United Way Caregivers Coalition
Caregivers Toolbox
Toolbox Home | Federal Legislation | NJ Legislation | Other Advocacy News
Caregiving Legislation and Advocacy — NJ Legislation
Summaries of pending legislation are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily indicate support by United Way Caregivers Coalition. Readers who would like to support or comment on a bill should contact their Senators and Representatives.
Every effort will be made to update information on a quarterly basis. However, it remains the responsibility of the reader to confirm information.
Click on the links below for information about New Jersey Legislation related to caregiving.
For all legislation summaries and status updates, click here
Caregiver's Assistance Act, Proposed Tax Credit (A1824) This bill would provide gross income tax credit for certain expenses paid or incurred for care and support of qualifying senior family member. Who qualifies for the credit? Residents with incomes of $100,000/year or less if married or a civil union partner; residents with incomes of $50,000/year or less if single. Who is a qualified senior family member? A person who is 60 years or older; a relative of the caregiver who lives with the caregiver for at least six months of the year; and has an income of $20,000 or less if married or a civil union partner or $13,000 or less if single. What is the amount of the credit: 22.5% of up to $3,000 in qualified care expenses paid or incurred by the caregiver. The maximum amount of each credit is $675 per year. Is the credit fully refundable?
Yes, a qualified caregiver is eligible to receive the benefits of the credit even if the caregiver’s income is below the minimum subject to tax. What are qualified care expenses: Expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year for the purchase, lease, or rental of property and services that are necessary to allow the senior family member to be live at the caregiver’s home. Services can include home health agency services, adult day care, companionship services, personal care attendant, homemaker and respite care services, home modification services, health care equipment and supplies.
Status: Reintroduced and referred to the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee on 1/9/2018.
TOP
Concerns Earned Sick Leave To Employees (A1827/S2171) This bill would allow all workers in New Jersey to earn paid sick days to recover from illness or care for a sick loved one. With more than 1.2 million working people in New Jersey who now go without access to any paid sick time, an earned sick days law also benefits the public health by ensuring healthier schools, workplaces, and communities.
Status: Introduced in Assembly and referred to Assembly Labor Committee on 1/9/2018; Introduced in the Senate and referred to Senate Labor Committee on 3/5/2018. Reported as an Assembly Committee Substitute and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee on 3/12/2018; Reported out of Assembly Comm. with Amendments and 2nd Reading on 3/22/2018; Passed by the Assembly on 3/26/2018; Reported from Senate Committee as a Substitute, 2nd Reading, and referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on 3/26/2018.
TOP
Establishes New Jersey Caregivers Task Force to evaluate and provide recommendations on caregiver support services.(A3514/S959) This bill would establish the “New Jersey Caregiver Task Force” to evaluate caregiver support services in the State and provide recommendations for the improvement and expansion of such services. “Caregiver support services” would be defined by the bill to mean any type of support or assistance that is or may be made available to caregivers in the State, including, but not limited to, financial support or assistance from any source, and any other types of support or assistance provided by public or private employers, hospitals, health care providers or organizations, or government agencies.
The task force would consist of nine members, including the Commissioner of Human Services, the President of the New Jersey chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons, the Executive Director of Caregivers of New Jersey, the Executive Director of the Arc of New Jersey, the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness New Jersey, and the President of the Alzheimer’s Association Greater New Jersey Chapter, or their designees; and three public members appointed by the Governor. The public members would include one person who is a caregiver for a person with a disability, one person who is a caregiver for a person with mental illness, and one person who is a caregiver for an elderly person.
Status: Reintroduced in the Senate and referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on 1/16/2018. Introduced and referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee on and reported out of Asm. Comm. with Amendments and referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee on 3/5/2018.
TOP
Out-of-network Consumer Protection, Transparency, Cost Containment and Accountability Act (S1285/A1952) Surprise medical bills are an expensive and unfair burden for patients and their families who expect their health plan to provide coverage. In fact, almost 170,000 New Jerseyans with health insurance are hit each year with surprise medical bills from health care providers who they did not know were out of their insurance plan’s network. And the last thing patients struggling to recover need is to be ambushed with a surprise medical bill and thrown into the middle of a dispute between doctors and insurance companies.This bill protects consumers against surprise medical bills, increases transparency, and provides a fair dispute resolution process when there is a billing dispute.
Status: Reintroduced in the Assembly on 1/9/2018; Reported out of Assembly Committee and 2nd Reading on 3/5/2018; Reintroduced in the Senate and referred to Senate Commerce Committee on 1/9/2018.
TOP
Passed Legislation United Way Supports
Residential Health Care Facilities (RHCF) (S2563/A4163) The RHCF bill was sponsored by Weinberg, T. Kean, Vainieri Huttle, Lampitt, O'Scanlon, McKnight. The law clarifies the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) rulemaking authority over free-standing residential health care facilities, and prohibits eviction of residents from such facilities, except for good cause. This solves the problem of residents enduring unsanitary and/or unsafe conditions out of fear of being evicted for complaining.
Status: Introduced in the Assembly on 9/19/2016; Introduced in the Senate on 9/26/2016; Passed by the Senate on 6/22/2017; Passed Assembly (Passed both Houses); Signed into law on 9/13/2017.
TOP
Wounded Warrior Caregivers Relief Act (A450/S750)
Provides a modest, fully refundable gross income tax credit to qualified military caregivers to help family caregivers of New Jersey support the quality of life of a service member who has a disability arising out of service in any war of conflict after September,11, 2001. Residents with incomes of $100,000/year or less if filing jointly; residents with incomes of $50,000/year or less if filing separately or unmarried, that provide care and support to a qualifying service member to whom the caregiver is a relative would qualify. The credit would be 100% of the service member's disability compensation of $675 annually.
Status: Passed by the Senate and Assembly on 2/13/2017; Signed by Governor Christie on 5/11/2017.
TOP
|
