forms, notices, and documents in seven of the most commonly spoken languages of the state. Currently, many documents are translated into Spanish, while 32.3% of NJ residents five and older speak a language other than English. The initiative will receive $500,000 in funding. (NJ.com)

 

Transportation and the Environment

Murphy Signs the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Management Act – The new Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Management Act, signed by Gov. Murphy on Jan. 8 and codified as P.L.2023, c.222, will require producers of electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries to develop practices to safely reuse, recycle, or dispose of batteries. Consumers will be able to take the used batteries to a location designated by the producer or to a Department of Environmental Protection recycling center – for free. The bill also prohibits the disposal of lithium-ion batteries in landfills and will take effect in one year. (Return on Information NJ)

Ban Enacted on PFA Firefighting Foam – Gov. Murphy signed A4125 on Jan. 8, which prohibits the sale, manufacture, distribution, and use of firefighting foam which contains perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl or PFA substances – known as forever chemicals – which do not decompose in nature and are linked to serious health conditions. Firefighters exposed to foams containing PFAs experience higher rates of cancer. Because the foam containing PFAs is highly effective and a sufficient alternative is still being developed, the ban will be phased in over two years for most facilities, four years for certain industrial facilities, or eight years for oil refineries and petroleum terminals. The legislation allocates $250,000 to the Department of Environmental Protection to assist municipal fire departments in disposing of existing PFA foam stock. (NJ Spotlight News)

 

Housing

Attorney General’s Office Announces Initiative to Stop Discrimination in Appraisals – On Dec. 12, the NJ Attorney General’s Office announced a new Home Appraisal Discrimination Initiative to prevent bias in property appraisals. The new initiative builds on efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce anti-discrimination legislation such as the Fair Share Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act. (NJ.com)

 

Health

New Law to Promote Menstrual Health Awareness – Murphy signed into law A3737, codified as P.L.2023, c.240, which calls on the state Department of Health to conduct a public awareness campaign about menstrual health, particularly conditions such as endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, which affect respectively 11% and 6-12% of people with uteruses in the U.S. and carry further health risks. (NJ Spotlight News)

New Law Enables More Mental Healthcare Workers to Bill Medicaid – Murphy signed S2716, codified as P.L.2023, c.213, on Jan. 8, which will allow clinical social workers, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists to bill NJ Family Care, NJ’s Medicaid program, for their services. The legislation addresses a mental healthcare provider shortage in the state as well as expands access to services for people enrolled in Medicaid. (NJ Spotlight News)

New Law Enables Online Gym Membership Cancellation – On Jan. 8, Gov. Murphy signed A3892, codified as P.L.2023, c.241, which requires that gyms or health clubs allow online membership cancellation when the member enrolled online. The effort aims to curb gyms’ practices of requiring in-person membership cancellation, which makes the process burdensome for members. The new law goes into effect in three months. (NJ.com) 

 

Education

Murphy Signs Set of Bills to Address Teacher Shortage – On Jan. 8, the final day of the 2022-2023 legislative session, Gov. Murphy signed a pair of bills which will address NJ’s teacher shortage. A5417, codified as P.L.2023, c.251, prohibits limiting the number of county college credits which may be applied to educator preparation programs and teacher certification programs. S2764, codified as P.L.2023, c.215, establishes the VETeach Pilot Program, which will facilitate veterans’ attainment of teacher certification – addressing at once the teacher shortage and the low employment rate among veterans. (NJ Spotlight News)

 

Women/Children

New Protections for Domestic Violence Survivors – Gov. Murphy signed into law new protections for survivors of domestic violence on Jan. 8, including A3093 (codified as P.L.2023, c.239), which authorizes the court to make provisions to include unborn children in orders of protection; A1704 (codified as P.L.2023, c.234), which requires orders of protection to be made available in languages other than English in certain circumstances; and A1475 (codified as P.L.2023, c.230), which requires the court to consider coercive control in proceedings – expanding which behaviors might be considered domestic violence to include monitoring communications and finances, threatening to make reports to the police, and isolation. Advocates hope that Gov. Murphy will sign an additional piece of legislation before Jan. 15, A5285, which would give survivors access to police records. (NJ 101.5)

 

Final Legislative Actions