LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
[First Reprint]
SENATE, No. 3754
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
DATED: JUNE 25, 2025
SUMMARY
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Synopsis: |
Establishes "Disability Mortality and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee" in DHS; makes appropriation. |
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Type of Impact: |
Time-limited State expenditure increase. |
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Agencies Affected: |
Department of Human Services. |
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Office of Legislative Services Estimate |
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Fiscal Impact |
Up to a Two-Year Period |
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Annual State Expenditure Increase |
$200,000 |
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· The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) determines that costs incurred by the Department of Human Services would increase by $200,000 annually, for up to a two-year period, to hire a consultant to provide research, project management, and technical assistance for the Disability Mortality and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee established under the bill.
· The OLS notes that the actual annual costs to implement the bill’s provisions will depend upon the scope of the consultant’s contract with the department.
BILL DESCRIPTION
The bill establishes a temporary Disability Mortality and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee in the Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Human Services to:
(1) review select cases of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities;
(2) evaluate the government’s response to cases of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who reside in various settings;
(3) identify areas for improvement in preventing and enhancing accountability for abuse, neglect, and exploitation perpetrated by State-funded disability services providers; and
(4) suggest measures to strengthen reporting requirements for and investigations of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and improve the investigatory experience for disability services clients and their families.
The bill authorizes the department to contract with a consultant to provide the committee with project management, research, and technical expertise.
Within 27 months of the bill’s effective date, the department will review the advisory committee’s findings and recommendations and submit a report to the Governor and to the Legislature summarizing the committee’s findings and recommendations, and comparing the State’s process for providing disability services with other states’ processes. This provisions of the bill will expire upon submission of this report.
The bill also appropriates from the General Fund to the department such sums as are necessary to implement the provisions therein.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
None received.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS concludes that costs incurred by the Department of Human Services would increase by $200,000 annually, for up to a two-year period, to hire a consultant to provide research, project management, and technical assistance for the Disability Mortality and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee established under the bill. Depending upon the scope of the consultant’s contract with the department, annual costs under the bill could potentially exceed $200,000. This estimate is based on the FY 2025 appropriation for the Department of Health’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, established pursuant to P.L.2019, c.75, which has a similar scope of authority and case practice review as the Disability Mortality and Abuse Prevention Advisory Committee established under the bill.
Although the bill requires the Department of Human Services and the Department of Children and Families to provide confidential client information and records to the advisory committee, the OLS assumes that both departments will utilize existing resources to identify and share the requested records. The OLS, moreover, assumes that the Department of Human Services will utilize existing resources to provide the Governor and the Legislature with a report summarizing the advisory committee’s findings and recommendations, outlining the strengths of current procedures governing service delivery, and comparing the State’s processes for providing services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with those utilized by other states.
The Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Human Services provides home and community-based services and supports to approximately 28,000 individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities through two Medicaid waiver programs – the Community Care Program and the Supports Program. The division contracts with provider agencies to deliver supports and services, which are reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis by the State Medicaid program. The State additionally operates five residential developmental centers, which provide services, supports, and care for approximately 950 adults.
The Department of Children and Families provides home and community-based services for children and youth, up to 21 years of age, with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the Children’s System of Care. According to department data, nearly 14,000 children and youth were eligible to receive disability services as of October 2024, although not all eligible children and youth received services during the month. The majority of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who access services and supports through the department are insured by Medicaid.
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Section: |
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Analyst: |
Senior Fiscal Analyst |
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Approved: |
Thomas Koenig Legislative Budget and Finance Officer |
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).