Establishes Firefighter Critical Mental Health Assistance Grant Program; appropriates $1 million.

S4095

SENATE, No. 4095

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 4, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

Senator� BRITNEE N. TIMBERLAKE

District 34 (Essex)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senator Corrado

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes Firefighter Critical Mental Health
Assistance Grant Program; appropriates $1 million.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
establishing the Firefighter Critical Mental Health
Assistance Grant Program, supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes, and
making an appropriation.

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

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

���� a. Due to the nature of
firefighting, with its associated risks, danger, and stress, firefighters face
a high probability of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and other
mental illnesses.

���� b.��� Firefighters commonly feel
that disclosure of mental illness will result in negative professional
consequences up to and including job loss, creating a culture in which
firefighters often do not divulge mental health struggles and do not seek
appropriate and necessary treatment.

���� c.���� Family members of
firefighters often face unique stressors related to their loved ones�
employment and may have an elevated need for mental health services.

���� d.��� For the safety of
firefighters, their families, and the members of the public served by
firefighters, it is critical for there to be systems in place that address
mental health and establish an environment in which firefighters and their
families feel comfortable seeking mental health services.

���� 2.��� As used in P.L.��� ,
c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� �Family member� means a
spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent of, or any other family member
related by blood or by law to a firefighter who resides in the same home as the
firefighter.

���� �Firefighter" means any
full-time paid firefighter employed by a public fire department.

���� "Mental health provider"
means a psychiatrist, a psychologist, an advanced practice nurse practitioner
with a specialty in psychiatric mental health, a clinical social worker, a
professional counselor, or a marriage and family therapist who is licensed to
provide mental health services pursuant to Title 45 of the Revised Statutes.

���� �Public fire department� means
any department of a municipality, county, fire district or the State or any
agency thereof having employees engaged in firefighting.

���� 3.��� a.� There is hereby
established in the Department of Human Services the Firefighter Critical Mental
Health Assistance Grant Program.� The program shall award grants to mental
health providers to provide confidential mental health services to firefighters
or members of their immediate families who are in a mental health crisis or
suicidal.

���� b.��� The Commissioner of
Human Services shall develop an application by which a mental health services
provider may apply for a grant for funding to provide mental health services
pursuant to subsection a. of this section. The commissioner shall establish
selection criteria for the awarding of grants under the program. Consideration
shall be given to the geographical location of mental health providers and the
areas where they provide services in order to facilitate patients traveling
less than one hour to receive mental health services, to the greatest extent
possible.�� The commissioner shall provide notice of the availability of
funding for this program and make the application available on the department's
Internet website.� Upon receipt of an application, the commissioner shall
review the application and, subject to the availability of funds, award a grant
to each approved grant applicant.�

���� c.���� The commissioner shall
establish program guidelines for the provision of mental health services
pursuant to subsection a. of this section and shall publish a list of approved
mental health providers on the department�s Internet website.���������

���� 4.���
There is appropriated from the General Fund $1 million to the
Department of Human Services to fulfill the provisions of
P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� 5.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of
enactment, except that the commissioner may take any anticipatory
administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the
implementation of this act.����

STATEMENT

���� This bill establishes the
Firefighter Critical Mental Health Assistance Grant Program.

���� Due to the nature of
firefighting, with its associated risks, danger, and stress, firefighters face
a high probability of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and other
mental illnesses. Firefighters commonly feel that disclosure of mental illness will
result in negative professional consequences up to and including job loss,
creating a culture in which firefighters often do not divulge mental health
struggles and do not seek appropriate and necessary treatment. Family members
of firefighters often face unique stressors related to their loved ones�
employment and may have an elevated need for mental health services.

���� To address these concerns, the
bill establishes the Firefighter Critical Mental Health Assistance Grant
Program in the Department of Human Services.� The purpose of the program is to
award grants to mental health providers to provide confidential mental health
services to firefighters and members of their immediate families who are in a
mental health crisis or suicidal.

���� Under the bill, the
Commissioner of Human Services is required to develop an application by which a
mental health services provider may apply for a grant for funding to provide
mental health services pursuant to the provisions of the bill. The commissioner
is required to establish selection criteria for the awarding of grants under
the program. The bill provides that consideration is to be given, to the
greatest extent possible, to the geographical location of mental health
providers and the areas where they provide services in order to facilitate
patients traveling less than one hour to receive mental health services.

���� Under the bill, the
commissioner is to provide notice of the availability of funding for this
program and make the application available on the department's Internet
website.� Upon receipt of an application, the commissioner is required to
review the application and, subject to the availability of funds, award a grant
to each approved grant applicant.� Additionally, under the bill, the
commissioner is required to publish a list of approved mental health providers
on the department�s Internet website.