S4374 • 2026

Expands certain requirements concerning automatic enrollment for utility bill payment assistance programs.

Budget

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Scutari, Nicholas P.
Last action: 2026-06-04
Official status: Reported from Senate Committee, 2nd Reading
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Expands certain requirements concerning automatic enrollment for utility bill payment assistance programs.

What This Bill Does

Expands certain requirements concerning automatic enrollment for utility bill payment assistance programs.
Topic: 2nd Reading in the Senate Fiscal note: This bill has not been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

2026-06-04 New Jersey Legislature
Reported from Senate Committee, 2nd Reading
2026-06-01 New Jersey Legislature
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee

Official Summary Text

Expands certain requirements concerning automatic enrollment for utility bill payment assistance programs.
Topic:
2nd Reading in the Senate
Fiscal note:
This bill has not been certified by OLS for a fiscal note.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

S4374 SBA Statement 6/4/26

SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No.
4374

STATE
OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:
�JUNE 4,
2026

����� The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports
favorably Senate Bill No. 4374.

����� As reported, this bill requires the Department of
Community Affairs (DCA) to, within three months of the bill�s effective date,
enter into a memorandum of understanding with nonprofit organizations and
utility companies that administer utility bill payment assistance programs that
provide ongoing assistance to residential customers.� The memorandum of
understanding is to require, on a timeline specified in the bill: 1) a
nonprofit organization or utility company to provide DCA with a list of utility
customers and the eligibility criteria for any utility bill payment assistance
program that provides ongoing assistance administered by the nonprofit or
utility company; 2) the DCA to, utilizing the information provided by the
nonprofit or utility company and data concerning Universal Service Fund and Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program data, identify households eligible for a
utility bill payment assistance program that provides ongoing assistance
administered by the nonprofit organization or utility company; and 3) the
nonprofit organization or utility company to automatically enroll eligible
households into utility bill payment assistance programs that provide ongoing
assistance administered by the nonprofit or utility company.

����� Under the bill, the DCA is required to report to the Governor,
and to the Legislature, the name of any nonprofit organization that administers
a utility bill payment assistance program in the State that declines, or fails,
to enter into a memorandum of understanding pursuant to the bill.

FISCAL IMPACT
:

����� This bill is not certified as requiring a fiscal note.