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S4000
SENATE, No. 4000
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
���� Excludes certain income earned from health promotion
or disease prevention work from income eligibility determination under NJ
FamilyCare, WFNJ, and NJ SNAP.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning income determination under the NJ
FamilyCare program,
the Work First New Jersey
Program, and the New Jersey
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
and supplementing Title 30 and Title 44 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� a. Notwithstanding any
law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the Division of Medical Assistance
and Health Services in the Department of Human Services, in determining an
applicant�s income eligibility, or re-determining a beneficiary�s income eligibility
for the NJ FamilyCare program, shall exclude from income the first $5,000
earned during a calendar year as a community outreach worker for a health
promotion or disease prevention program.
���� b.��� The Commissioner of
Human Services shall apply for such State plan amendments or waivers as may be
necessary to implement the provisions of this act and to secure federal
financial participation for State Medicaid expenditures under the federal
Medicaid program.
���� c.���� As used in this
section:
�����
�Community
outreach worker� means a temporary employee of a non-profit community-based
organization, health care system, local health department, or other similar
organization, who is paid hourly or through a stipend and draws on their
experiences as a community member to serve as a liaison between those
organizations and the community by engaging in outreach activities such as
communicating public health and community response information, cultivating new
channels to share information, and connecting people to appropriate health and
social services.
���� �Disease prevention program�
means a program that involves actions or efforts to reduce or eliminate
exposure to risks that might increase the chances that an individual or a
community will incur disease.
���� �Health promotion program�
means a program that engages and empowers individuals and communities to
develop behaviors that improve and maintain an individual�s health.
���� �Medicaid� means the Medicaid
program established pursuant to P.L.1968, c.413 (C.30:4D-1 et seq.).
���� �NJ FamilyCare� means the NJ
FamilyCare Program established pursuant to P.L.2005, c.156 (C.30:4J-8 et al.).
���� 2.��� a. Notwithstanding any
law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the Division of Family Development in
the Department of Human Services, in determining an applicant�s income
eligibility, or re-determining a beneficiary�s income eligibility for the Work
First New Jersey Program or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
shall exclude from income the first $5,000 earned during a calendar year as a
community outreach worker for a health promotion or disease prevention program.
���� b.��� The Commissioner of
Human Services shall apply to the Food and Nutrition Service within the
United States Department of Agriculture for any necessary waivers or
approvals to implement the provisions of this act.
���� c.���� As used in this
section:
���� �Community outreach worker�
means a temporary employee of a non-profit community-based organization, health
care system, local health department, or other similar organization, who is
paid hourly or through a stipend and draws on their experiences as a community
member to serve as a liaison between those organizations and the community by
engaging in outreach activities such as communicating public health and
community response information, cultivating new channels to share information,
and connecting people to appropriate health and social services.
���� �Disease prevention program�
means a program that involves actions or efforts to reduce or eliminate
exposure to risks that might increase the chances that an individual or
community will incur disease.
���� �Health promotion program�
means a program that engages and empowers individuals and communities to
develop behaviors that improve and maintain an individual�s health.
���� �Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program� means the New Jersey Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program established pursuant to the federal "Food and Nutrition Act of
2008," as amended through Pub.L.110-246 (7 U.S.C. s.2011 et seq.).
���� �Work First New Jersey Program
or WFNJ� means the program established by the Department of Human Services
pursuant to P.L.1997, c. 38. (C.44:10-55 et seq.).
���� 3.��� The
Commissioner of Human Services, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure
Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and
regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
���� 4.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill requires the
Department of Human Services, in determining an applicant�s income eligibility,
or re-determining a beneficiary�s income eligibility for the NJ FamilyCare
program, the Work First New Jersey Program, or the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), to exclude from income the first $5,000 earned
during a calendar year as a community outreach worker for a health promotion or
disease prevention program.
���� Under the bill: �community
outreach worker� means a temporary employee of a non-profit community-based
organization, health care system, local health department, or other similar
organization, who is paid hourly or through a stipend and draws on their
experiences as a community member to serve as a liaison between those
organizations and the community by engaging in outreach activities such as
communicating public health and community response information, cultivating new
channels to share information, and connecting people to appropriate health and
social services; �disease prevention program� means a program that
involves actions or efforts to reduce or
eliminate exposure to risks that might increase the chances that an individual
or a community will incur disease; and
�health promotion program� means
a program that
engages and empowers
individuals and communities to develop behaviors that improve and maintain an
individual�s health.