STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CRAIG J. COUGHLIN
District 19 (Middlesex)
Assemblyman ROBERT J. KARABINCHAK
District 18 (Middlesex)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Giblin
SYNOPSIS
Reinstates prior property tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals with on-site for-profit medical providers; requires some of these hospitals to pay community service contributions; establishes Nonprofit Hospital Community Service Contribution Study Commission; prohibits certain third-party property tax appeals.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning property tax exemptions, supplementing chapter 48 of Title 40 and chapter 4 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes, and amending R.S.54:4-3.6 and R.S.54:3-21.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. The owner of property used as a hospital or a satellite emergency care facility, which is exempt from taxation pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall annually be assessed a community service contribution to the municipality in which the licensed beds of the hospital are located and, in the case of a satellite emergency care facility, to the municipality in which such facility is located. These contributions shall be remitted directly to the municipalities in which the contributions are assessed.
b. (1) For tax year 2018, the annual community service contribution required pursuant to this section shall, for a hospital, be equal to $2.50 a day for each licensed bed at the hospital in the prior tax year, and shall, for a satellite emergency care facility, be equal to $250 for each day in the prior tax year. For tax year 2019 and each tax year thereafter, the per day amount used to calculate an annual community service contribution for a hospital and a satellite emergency care facility shall increase by two percent over the prior tax year. The Commissioner of Health shall annually promulgate the per day amount to apply for each tax year.
(2) An annual community service contribution shall be reduced by an amount equal to the sum of any payments remitted to the municipality in which the licensed beds of the hospital or satellite emergency care facility, as the case may be, is located, pursuant to a voluntary agreement operative in the prior tax year between the owner and the municipality to compensate for any municipal public safety services benefitting the occupants and premises of the hospital or satellite emergency care facility
(3) An annual community service contribution shall be payable in equal quarterly installments. The installments shall be payable on February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1.
c. The obligation to remit an annual community service contribution pursuant to this section is legal, valid, and binding. If a quarterly installment of an annual community service contribution installment is not paid as and when due pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the unpaid balance shall constitute a municipal lien on the hospital or satellite emergency care facility property after 30 days, and shall be enforced and collected in the same manner as unpaid property taxes.
d. A municipality that receives an annual community service contribution installment pursuant to this section, or a payment under a voluntary agreement that reduces the amount of such contribution pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection b. of this section, shall forthwith, upon receipt, remit five percent of the installment or voluntary payment, as the case may be, to the county in which the municipality is located.
e. The Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority in the Department of Health and the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, shall, by January 1, 2019, adopt regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions of this section pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).
f. As used in this section:
Hospital means a general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), which maintains and operates organized facilities and services as approved and licensed by the Department of Health for the diagnosis, treatment, or care of persons suffering from acute illness, injury, or deformity and in which all diagnosis, treatment, and care are administered by or performed under the direction of persons licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy in the State, and includes all land and buildings that are used in the delivery of health care services by such hospital and its medical providers or that are used for the management, maintenance, administration, support, and security of such hospital and its medical providers.
Licensed bed means one of the total number of acute care beds for which an acute care hospital is approved for patient care by the Commissioner of Health, excluding skilled nursing, psychiatric, sub-acute, and newborn beds, and further excluding any acute care beds not commissioned for use.
Medical provider means an individual or entity which, acting within the scope of a licensure or certification, provides health care services, and includes, but is not limited to, a physician, physician assistant, psychologist, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, nurse practitioner, social worker, paramedic, respiratory care practitioner, medical or laboratory technician, ambulance or emergency medical worker, orthotist or prosthetist, radiological or other diagnostic service facility, bioanalytical laboratory, health care facility, or other limited licensed health care professional, and further includes administrative support staff of the individual or entity.
Owner means an association or corporation organized as a nonprofit entity pursuant to Title 15 of the Revised Statutes or Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes exclusively for hospital purposes that owns a hospital.
Satellite emergency care facility means a facility, which is owned and operated by a hospital, and which provides emergency care and treatment for patients.
2. (New section) a. There is established, in but not of the Department of Health, a commission to be known as the Nonprofit Hospital Community Service Contribution Study Commission. The commission shall consist of nine members as follows: the Commissioner of Health, ex officio; two members of the Senate to be appointed by the President of the Senate, who shall not both be of the same political party; two members of the General Assembly to be appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, who shall not both be of the same political party; two members, appointed by the Governor, who are mayors of municipalities entitled to receive annual community service contributions pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); and two members, appointed by the Governor, who are chief executive officers of hospitals assessed annual community service contributions pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). Each member may designate a representative to attend meetings of the commission, and each designee may lawfully vote and otherwise act on behalf of the m