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A1090
ASSEMBLY, No. 1090
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)
SYNOPSIS
���� Establishes certain requirements concerning resident
supervision at residential health care facilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning residential health care facilities
and amending P.L.1953, c.212.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� Section 3 of P.L.1953,
c.212 (C.30:11A-3) is amended to read as follows:�
���� 3.��� a. The Department of
Health and the Department of Community Affairs shall each adopt, promulgate,
and enforce such rules, regulations, and standards with respect to the
residential health care facilities that are approved hereunder, and that fall
under each department's jurisdiction, as each such department may deem to be
necessary to assure that:� persons living in such facilities are afforded the
opportunity to live with as much independence, autonomy, and interaction with
the surrounding community as they are capable of; such persons are afforded a
minimum standard of sanitation, housekeeping, heat, light, air, food, lodging,
care, service, and fire safety which also preserves and promotes a homelike
atmosphere appropriate to such facilities; such persons are not deprived of any
constitutional, civil, or legal right solely by reason of their living in such
facilities; employees of public and private agencies have reasonable access to
such facilities; and other citizens have reasonable access to such facilities
upon receiving the consent of a resident to be visited by them.�
The rules,
regulations, and standards adopted pursuant to this subsection shall, at a
minimum, require each residential building at the facility to have at least two
staff members on duty at all times who are able to provide resident
supervision, which supervision may be a primary or secondary duty of the staff
members, and require each facility to develop, maintain, and enforce a
comprehensive plan concerning residents who leave the premises of the facility,
including protocols for identifying and immediately reporting incidents in
which a resident is missing for 24 hours.
���� b.��� Nothing in this chapter,
or in any rule or regulation promulgated hereunder, shall be construed to mean
that any residential health care facility may advertise, hold itself out, or
operate, as a nursing home.
���� c.���� Each department may
determine that the various establishments covered by P.L.1953, c.212
(C.30:11A-1 et seq.), which are subject to each department's respective
jurisdiction, are appropriately and reasonably classified into two or more
classes, and may establish separate rules, regulations, and standards for each
such class.� Such rules, regulations, and standards shall include, but need not
be limited to, all requirements and limitations legally imposed upon any such
establishment by any other municipal, county, or State office or officer having
inspection, approval, licensing, or regulatory authority with respect to such
establishment.
���� d.��� The provisions of this
subsection shall apply only to those free-standing residential health care
facilities that are not located with, and operated by, a licensed health care
facility, and which are subject to the authority of the Department of Community
Affairs.�
���� (1)�� No licensee shall cause
any resident to be evicted from a residential health care facility that is not
located with, and operated by, a licensed health care facility, except for good
cause, as defined in P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1 et seq.), and except in
accordance with the procedural requirements of P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1 et
seq.).� Nothing in P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1 et seq.) shall prohibit the
transfer of a resident to a screening center for an evaluation to determine
whether the resident poses a risk of danger to the resident's own self or to
others.� In the event of such transfer, the licensee may contemporaneously
proceed with eviction against such resident pursuant to P.L.1974, c.49
(C.2A:18-61.1 et seq.).� All references in P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1 et
seq.) to the terms "landlords," "tenants,"
"tenancy," "lease," or similar terminology shall be equally
applicable to residents of and residential agreements used by a residential
health care facility that is not located with, and operated by, a licensed
health care facility.
���� (2)�� In addition to the other
requirements of this subsection, a licensee shall provide prompt written notice
to the county welfare agency, to the Department of Community Affairs, and to
the New Jersey Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly of any
proposed eviction of a resident.� The written notice required by this paragraph
shall be provided at the time that a complaint for eviction is filed with the
appropriate court and appended thereto.� No Judgment of Possession shall be
entered unless the requirements of this paragraph have been met.
(cf: P.L.2017, c.234, s.3)
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill requires that the
rules and regulations adopted for residential health care facilities include a
requirement that all residential buildings at the facility have at least two
staff members on duty at all times to provide resident supervision, which
supervision may be a primary or secondary duty of the staff members.� The rules
and regulations are to additionally require that all residential health care
facilities develop, maintain, and enforce a comprehensive plan concerning
residents who leave the premises of the facility, including protocols for
identifying and immediately reporting incidents in which a resident is missing
for 24 hours.
���� The Department of Health (DOH)
oversees residential health care facilities that are located with, and operated
by, another DOH-licensed facility, and the Department of Community Affairs
oversees free-standing residential health care facilities that are not located
with, or operated by, a DOH-licensed facility.� Each department will be
responsible for ensuring its respective rules and regulations concerning
residential health care facilities are consistent with the requirements of the
bill.