Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PAUL KANITRA
District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Assemblyman GREGORY P. MCGUCKIN
District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Peterson, Myhre and Kennedy
SYNOPSIS
Ruth Gilbert Alzheimers Accessibility Act; allows certain individuals diagnosed with Alzheimers disease or dementia to receive, and caregivers transporting those individuals to utilize, parking privileges reserved for persons with disability.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning parking privileges for persons with a disability and amending P.L.1949, c.280.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Ruth Gilbert Alzheimers Accessibility Act.
2. Section 1 of P.L.1949, c.280 (C.39:4-204) is amended to read as follows:
1. The phrase "person with a disability" means:
a. any person who has lost the use of one or more limbs as a consequence of paralysis, amputation, or other permanent disability or who has a permanent disability as to be unable to ambulate without the aid of an assisting device or whose mobility is otherwise limited as certified by a physician with a plenary license to practice medicine and surgery in this State or a bordering [State] state; a podiatrist licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state; a physician stationed at a military or naval installation located in this State who is licensed to practice in any state; a chiropractic physician licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state; a physician assistant licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state; or a nurse practitioner licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state; [or]
b. any citizen and resident of this State honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States who is adjudicated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or its successor, as being permanently 100 percent disabled; or
c. any person who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease or another form of dementia and whose ability to walk is limited, impaired, or creates a safety condition while walking as certified by a physician with a plenary license to practice medicine and surgery in this State or a bordering state; a physician stationed at a military or naval installation located in this State who is licensed to practice in any state; a physician assistant licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state; or a nurse practitioner licensed to practice in this State or a bordering state.
(cf: P.L.2017, c.166, s.1)
3. This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill permits a person to park a motor vehicle in parking spaces reserved for a person with a disability if the person has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease or another form of dementia and the persons ability to walk is limited, impaired, or creates a safety condition while walking as certified by a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner.
Under the bill, a person diagnosed Alzheimers disease or another form of dementia and whose ability to walk is limited, impaired, or creates a safety condition while walking is eligible to receive from the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission a person with a disability identification card, a vehicle identification placard, and license plates that display the national wheelchair symbol.
Under current law, vehicle identification placards are required to be displayed on the motor vehicle used to transport an individual with a disability and when the vehicle is parked overtime or in parking spaces reserved for individuals with a disability. A caregiver may utilize the placard while transporting an individual with a disability. Additionally, under current law, wheel chair symbol license plates may be issued to motor vehicles owned, operated, or leased by an individual with a disability or by any person furnishing transportation on the individuals behalf.