Establishes survivor support liaison in Department of Treasury to assist beneficiaries of emergency responders who die in line of duty; designated as "Captain Augusto Acabou's, Wayne Brooks', and Plainfield Firefighter Marques Hudson's act"; appropriates $1,000,000.

A4709

ASSEMBLY, No. 4709

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 16, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� SHANIQUE SPEIGHT

District 29 (Essex and Hudson)

Assemblywoman� LINDA S. CARTER

District 22 (Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes survivor support liaison in Department of
Treasury to assist beneficiaries of emergency responders who die in line of
duty; designated as "Captain Augusto Acabou's, Wayne Brooks', and
Plainfield Firefighter Marques Hudson's act"; appropriates $1,000,000.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning emergency responders who die in the line of
duty and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes
.�

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� (New section) a.� As used in this act,

�emergency responder� means a State, county, or
municipal law enforcement officer, paid or volunteer firefighter, or other
person who has been trained to provide emergency medical first response
services in a program recognized by the Commissioner of Health and licensed or
otherwise authorized by the Department of Health to provide those services.

���� b.��� There is established in
the Department of Treasury an Office of Emergency Responder Survivor Support
and Navigation, which shall be responsible for providing information concerning
the available benefits to the beneficiaries of any emergency responder who has
died in the line of duty.� The office shall be led by a survivor support
liaison and consist of at least three additional employees, all of whom shall
be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the State Treasurer and have been
beneficiaries of first responders who have died in the line of duty.� The
office shall perform its work remotely and not have a physical location.
�
The
office shall be responsible for:

���� (1) assisting beneficiaries
with applications for municipal, State, and federal government benefits;

���� (2) assisting beneficiaries
with applications for survivor benefits through private survivor benefit
programs and scholarship programs;

���� (3) providing beneficiaries
with a summary of the nature and amount of benefits for which they are
eligible;

���� (4) maintaining contact with
the beneficiaries and assisting with any questions or requests during the
application process for available benefits; and

���� (5) any other responsibility
as determined by the commissioner.�

���� c.���� The commissioner may
adopt any guidelines deemed necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.�

���� 2.���
There
is annually appropriated from the General Fund the sum of $1,000,000 to
effectuate the purposes of section 1 of P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill).

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.�

STATEMENT

���� This bill establishes in the
Department of Treasury an Office of Emergency Responder Survivor Support and
Navigation, which would be responsible for providing information concerning the
available benefits to the beneficiaries of any emergency responder who has died
in the line of duty.� The bill defines �emergency responder� as a State,
county, or municipal law enforcement officer, paid or volunteer firefighter, or
other person who has been trained to provide emergency medical first response
services in a program recognized by the Commissioner of Health and licensed or
otherwise authorized by the Department of Health to provide those services

���� The bill provides that the
office would be led by a survivor support liaison and consist of at least an
additional three employees, all of whom are to be beneficiaries of first
responders who have died in the line of duty.� The office would be responsible
for providing beneficiaries with a summary of the nature and amount of benefits
for which they are eligible.� The bill also requires the office to maintain
contact with the beneficiaries and assist with any questions or requests during
the application process for available benefits.��

���� The bill is designated as the
�designated as Captain Augusto Acabou�s, Wayne Brooks�, and Plainfield
Firefighter Marques Hudson�s act� in honor of Captains Acabou and Brooks who
tragically lost their lives in the line of duty while responding to the cargo
ship fire at Port Newark. The designation also honors firefighter,
Marques Hudson, who died in a house fire in Plainfield, NJ.