Establishes Office of New Americans in Department of Human Services.

A4830

ASSEMBLY, No. 4830

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 4, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� ANNETTE QUIJANO

District 20 (Union)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Haider and Morales

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes Office of New Americans in Department of
Human Services.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
establishing the Office of New Americans in the
Department of Human Services, and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised
Statutes.

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

���� 1.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:

���� a.� Every New Jersey resident
should be valued, supported, and welcomed as an integral part of our
communities, economy, and culture.

���� b.� New Jersey is home to over
two million immigrants and refugees, who make up nearly one quarter of the
State population.

���� c.� New Americans in New
Jersey have diverse backgrounds, experiences, and strengths, and make critical
contributions that benefit all State residents.

���� d. ��New Americans are
integral to New Jersey�s diverse economy; they are entrepreneurs, workers,
students, and family members who contribute to New Jersey�s vibrant communities
and cultural and social fabric, pay taxes, and create jobs through
entrepreneurship.

���� e.� New Americans make up a
substantial part of the State�s labor force in a wide range of industries,
including health care, social assistance, manufacturing, and construction, and
assist the State in maintaining its role as a leading innovator in the science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics field.

���� f.� New Americans play a
disproportionately large role in performing essential services during
emergencies.

���� g.� New Americans face unique
obstacles while contributing to New Jersey�s communities and economies.� A
legacy of inequitable policies has undermined the safety of New American
communities, hindered trust between the government and New Americans, and limited
New Americans� access to resources, services, and opportunities.

���� h.� Implementing policies and
programming that are welcoming, responsive, and respectful to New Americans is
essential to New Jersey�s success and building trust between immigrant
communities and the government.

���� i.� The Office of New
Americans was created in the Department of Human Services following the
issuance of Executive Order No. 74 of 2019 to support immigrants and refugees
in New Jersey through outreach, education, legal services, and other
initiatives.

���� j.� The New Jersey Office of
New Americans has played an important role in understanding the needs of
immigrants and refugees.� The office has also shared its expertise in order to
inform and strengthen the State�s engagement with New Americans through outreach,
training, and technical assistance.

���� k.� The New Jersey Office of
New Americans improves access to critical services and resources, including
refugee resettlement services, to respond to humanitarian crises and to support
New Americans� health, wellbeing, and integration into New Jersey�s communities.�
The office has administered support to refugees who have arrived to the State
in the past ten years from countries such as Cuba, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq,
and Democratic Republic of Congo.� The office also administers a legal services
program that supports

New Americans to prevent their separation from families and
communities.

���� l.� Maintaining the New Jersey
Office of New Americans, and ensuring that the office has funding and
resources, will further strengthen the collaborative efforts of the State and
immigrant communities to provide, and continue improving access, to services
for New Americans.

���� 2.� As used in this act:

�Commissioner� means the
Commissioner of Human Services; �Department� means the Department of Human
Services;

�Director� means the Director of
the Office of New Americans in the Department of Human Services;

�Office� means the Office of New
Americans in the Department of Human Services; and

�New American� means a New Jersey
resident or future New Jersey resident who has arrived or will arrive to the
United States as a non-citizen, an immigrant, or a refugee, and the children of
such persons.

���� 3.� There is established in
the Department of Human Services the Office of New Americans.

���� a.� The administrator and head
of the office shall be the Director of the Office of New Americans.� The
director shall be a person qualified by training and experience to perform the
duties of the office and shall devote their entire time to the performance of
those duties.� The commissioner shall appoint the director, who shall serve at
the pleasure of the commissioner.� The director shall administer the work of
the office under the direction of the commissioner and shall perform such other
functions of the department as the commissioner may prescribe.

���� b. A person�s lived experience
or work with New American communities shall be considered when hiring decisions
are made for staff of the office, as permitted by law.

���� c.� The office shall serve as
a centralized location for expertise and data on New Americans and shall engage
in programs, initiatives, and policies focused on successful integration for
immigrants, refugees, and their children.� The office shall provide technical
assistance, recommendations, and training to other offices and departments in
the Executive Branch on issues pertaining to effective and equitable engagement
with New Americans.� In addition to the core functions defined in this section,
the duties of the office may expand in response to emerging needs and crises
that impact New Americans, as determined by the commissioner.� Upon request
from the Governor�s Office or Executive Branch agencies,
the office shall offer guidance on issues involving New Americans.
�The
director shall staff the office to effectively meet the goals and intentions of
this act and the future needs of the New Americans community in New Jersey.

