ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1875

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 3, 2024

      The Assembly Health Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1875.

This bill consolidates certain definitions used in Title 26 of the Revised Statues by placing those definitions into a single definitions section, section 1 of P.L.1947, c.177 (C.26:1A-1), which will be applicable to all of the statutes contained in Title 26, and by removing the definitions where they appear in individual sections of Title 26. 

     Specifically, the bill will add to C.26:1A-1 definitions for “adult,” “Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders,” “birthing facility,” “contagious disease,” “covered person,” “hospital,” “infectious disease,” “local health agency,” “local registrar/registrar,” “long-term care facility,” “Medicaid,” “Medicare,” “person,” “state,” “State registrar,” “substance use disorder,” “vital records,” and “vital statistics.”  The section currently includes definitions for “commissioner,” “council,” “division,” “division director,” “local board/local board of health,” and “State department/Department of Health/department.”  The bill does not make any substantive revisions to any of these definitions.

     The bill repeals another section of law, R.S.26:1-1, which defines the same terms as are included in C.26:1A-1 in generally the same manner, and which is currently applicable to all of Title 26.

     The bill additionally makes various technical updates to the laws being amended to ensure definitions are listed alphabetically, to replace gendered language, to update citations to other laws and to various regulatory agencies, and to update punctuation, the use of subdivisions within definitions sections, and syntax, as well as to update several cross-citations occurring outside Title 26.

      This bill is based on the recommendations set forth in a report by the New Jersey Law Revision Commission titled “Final Report to Eliminate Duplicative Definitions Sections of the Health and Vital Statistics Statute in Title 26,” issued April 21, 2022.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2024-2025 session pending technical review.  As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.