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S3774
SENATE, No. 3774
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 5, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires municipalities that have public swimming
pools to provide information regarding �dry drowning.�
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning public swimming pools, and amending
and supplementing P.L.1957, c.166.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� (New section)��� On or
before the first day of the fourth month next following enactment of P.L.��� ,
c.���� (C.�������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the
Commissioner of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Health shall design, produce, and distribute to each municipality in which a
public pool is located, a poster warning of the dangers of dry drowning and
listing all of the symptoms of dry drowning, and a one-page information
pamphlet that provides the same information.
���� 2.��� Section 1 of P.L.1957,
c.166 (C.40:61-22.21) is amended to read as follows:
���� 1.��� The governing body of
any municipality may acquire, establish, construct, own or lease, control,
equip, improve, maintain, operate and regulate one or more public swimming
pools and such other recreational, playground, or public entertainment
activities as it may determine to provide in connection therewith, and for any
such purpose or purposes may construct, reconstruct, alter, provide, renew and
maintain such buildings or other structures and equipment as it may determine,
and provide for the care, custody and control thereof.
����
The governing body shall post
in a prominent area at every public swimming pool the poster produced and
distributed by the Department of Community Affairs pursuant to section 1 of
P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) warning of the dangers of dry drowning and
listing all of the symptoms of dry drowning.� The governing body shall also
require that a copy of the one-page information sheet produced by the
Department of Community Affairs pursuant to section 1 of
P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending
before the Legislature as this bill) shall be provided to municipal residents
annually, either at the time they register as members of the municipal pool, or
at the public swimming pool during the first two weeks that the pool is open.
(cf: P.L.1971, c.334, s.2)
���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately, but the posting and distribution requirements in section 2
shall remain inoperative until the first day of the fourth month next following
enactment.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would require the
Commissioner of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Health to design, produce, and distribute to each municipality in which a
public pool is located, a poster warning of the dangers of dry drowning and
listing all of the symptoms of dry drowning, and a one-page information
pamphlet providing that information.� The bill would also require the governing
body of every municipality that operates a public swimming pool to post that
poster in a prominent area at the pool, and to also require that a copy of the
one-page information sheet be provided to municipal residents annually, either
at the time they register as members of the municipal pool, or at the public
swimming pool during the first two weeks that the pool is open.
���� �Dry drowning� occurs when a
person inhales water into the person�s lungs but isn't affected until after the
person has left the water. It is also referred to as secondary drowning.�
Patients can then have breathing difficulties due to airway muscle spasms.�
The laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic
pulmonary edema.