SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4816

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JANUARY 8, 2026

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4816.

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill expands New Jersey’s certificate of need exemption list. 

     Under New Jersey’s certificate of need requirement, an application for and receipt of a certificate of need from the Department of Health is required for the construction of a health care facility, the expansion of a health care facility, or the institution of a new health care service.

     This bill provides exemptions from New Jersey’s certificate of need requirement for an increase in the level of neonatal care designation of a health care facility, which provides inpatient, maternity services, from “community perinatal center-basic” to “community perinatal center – intermediate,” as these terms are defined in N.J.A.C.8:33-1.3.

     In addition, the bill provides that a health care facility that provides inpatient maternity services, as of the bill’s effective date is to be permitted to increase its total number of bassinets by no more than 25 percent of its total number of bassinets that are licensed as of the bill’s effective date, provided that this increase is to only occur once and is to only occur prior to December 31, 2026.

Within 180 days following the bill’s effective date, the Department of Health is to issue a certificate of need call for the neonatal level of care designation, "community perinatal center – intensive," as this term is defined in N.J.A.C.8:33-1.3, and for the addition of intensive bassinets within health care facilities that provide inpatient, maternity services, in a manner that reflects the current needs of the State. Nothing in the bill is to be construed as limiting the Department of Health’s licensing authority with regard to bassinets within health care facilities that provide inpatient, maternity services.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments:

      (1) eliminate the certificate of need exemptions in the bill as introduced;

      (2) create a certificate of need exemption for an increase in the level of neonatal care designation of a health care facility, which provides inpatient, maternity services, from “community perinatal center-basic” to “community perinatal center – intermediate,” as these terms are defined in N.J.A.C.8:33-1.3;

     (3) permit a health care facility that provides inpatient maternity services, as of the bill’s effective date, to increase its total number of bassinets by no more than 25 percent, provided that this increase is to only occur once and is to only occur prior to December 31, 2026;

     (4) require the Department of Health to issue a certificate of need call for the neonatal level of care designation, "community perinatal center – intensive," as this term is defined in N.J.A.C.8:33-1.3, and for the addition of intensive bassinets within health care facilities that provide inpatient, maternity services, in a manner that reflects the current needs of the State;

     (5) provide that nothing in the bill is to be construed as limiting the Department of Health’s licensing authority with regard to bassinets within health care facilities that provide inpatient, maternity services; and

     (6) make a technical change to revise numbering.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill has not been certified as requiring a fiscal note.