ASSEMBLY, No. 2210
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Assemblywoman ROSAURA "ROSY" BAGOLIE
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywomen McCoy, Quijano, Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblyman Schaer, Assemblywomen Haider, Peterpaul, Donlon, Assemblymen Sampson, Angelozzi and Assemblywoman Lopez
SYNOPSIS
Requires homemaker-home health aide and nursing assistant certification examinations to be translated into multiple languages.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee on September 14, 2026, with amendments.
An Act concerning homemaker-home health aide and nursing assistant certification and supplementing Title 26 and Title 45 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. 1a.1 The Department of Health shall 1[make any written or oral examination that is required for nursing assistant certification available in multiple languages including, at a minimum, English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Tagalog] ensure that any written or oral examination required for nursing assistant certification is available through the State's designated testing contractor in English, Spanish, and additional languages designated by the department pursuant to this section. The Department of Health shall be responsible for developing, translating, validating, maintaining, and updating all translated versions of the examination.
b. At a minimum, the Department of Health shall provide the examination in: English; Spanish; Haitian Creole; Tagalog; Arabic; Gujarati; and any additional language determined by the department to represent a significant portion of the nursing assistant workforce in New Jersey based on available workforce data1.
2. 1a.1 The New Jersey Board of Nursing shall 1[make any written or oral examination that is required for homemaker-home health aide certification available in multiple languages including, at a minimum, English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Tagalog] establish and maintain standardized translations of any written or oral examination required for homemaker-home health aide certification. The New Jersey Board of Nursing shall not require an approved homemaker-home health aide training program to replace its existing examinations with the board's standardized examinations. Approved homemaker-home health aide training programs may elect to use one or more standardized examinations in available languages, pursuant to this section. The New Jersey Board of Nursing shall be responsible for developing, translating, validating, maintaining, and updating all standardized translated examinations made available under this section.
b. At a minimum, standardized translated examinations provided by the New Jersey Board of Nursing shall be available in: English; Spanish; Haitian Creole; Tagalog; French; Arabic; and any additional language determined by the board to represent a significant portion of the homemaker-home health aide workforce in New Jersey based on available workforce data and updated periodically through regulation1.
13. In determining the languages into which certification examinations shall be translated, the Department of Health and the New Jersey Board of Nursing shall consider: workforce demographic data; the most commonly spoken languages among certified nursing assistants and homemaker-home health aides seeking certification in New Jersey; recommendations contained in Statewide workforce studies; and any additional data deemed appropriate by the department or board. The Department of Health and the Board of Nursing shall periodically review the list of translated languages and may add additional languages by regulation as workforce needs change.1
1[3.] 4.1 The Commissioner of Health and the New Jersey Board of Nursing may each adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), if necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
1[4.] 5.1 This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment.