SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 4376

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 26, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 4376 (1R).

      As reported, this bill creates a new Department of Veterans Affairs as a principal department in the executive branch of State government.  All divisions and programs concerning veterans now in the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs are continued and transferred to the new Department of Veterans Affairs.  The programs that do not concern veterans are continued in what will be referred to as the Department of Military Affairs.  This bill does not create any new divisions or programs.  All of the bill's provisions exist in current law and have been duplicated in this bill to provide for their recodification in a new Title 38B.  Corresponding provisions of current law now codified in Title 38A are repealed.

      New Jersey's veterans have maintained their proud allegiance to the United States and have fought and died to preserve and protect our freedom and way of life.  The Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, which is the current principal government agency that serves this State's veterans, has done an especially commendable job attending to this special group of residents.  However, the department has significant priorities with regard to maintaining the strength and readiness of the National Guard and providing for homeland security.  While many other states in the United States have a separate cabinet-level department for veterans’ affairs, New Jersey lacks an executive department which is concerned primarily with the needs and problems of veterans in this State.  It is in the public interest to incorporate various services and programs which pertain specifically to veterans and their families and dependents into an executive agency which can serve their specific and special needs more efficiently than is possible at present.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) estimates that the creation of a new Department of Veterans Affairs will result in a minimum annual cost increase to the State of $1 million to pay for increased salary and wages costs for positions created under the bill, the cost to provide a suitable headquarters for the new department, and the cost to design and maintain new websites and print materials for the new department.