ASSEMBLY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5381

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  APRIL 10, 2025

      The Assembly State and Local Government Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5381.

      This bill provides a filing extension and establishes medical documentation requirements for certain members and retirees of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS), and the State Police Retirement System (SPRS) to receive an accidental disability retirement allowance for participation in 9/11 World Trade Center rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations.

     Under current law, members and retirees of PFRS and SPRS, and certain members and retirees of PERS are eligible to receive an accidental disability retirement allowance for a permanent and total disability resulting from participation in 9/11 World Trade Center rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations.  In order to be eligible, the member or retiree must have filed notice of service during certain dates and at certain locations within two years of enactment of the law in 2019.

     This bill extends the time period during which a member or retiree must file a written and sworn statement with their respective retirement system to be eligible for the benefit to two years after the effective date of this bill, and permits the board of trustees of the retirement system to approve additional extensions in two-year increments thereafter.  The bill also provides retirees who previously filed an eligibility registration form with their respective retirement system and who were denied because they filed outside the registration period the ability to petition the board of trustees of the respective retirement system for reconsideration or to resubmit the previously submitted eligibility registration form to the board for the presumption or recalculation granted under the bill.

     Under current law, in order to be eligible for the benefit, the member or retiree must have successfully passed a physical examination for entry into public service, which failed to disclose evidence of the qualifying condition or impairment of health that formed the basis for the disability.  This bill allows the member or retiree to present sufficient evidence of one or more medical examinations or results, performed within a reasonable period of time before or after entry into public service, which failed to disclose evidence of the qualifying condition or impairment of health that formed the basis for the disability as an alternative for proof of eligibility.

     This bill also requires the board of trustees of each retirement system to notify all members and retirants in the retirement system of the enactment of this bill within 60 days of enactment by letter via certified mail.  The notice must communicate, in an easily understood manner, the provisions of this bill, including the class of members and retirees impacted, the filing requirements, and the prescribed time limits.