STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CLEOPATRA G. TUCKER
District 28 (Essex and Union)
Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Dunn, Assemblymen DeAngelo, Simonsen, McClellan, DePhillips, Assemblywomen Carter, Speight, Assemblyman S.Kean, Assemblywoman Flynn and Assemblyman Rumpf
SYNOPSIS
Requires converting portion of Paramus and Menlo Park veterans memorial homes into single occupancy rooms; requires upgrades to ventilation systems; provides Adjutant General discretion for additional room considerations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the Paramus and Menlo Park veterans memorial homes and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 38A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Subject to the availability of federal funds provided or made accessible to the State via federal block grant funds allocated to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the federal funds provided or made accessible to the State from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Publ.L.117-2, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs shall:
(1) convert at least one ward in the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Menlo Park and at least one ward in the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Paramus to single occupancy rooms; and
(2) upgrade the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to infection control system standards in the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Menlo Park and the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Paramus.
The Adjutant General shall have the discretion to require additional modifications to rooms, including, but not limited to, negative pressure ventilation, to support infectious disease control measures.
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs such sums from those federal block grant funds provided or made accessible to the State from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub.L.117-2, or any other federal funds made available to the State, as shall be necessary, in amounts subject to approval by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting, for use by the department to provide for the purposes specified in section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill).
3. If the federal funds remaining are not sufficient, there shall be appropriated such sums from the General Fund as shall be necessary, in amounts subject to approval by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting, for use by the department to provide for the purposes specified in section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill).
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Under this bill and subject to the availability of federal funds provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and federal funds provided or made accessible to the State from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will convert at least one ward in the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Menlo Park and at least one ward in the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home-Paramus to single occupancy rooms. The rooms will be equipped with negative pressure ventilation to support infectious disease control measures, and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems will be upgraded throughout the two homes to infection control system standards.
If the federal funds are not sufficient to accomplish the conversions and upgrades, there will be appropriated such sums from the General Fund as necessary, in amounts subject to approval by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting, for use by the department to accomplish the changes outlined in the bill.