���� 4.�
In
addition to other functions, powers, and duties vested in the Department of
Human Services by this act or by any other law, the Department of Human
Services, through the Office of New Americans, shall:

���� a.�
Administer services for New Americans, including:

���� (1)�
Refugee and
other
services under the Refugee
Resettlement Program as authorized by section
412
of the
Immigration and Nationality Act
,
including following all federal requirements under title IV of the Act,
in partnership with the federal government;

���� (2)�
Support for the health and wellbeing of refugees and other New Americans
settling in New Jersey through the provision of health screenings and services,
and by promoting and facilitating, when appropriate, access to State benefits
and supports in collaboration with other State agencies; and

���� (3) �Legal
services programs for New Americans with low incomes who are in need of such
services, as defined by the commissioner.� These New Americans may include
persons seeking asylum, persons facing detention and deportation, unaccompanied
minors, and others who may suffer adverse consequences due to federal
immigration policies;

���� b.�
Engage directly with immigrant and refugee communities and service providers to
understand and address their concerns and the obstacles they face in accessing
services and resources by:

���� (1)� Promoting training that
informs New Americans of their rights and available services;

���� (2)� In consultation with the
Department of Labor and Workforce Development, promoting training that advances
workforce development and employment services for New Americans;

���� (3) Publicizing resources,
programs, and supports directly provided under the office�s auspices; and

���� (4)� Collaborating on
priorities to better serve New Americans on an ongoing basis; and

���� c.� Support and
provide policy and programmatic guidance and expertise to

State departments and agencies, as well as other organizations, on community
engagement and outreach to promote best practices and improve accessibility of
State programs and information by New Americans through:

���� (1)� Examining and developing
practices, programs, and policies related to the New Americans population;

���� (2)� Sharing programmatic and
policy guidance, expertise, and training with other government entities;

���� (3) �Prioritizing and
promoting accessibility of services to the New Americans populations, including
those who speak languages other than English, among all State departments and
agencies;

���� (4) �Consulting on language
access initiatives in State government; and

���� (5)� Conducting research on
the demographics of New Americans and determining language access needs in New
Jersey, providing such information to other State departments and agencies to
inform language and other access needs of New Americans with respect to those
departments and agencies, and making such information publicly available on an
annual basis, subject to the availability of updated data.� This information
shall be used by State agencies to inform language and other access needs of
New Americans.

���� 5.� The Office of New
Americans shall use
any individual�s contact
information obtained by the office solely for the purpose of administering
programs and providing services implemented and overseen by the office and
shall not use or disclose such individual�s contact information for any other
purpose except to the extent required by federal law or a judicial order.

���� 6.��� Records maintained by
the Office of New Americans in
connection with services
offered by the office to any individual, including the portion of any record
containing "personal identifying information" as defined in section 1
of P.L.1995, c.23 (C.47:1A-1.1), shall be exempt from the public access provisions
of P.L.1963, c. 73 (C. 47:1A-1 et seq.).

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill establishes the
Office of New Americans in the New Jersey Department of Human Services to
support individuals who are eligible to access services under existing laws. In
doing so, this bill codifies the Office of New Americans established in 2019
pursuant to Executive Order No. 74 of 2019.

���� The commissioner will appoint
the director, and the director will be the administrator and head of the
office.

���� The bill requires the office
to be a centralized location for expertise and data on New Americans and to
engage in programs, initiatives, and policies focused on successful integration
for immigrants, refugees, and their children.� The office will also provide
technical assistance, recommendations, and training to other offices and
departments in the Executive Branch on issues pertaining to effective and
equitable engagement with New Americans.

���� The bill also requires the
Department of Human Services, through the Office of New Americans, to:

���� 1) administer services for New
Americans;

���� 2) engage directly with
immigrant and refugee communities and service providers to understand and
address their concerns and the obstacles they face in accessing services and
resources; and

���� 3) support and provide policy
and programmatic guidance and expertise to State departments and agencies, as
well as other organizations, on community engagement and outreach to promote
best practices and improve the accessibility of State programs and information
by New Americans.

���� Additionally, the bill
requires the office to use any individual�s contact information obtained by the
office solely for the purpose of administering programs and providing services
implemented and overseen by the office and to not use or disclose such individual�s
contact information for any other purpose except to the extent required by
federal law or a judicial order.��
Records maintained
by the office in connection with services offered by the office to any
individual, including the portion of any record containing "personal
identifying information" as defined under existing law, would be exempt
from the public access provisions of P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.),
commonly referred to as the Open Public Records Act.