ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 5381
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 19, 2025
As amended by the committee, this bill 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 and removes the filing deadline.
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. Retirees must also have retired on a service retirement allowance or an ordinary disability retirement allowance.
As amended, this bill removes the filing deadline for a member or retiree to file a written and sworn statement with their respective retirement system to be eligible for the benefit. 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 of the previously required registration period the ability to petition the board of trustees of the respective retirement system for reconsideration.
In addition, the bill provides that members who retired with a special retirement allowance or accidental disability retirement allowance may file for a recalculation to an accidental disability retirement allowance in connection with a disability incurred due to participation in the 9/11 World Trade Center rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations.
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.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
(1) remove the filing deadline and initial two-year extension for a member or retiree to file a written and sworn statement with their respective retirement system to be eligible for the benefit; the amendments provide, instead, that a retiree who missed the deadline that had been established before the bill’s effective date may petition the board of trustees for reconsideration;
(2) remove language concerning additional extensions in two-year increments;
(3) remove language concerning a retiree’s resubmission of a previously submitted eligibility registration form to the board for recalculation of benefits; and
(4) remove language that would have required the board of trustees of each respective retirement system to notify all members and retirants enrolled in the retirement system by letter via certified mail of the provisions of the bill.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.