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A1043
ASSEMBLY, No. 1043
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WAYNE P. DEANGELO
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires owners of certain buildings to test drinking
water for Legionella bacteria.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning the presence of
Legionella
bacteria
in drinking water and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� a.� As used in this
section:
���� "Acute care
facility" means a general acute care hospital, satellite emergency
department, hospital-based off-site ambulatory care facility, or ambulatory
surgery facility licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
���� "Assisted living
facility" means an assisted living residence or comprehensive personal
care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
���� "Boarding house"
means the same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1979, c.496
(C.55:13B-3).
���� "Commissioner" means
the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
���� "County correctional
facility" means any prison or other secure facility managed and operated
by any county of this State in which offenders are incarcerated.
���� "Covered building"
means an acute care facility, assisted living facility, boarding house, county
correctional facility, hospital, multiple dwelling, nursing home, unit of
public housing that has received funding from the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development, rooming house, or State correctional facility.
���� "Department" means
the Department of Environmental Protection.
���� "Hospital" means a hospital
licensed pursuant to P.L.1971 c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
���� "Multiple dwelling"
means the same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1967, c.76
(C.55:13A-3).
���� "Nursing home" means
a nursing home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971 c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
���� "Public housing"
means any housing for persons of low and moderate income owned by a public
housing authority, municipality, county, or the State or any agency or
instrumentality thereof.
���� "Rooming house"
means the same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1979, c.496
(C.55:13B-3).
���� "Service line" means
the same as the term is defined in section 2 of P.L.2021, c.183 (C.58:12A-41).
���� "State correctional
facility" means a State prison or other penal institution.
���� b.� Commencing two years after
the effective date of this section, the owner of a covered building shall, at
least once per year, test, or cause to be tested, the drinking water from a tap
in the building for the presence of
Legionella
bacteria.
���� c.� The water sampling and
testing shall be performed using the best practices developed by the department
pursuant to subsection h. of this section, and the water testing shall be
performed by a laboratory accredited for this purpose by the department.
���� d.� To the maximum extent
practicable, the building owner shall coordinate the water sampling required by
this section with other required property inspections, including, but not
limited to, inspections by the municipality or the Department of Community
Affairs.
���� e.� The results of each water
test performed pursuant to this section shall be transmitted to the department,
in a form and manner determined by the department.
���� f.� If a test result is found
to exceed the standard for
Legionella
bacteria developed by the
department pursuant to subsection h. of this section, the owner of the building
shall:
���� (1) immediately notify the
residents or other users of the building, as appropriate; and
���� (2) if the water from the
service line providing drinking water to the building has been tested for
Legionella
bacteria in the preceding month and the test result does not indicate an
excessive level of
Legionella
bacteria, undertake efforts to remediate
the
Legionella
bacteria contamination and to protect the health of the
residents or other users of the building, as appropriate.� The remediation
shall commence no later than 30 days after the test result is received by the
owner, and shall be completed no later than six months after the test result is
received.� After the remediation, the building owner shall have the water of
the building tested for
Legionella
bacteria and shall submit the test
result to the department to verify that the remediation has been successful.
���� g.� A violation of the
provisions of this section shall be considered a violation of the "Safe
Drinking Water Act," P.L.1977, c.224 (C:58:12A-1 et seq.) and the
commissioner shall have recourse to any of the actions provided for in section
10 of P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-10), in order to remedy the violation.�
However, the presence of excessive
Legionella
bacteria levels shall not,
in itself, constitute a violation of the provisions of this section.
���� h.� No later than 18 months
after the effective date of this section, the department shall adopt, pursuant
to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et
seq.), rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this section.� The
rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited to:
���� (1) best practices to be used
by persons obtaining and testing water samples for the presence of
Legionella
bacteria; and
���� (2)
a maximum acceptable concentration of
Legionella
bacteria in drinking
water service lines.
���� 2.��� This
act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would require owner
of certain buildings to test the drinking water of the building for the
presence of
Legionella
bacteria.
���� Specifically, the bill would
apply to acute care facilities, assisted living facilities, boarding houses,
county correctional facilities, hospitals, multiple dwellings, nursing homes,
units of public housing that have received funding from the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development, rooming houses, and State
correctional facilities.� The bill would require the building owner to test
water from a tap in the building, at least once per year.� The water sampling
and testing would be required to be performed using a set of best practices
developed by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), under the bill.�
In addition, the water testing would be required to be performed by a
laboratory accredited by the DEP.
���� The bill would also require
the building owner to transmit the test results to the DEP.� If the test
results reveal the presence of excessive
Legionella
contamination,
according to a standard to be developed by the DEP under the bill, the building
owner would be required to immediately notify residents and other users of the
building.� If the drinking water in the service line connected to the building has
been tested for
Legionella
in the previous month, and the test result
was negative, the bill would require the building owner to begin remediation of
the
Legionella
contamination within 30 days, and the remediation would
be required to be completed within six months.
���� A violation of the bill's
provisions would be considered a violation of the "Safe Drinking Water
Act," P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-1 et seq.), which could result in civil
administrative penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.