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S3158 SBA Statement 6/4/26
SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No.
3158
STATE
OF NEW JERSEY
DATED:
�JUNE 4,
2026
����� The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports
favorably Senate Bill No. 3158.
����� As reported,
this bill requires certain State payments to be made available to
recipients in the form of a paper check. Under the bill, the appropriate State
agencies are required to provide State employees, taxpayers, and unemployment
insurance (UI) benefit claimants the option to receive their payment in the
form of a paper check.
���� With
respect to UI benefit payments, the bill requires the Division of Unemployment
and Temporary Disability Insurance to provide UI claimants with written notice
of benefit payment options. The written notice requires a claimant�s signature
designating the benefit payment method as prepaid debit card, direct deposit,
or paper check.
���� The
Department of Labor and Workforce Development has already entered a partnership
with Bank of America to provide debit card accounts to UI claimants. Beginning November 1, 2010, the department began automatically converting claimants who receive
benefits by paper check to prepaid debit cards. At this time, paper checks are
no longer issued to claimants. Currently, a claimant will automatically receive
a debit card, unless the choice is made to register for direct deposit.� This
bill ensures that claimants may opt to receive benefit payments in the form of
a paper check as an alternative to prepaid debit cards or direct deposit.
���� With
respect to State employee compensation, the bill requires the State Treasurer
to disburse a State employee�s net pay in the form indicated in writing by the
employee.� If an employee indicates, in writing to the proper disbursing
officer, the desire to have net pay disbursed in the form of a paper check, the
State Treasurer would be required to disburse the employee�s net pay in the
form indicated by the employee.� This provision would apply to all State
entities, including any person holding public office, position or employment,
whose compensation is paid by the State or by any board, body, agency,
authority or commission thereof, whether or not the entity is part of the State
centralized payroll system, including public institutions of higher education.
���� The
bill also provides that the Director of the Division of Taxation shall provide
a taxpayer due a refund of any State tax payment the option of receiving the
refund in the form of a paper check.
FISCAL IMPACT
:
����� The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) determines
that the bill will result in an indeterminate increase in expenditures from the
General Fund, the Unemployment Compensation Fund, the Unemployment Compensation
Administration Fund, and the State Disability Benefits Fund.
����� There are many variables that may influence the cost
of this bill, including the number of individuals who will select the option of
a paper check, the costs of reinstituting administrative processes related to
the distribution of paper checks, and the actual cost to distribute checks. �There
is insufficient information available on each of these factors for the OLS to
accurately estimate the impact on costs.
����� The bill�s provision requiring the State Treasury to
provide the option of paper checks related to State tax refunds will not have
any effect on spending, as the current process allows for tax refunds to be
paid by paper check.