Bill Text: NJ A3948 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows each county to create central registry and provide emergency supply kits to distribute to senior residents during emergencies.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-04 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A3948 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A3948-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VICTORIA A. FLYNN
District 13 (Monmouth)
Assemblywoman TENNILLE R. MCCOY
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Allows each county to create central registry and provide emergency supply kits to distribute to senior residents during emergencies.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning emergency management, supplementing chapter 9 of Appendix A, and making appropriations.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this act, "senior resident" means a person who is 65 years of age or older and a resident of a county which has established a central registry pursuant to the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. Each county in the State may establish a central registry that allows senior residents to voluntarily register to receive additional assistance during an emergency. A central registry created pursuant to this section shall be maintained by the county office of emergency management, and shall be composed of information provided by senior residents who wish to participate in the registry. A senior resident shall provide the following information including, but not limited to, the registrant's name, address, telephone number, an emergency contact, and medical conditions.
c. A county that creates a registry pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall conduct a public awareness campaign, utilizing the Internet and any other available resources, to inform the general public of the importance of registration by senior residents so that appropriate preparations may be made to ensure that these individuals receive necessary assistance. Information collected for purposes of a central registry created pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall be used only by the county office of emergency management that collected the information to prepare for and provide assistance to senior residents, and shall not otherwise be divulged or made publicly available; provided however, that the director of the county office of emergency management may, at the director's discretion, access and obtain information from a central registry maintained by a county office of emergency management if the information is used directly and exclusively by the director to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan required pursuant to section 19 of P.L.1989, c.222 (C.App.A:9-43.2).
d. A central registry maintained by a county office of emergency management and any information contained therein, or accessed and obtained by the director in accordance with subsection c. of this section, shall not be included under materials available to public inspections pursuant to P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) or P.L.2001, c.404 (C.47:1A-5 et al.).
e. Each county in the
State may prepare and provide emergency supply kits for senior residents to use
during emergencies. The items within these emergency supply kits shall be
determined by each county office of emergency management in accordance with
section 20 of P.L.1989, c.222 (C.App.A:9-43.3).
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Office of Emergency Management such sums as may be necessary for the operating expenses of preparing emergency supply kits for senior residents, who have registered pursuant to Section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the thirteenth month following enactment, but the Director of the State Office of Emergency Management may take such anticipatory administrative actions in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill allows each county in the State to establish a central registry that allows senior residents, 65 years of age or older, to voluntarily register to receive additional assistance during an emergency. A county that creates a central registry is to conduct a public awareness campaign, utilizing the Internet and any other available resources, to inform the general public of the importance of registration by senior residents so that appropriate preparations may be made to ensure that these individuals receive necessary assistance.
Each county in the State may prepare and provide emergency supply kits for senior residents, who have registered to receive additional assistance. The items within these emergency supply kits would be determined by each county office of emergency management in accordance with section 20 of P.L.1989, c.222 (C.App.A:9-43.3).
