SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4004

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 5, 2025

      The Senate Labor Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4004.

This bill modifies State statutes regarding extended employment programs that provide rehabilitation and employment for persons with significant disabilities.

      The bill renames the “Sheltered Workshop Act of 1971,” P.L.1971, c.272 (C.34:16-39 et seq.), as the “Extended Employment Act.”  The bill amends the act to change the term used to designate facilities operated by nonprofit organizations to provide vocational rehabilitation and transitional employment to persons with disabilities from “sheltered workshop” to “extended employment.”

      The bill relaxes the specifications regarding which individuals, deemed “extended employees,” may be served under extended employment programs by permitting the individuals to have “significant,” rather than “severe,” disabilities.  The bill also removes the requirement that extended employees complete a workshop program, and that their disability still makes them incapable of competing in the regular labor market after completing the program.

      The bill eliminates the role of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired in determining the eligibility of individuals to be served by an extended employment program, setting standards for staff, facilities, and services of the programs, and requiring documentation of services.

      The bill eliminates the requirement that individual progress reports be provided and removes the law’s exemption of extended employment facilities from the permit requirements and certain other requirements of the industrial homework law, P.L.1941, c.308 (C.34:6-136.1 et eq.).

      The bill clarifies the desired program outcomes of the extended employment program.  The bill also sets requirements for baseline funding for the extended employment funding and parameters for minimum increases based on the funding provided in the FY 2024 New Jersey State Budget combined with the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) or 80 percent of expenses outlined in a functional expense report to be submitted by providers of extended employment services each fiscal year, whichever of the two is greater.

      The bill clarifies that the Division of Vocational Rehabilitative Services is responsible for informing and referring individuals to the extended employment program and requires consultation with ACCSES New Jersey and the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities on major policy and leadership changes within the division.

      The bill repeals the provisions of P.L.1975, c.350 (C.34:16-45 et seq.) concerning the sale of products produced in extended employment facilities, including specific labeling requirements, requirements regarding the minimum percentage of work to be done in the facilities, and penalties for misrepresentation regarding the disability status of the workers.

      Finally, the bill eliminates references to particular kinds of transportation in the program assisting persons with disabilities in extended employment programs.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  include the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities as a consultancy organization for policy changes within the division;

      (2)  clarify the requirements for annual reporting;

      (3)  establish a requirement that the primary responsibility of the extended employment provider is to provide service to the extended employees they serve; and

      (4)  require the division to create a process for hybrid employment where extended employees may seek regular employment on a limited basis, not to exceed 16 hours per week, without losing their extended employment eligibility status.