Concerns PTSD counseling services provided by certain veteran organizations.

A4987

ASSEMBLY, No. 4987

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 7, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ALEX SAUICKIE

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Fantasia

SYNOPSIS

���� Concerns PTSD counseling services provided by certain
veteran organizations.��

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning post-traumatic stress disorder
counseling services and certain veteran organizations, and supplementing Title
38A of the New Jersey Statutes.

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

���� 1.� a.� The Department of
Veterans Affairs shall, when practicable, permit qualified veterans�
organizations to provide post-traumatic stress disorder counseling services to
veterans and their family members.� The counseling services shall be provided
free of charge by licensed clinicians.�

���� b.� The department and
qualified veterans� organizations shall coordinate efforts to:

���� (1) �recruit clinicians to
donate professional counseling services to veterans and their family members;

���� (2)� match clinicians with
veterans and their family members; and

���� (3)� maintain a list of
clinicians who are available to provide professional counseling services to veterans
and their family members.

���� c.� The department shall
create a system for monitoring and verifying the donated hours to facilitate a
tax credit to be provided to clinicians offering counseling services to
veterans and their family members pursuant to section 2 of P.L.��� , c.����
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).�

���� The department shall provide
documentation to the clinicians for annual submission to the Department of the Treasury
to verify the amount of tax credit the clinician is eligible to request pursuant
to section 2 of P.L.��� , c.���� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature
as this bill).� The amount of annual tax credit shall be determined by the
department as the sum of the donated counseling hours provided to the veterans
and their family members multiplied by the documented compensation rate applied
to these hours.� To determine the compensation rate, the department shall use
the calendar year TRICARE rate for the service provided in the geographic
location in which the service is provided.� The department shall limit the
cumulative hours which are authorized for the annual tax credit to a minimum of
20 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per year, per clinician.�

���� d.� All clinicians
volunteering to provide counseling services shall be immune from civil liability
as provided in P.L.1991, c.270 (C.2A:62A-16 et seq.).

���� e.� The department and
qualified veterans organizations shall advertise the counseling services on
their respective websites and in any other location and manner as the
department or qualified veterans organizations, as appropriate, may deem
appropriate.

���� f.� The Department of Veterans
Affairs shall, in accordance with the �Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968,
c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules and regulations as necessary to
implement this act.

���� g. �As used in this act:

���� �Clinician� means a person who
provides mental health services, is experienced with post-traumatic stress
disorder, and is licensed or otherwise authorized, pursuant to Title 45 of the
Revised Statutes, to practice a health care profession that is regulated by one
of the following: the State Board of Medical Examiners; the State Board of
Psychological Examiners; the State Board of Social Work Examiners; or the State
Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners.�

���� �Family member� means a
spouse, parent, sibling, child, or grandparent, whether of the whole or half
blood or by adoption, legal guardian, romantic partner, or any person residing
in the veteran�s household.�

���� �Qualified veterans'
organization� means a veterans� organization that qualifies as a section
501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) tax exempt organization under the Internal Revenue Code,
or a federally chartered veterans� service organization.

���� �Veteran� means a person who
served on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, or a Reserve
component thereof, including the National Guard, who has been honorably
discharged, or discharged or released under other than dishonorable conditions from
that service.

���� 2.� a. For taxable years
beginning on or after January 1, next following the effective date of P.L.��� ,
c.���� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a taxpayer
shall be allowed a credit against the tax otherwise due for the taxable year
under the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act," N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq.,
in an amount equal to the amount documented annually by the Department of
Veterans Affairs for the counseling services provided pursuant to section 1 of
P.L.��� , c.���� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� b.��� The order of priority of
the application of the credit allowed pursuant to this section and any other
credits allowed against the New Jersey gross income tax due pursuant to
N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq. for a taxable year shall be as prescribed by the
director.

���� The amount of the credit
applied against the New Jersey gross income tax due pursuant to N.J.S.54A:1-1
et seq. shall not reduce a taxpayer's New Jersey gross income tax liability to
an amount less than zero.

���� c.���� A business entity that
is classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes shall not be
allowed a credit directly, but the amount of credit of a taxpayer in respect of
a distributive share of entity income, shall be determined by allocating to the
taxpayer that proportion of the credit acquired by the entity that is equal to
the taxpayer's share, whether or not distributed, of the total distributive
income or gain of the entity for its taxable year ending within or with the
taxpayer's taxable year.

���� A New Jersey S Corporation
shall not be allowed a credit directly under the gross income tax, but the
amount of credit of a taxpayer in respect of a pro rata share of S Corporation
income, shall be determined by allocating to the taxpayer that proportion of
the credit acquired by the New Jersey S Corporation that is equal to the
taxpayer's share, whether or not distributed, of the total pro rata share of S
Corporation income of the New Jersey S Corporation for its privilege period
ending within or with the taxpayer's taxable year.

���� 3. �This act shall take effect
on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment, except that the Commissioner
of the Department of Veterans Affairs may take any anticipatory administrative
action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.

STATEMENT

���� Under this bill, the
Department of Veterans Affairs will, when practicable, permit qualified
veterans organizations to provide post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD,
counseling services to veterans and their family members.� The counseling
services will be provided free of charge by licensed clinicians.�

���� The department and the qualified
veterans� organizations will coordinate efforts to recruit clinicians to donate
professional counseling services and to match clinicians with the veterans and
their family members.� The clinicians will be immune from civil liability as
provided by law.�

���� The department will provide
documentation to the clinicians for annual submission to the Department of the
Treasury to verify the amount of tax credit the clinician is eligible to
request pursuant to law.� The department will limit the cumulative hours which
are authorized for the annual tax credit to a minimum of 20 hours and a maximum
of 40 hours per year, per clinician.�

���� The department and the qualified
veterans� organizations will advertise the counseling services on their
websites, and in any other location and manner as deemed appropriate.

���� Under the bill, �clinician�
means a person who provides mental health services, is experienced with
post-traumatic stress disorder, and is licensed or otherwise authorized by law
to practice a health care profession that is regulated by one of the following:
the State Board of Medical Examiners; the State Board of Psychological
Examiners; the State Board of Social Work Examiners; or the State Board of
Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners.�

���� The bill defines �family
member� to mean a spouse, parent, sibling, child, or grandparent, whether of
the whole or half blood or by adoption, legal guardian, romantic partner, or
any person residing in the veteran�s household and �qualified veterans�
organization� to mean a veterans� organization that qualifies as a section
501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) tax exempt organization under the Internal Revenue
Code, or a federally chartered veterans� service organization.�

���� The bill also defines �veteran�
to mean a person who served on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United
States, or a Reserve component thereof, including the National Guard, who has
been honorably discharged, or discharged or released under other than
dishonorable conditions from that service.