ASSEMBLY OVERSIGHT, REFORM AND FEDERAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 3946

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 15, 2026

      The Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3946.

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill requires firefighters and emergency medical technicians within the State to be trained on the risks associated with electric vehicles and in the safe and effective management of electric vehicle fires.

     Under this bill, the Director of the Division of Fire Safety, in consultation with the New Jersey Fire and Emergency Medical Services Institute, is to adopt a training course for firefighters.  The bill requires each person, volunteer or paid, who is engaged in fire suppression, firefighting, or fire rescue prior to the bill’s effective date to satisfactorily complete the training course within 36 months.  In addition, under the amended bill, the training is to be included in the course requirements prescribed by the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs for a Firefighter 1 certification.

     The Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of Human Services, the New Jersey Fire and Emergency Medical Services Institute, and the New Jersey State First Aid Council, is to adopt a training course for emergency medical technicians regarding the risks associated with electric vehicles and how to safely and effectively perform their duties when they are called to the scene of an electrical vehicle fire. An emergency medical technician is required to complete the training as a condition of certification. An emergency medical technician certified prior to the act’s effective date is required, within 36 months of the bill’s effective date, to satisfactorily complete the training course.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments require the firefighter training required by the bill to be included in the course requirements prescribed by the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs for a Firefighter 1 certification.