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A1087
ASSEMBLY, No. 1087
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT D. CLIFTON
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Assemblyman JOHN V. AZZARITI JR., M.D.
District 39 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires testing for infectious disease for certain
persons who have been administered opioid antidote by first responder.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning medical testing of certain persons
who have been administered an opioid antidote and supplementing P.L.2013, c.46
(C.24:6J-1 et al.).
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� The Legislature finds
and declares that:
���� a.���� Individuals who
intravenously use street drugs such as heroin are significantly more likely
than the general population to have certain diseases that spread through bodily
fluids, including but not limited to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
hepatitis, and other bloodborne pathogens, and are therefore more likely to
pass infection to other individuals in the event that their bodily fluids
contact another person.
���� b.��� A first responder who is
called to assist an individual who is experiencing an overdose of a controlled
dangerous substance may administer an opioid antidote, thereby potentially
saving the person�s life.� However, in the course of such an interaction, the
first responder may potentially be exposed to the person�s bodily fluids, such
as by direct contact with bodily fluids or an accidental prick by a hypodermic
needle, thereby risking transmittal of an infectious disease.
���� c.���� When a first responder
comes into contact with another person�s bodily fluid, information as to
whether the person is a carrier of an infectious disease may be useful in
assessing the risk that the first responder may have been infected.�
Information concerning the risk of infection may affect medical treatment
decisions, and the exposed person may benefit psychologically from knowing
whether exposure to the other person�s bodily fluids may have resulted in
exposure to infectious disease.
���� d.��� Although each person has
a legitimate privacy interest in keeping the person�s disease status private,
this interest may be outweighed by the interests of a first responder who may
have been exposed to an infectious disease in the course of rendering potentially
life-saving assistance to that person.
����� 2.�� a.�
In the event that a professional or an emergency medical responder administers
an opioid antidote to a person and, in the course of the interaction with that
person, the professional or emergency medical responder has contact with the
person or an object which involved or was likely to involve the transmission of
the person�s bodily fluid to the professional or emergency medical responder,
the professional or emergency medical responder may notify the local public
health officer of the potential contact with bodily fluids within 24 hours of
the suspected contact to request that the person submit to serological tests or
other medically appropriate tests, including such repeat or confirmatory tests
as may be medically appropriate, for infection with the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), hepatitis, and any other infectious diseases that can be
transmitted by contact with bodily fluids.�
����� b.�� A
public health officer receiving a request pursuant to subsection a. of this
section shall seek to obtain voluntary consent to testing from the person who
was administered the opioid antidote.� If the person does not consent and
submit to testing within 24 hours of the public health officer�s request, the
public health officer shall file an emergency application to a court having
jurisdiction for an order requiring the person to submit to testing.�
����� c.�� A
court shall grant the order requested pursuant to subsection b. of this section
if the court finds, by a preponderance of evidence, that there is a risk that
an infectious disease was transmitted as a result of the contact.� The court
order shall require testing to be performed as soon as practicable by a health
care provider or at a health care facility licensed or authorized to administer
the ordered testing.�
����� d.�� The
results of any testing ordered by a court pursuant to subsection c. of this
section shall be disclosed to the person tested and the professional or
emergency medical responder who requested the testing, but shall not be
disclosed to any other individual except as authorized by law or court order.�
A consent order for testing and any test results shall be confidential and
shall not be used for any law enforcement purposes or as evidence in any civil
proceeding.� A person who knowingly discloses or uses such confidential
information in violation of this section is guilty of a crime of the fourth
degree.
����� e.�� In
addition to any other disposition authorized, a court may order the person who
was administered the opioid antidote to reimburse the State for the costs of
the tests ordered pursuant to subsection c. of this section.
����� f.��� A
person who performs a test ordered pursuant to subsection c. of this section in
accordance with accepted medical standards for the performance of such tests
shall be immune from civil and criminal liability arising from their conduct.
����� g.�� This
section shall not be construed to preclude or limit any other testing for HIV,
hepatitis, or any other infectious disease that is otherwise permitted by
statute, court rule, or common law.
����� h.�� As
used in this section, the terms �emergency medical responder,� �opioid
antidote,� and �professional,� have the same meaning as given by section 3 of
P.L.2013, c.46 (C.24:6J-3).
����� 3.�� This
act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
����� This bill would supplement the �Overdose Prevention
Act,� P.L.2013, c.46 (C.24:6J-1 et al.) to provide for the court-ordered
testing of certain persons who have been administered an opioid antidote by a
first responder.
����� The bill provides that a professional or an emergency
medical responder (as those terms are defined in the �Overdose Prevention Act,�
which include emergency medical technicians, sterile syringe access program
workers, and law enforcement officers) who administers an opioid antidote to a
person may notify the local public health officer within 24 hours if the
contact with the person or an object involved or was likely to involve the
transmission of the person�s bodily fluid to the professional or emergency
medical responder.� Upon the emergency medical responder�s request, the public
health officer is required to seek consent from the person who was administered
the opioid antidote to voluntarily submit to serological tests or other
medically appropriate tests, including repeat or confirmatory tests, for
infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, and any other
infectious diseases that can be transmitted by contact with bodily fluids. If
the person does not consent and submit to testing within 24 hours of the public
health officer�s request, the public health officer is required to file an
emergency application for a court order requiring the person to submit to
testing.
����� The court is to grant the order for testing if the
court finds, by a preponderance of evidence, that there is a risk that an
infectious disease was transmitted as a result of the contact.� The court order
would require testing to be performed as soon as practicable by a health care
provider or at a health care facility licensed or authorized to administer the
ordered testing.
����� The results of any testing would be disclosed to the
person tested and the professional or emergency medical responder who requested
the testing, but are not to be disclosed to any other individual except as
authorized by law or court order.� A consent order for testing and any test
results would be confidential and could not be used for any law enforcement
purposes or as evidence in any civil proceeding.� A person who knowingly
discloses or uses such confidential information in violation of the bill would
be guilty of a fourth degree crime.� The bill authorizes the court to order the
person who was administered the opioid antidote to reimburse the State for the
costs of the tests.
����� A person who performs a test ordered in accordance
with accepted medical standards for the performance of such tests would be
immune from civil and criminal liability arising from their conduct.
����� The bill is not to be construed to preclude or limit
any other testing for HIV, hepatitis, or any other infectious disease that is
otherwise permitted by statute, court rule, or common law.