SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 2346

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 26, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 2346 (1R).

      As amended and reported, this bill establishes a three-year pilot program State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety under which participating counties are to formulate plans for issuing a Code Red alert on extreme heat days and during air quality events to municipal governments, social service agencies, and non-profit organizations that provide services to certain at-risk individuals.

      A county governing body may apply to participate in the pilot program in a form and manner determined by the State Office of Emergency Management, and the office will select 10 counties in the State to participate in the pilot program.  With respect to the counties selected to participate in the pilot program, priority is to be given to counties with the highest documented homeless population as noted in the most recent Annual Point in Time Count.

      Each participating county’s office of emergency management, in consultation with the Office of Homeless Prevention in the Department of Community Affairs, is required to coordinate with municipal emergency management coordinators in municipalities with a documented homeless population of at least 10 sheltered or unsheltered people in developing consistent Code Red alert plans throughout the county that provide for communication and outreach, cooling centers, and transportation during implementation of a Code Red alert plan. 

      This plan may be carried out by designated volunteer organizations, which are to receive cooperation and logistical support from the municipal coordinator but are to operate autonomously.  The bill requires each municipality, social service agency, and non-profit organization to report the location of its cooling centers to the Department of Environmental Protection to be included in the Heat Hub NJ’s Chill Out NJ public resource.

      Each county and municipality is responsible for, but not limited to: (1) notifying the State Office of Emergency Management of the county’s lead agency for the pilot program and providing updated contact information, as necessary; and (2) making information on the Code Red alert plan available to the public on each county and municipality Internet website or as otherwise directed by the State Office Emergency Management.

      The bill requires a county emergency management coordinator to declare the Code Red alert when the National Weather Service declares a heat advisory for that county’s region or reports an Air Quality Index of 151 or higher.

Prior to declaring a Code Red alert, the county coordinator of a participating county, or the coordinator’s designee is to monitor the municipality in the participating county with the highest documented homeless population and use the weather forecast and advisory produced by the National Weather Service for that municipality as an indicator for the declaration of a Code Red alert in the county.

      The bill requires the State Office of Emergency Management to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature on the pilot program and to recommend whether or not to make the program permanent.

      The bill provides “Good Samaritan” protection from civil liability to the State and local governments and their employees, as well as to volunteer organizations and their members who, during implementation of a Code Red alert plan, provide emergency cooling centers to at-risk individuals.

      The bill appropriates from the General Fund to the State Office of Emergency Management the sum of $5,000,000 to implement the provisions of the bill.  The office will issue a grant in the amount of $500,000 to the governing body of each county selected to participate in the pilot program to effectuate the provisions of the bill.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments specify that priority is to be given to counties with the highest documented homeless population as noted in the most recent Annual Point in Time Count for the counties selected to participate in the pilot program.

      The committee amended the bill to require that counties participating in the program coordinate with emergency management coordinators in municipalities with a documented homeless population of at least 10 sheltered or unsheltered people, instead of 10 people, as originally provided in the bill, in developing consistent Code Red alert plans.

      The committee amendments stipulate that each county and municipality participating in the program be responsible for, but not limited to:  notifying the State Office of Emergency Management of the county’s lead agency for the pilot program and providing updated contact information, as necessary; and making information on the Code Red alert plan available to the public on each county and municipality Internet website or as otherwise directed by the State Office Emergency Management.

      The committee amended the bill to mandate that prior to declaring a Code Red alert, the county coordinator of a participating county, or the coordinator’s designee is to monitor the municipality in the participating county with the highest documented homeless population and use the weather forecast and advisory produced by the National Weather Service for that municipality as an indicator for the declaration of a Code Red alert in the county.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.