Bill Text: NJ A4576 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires DOH to revise emergency response plan for pandemic influenzas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-09-23 - Reported and Referred to Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee [A4576 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4576-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CODY D. MILLER
District 4 (Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester)
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson
SYNOPSIS
Requires DOH to revise emergency response plan for pandemic influenzas.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning pandemic influenzas and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Health, in consultation with the State Office of Emergency Management, shall revise the department's Pandemic Influenza Plan, or its successor plan, to:
(1) expand the scope of the emergencies anticipated by the plan to cover long-running and large-scale pandemic influenzas;
(2) address each capability as outlined in the most recent United States Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health, or such successor guidance as may be promulgated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
(3) outline the specific roles, succession plans, decision rights, and operational responsibilities of each State agency during a public health emergency involving a pandemic influenza;
(4) outline the department's approach to coordinating each element of a pandemic influenza emergency response with local health departments in New Jersey;
(5) establish or identify crisis standards of care to guide the healthcare response to pandemic influenzas in the State; and
(6) incorporate strategies to address any health equity gaps related to pandemic influenzas, including any gaps that were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
b. In revising the plan pursuant to this section, the department shall solicit input from the Governor's Office, local health departments, and other key public health stakeholders as determined by the department.
c. The plan shall be subject to regular review by the department and the State Office of Emergency Management and shall be updated on a regular basis as may be appropriate.
d. The plan shall be utilized by the department and the State Office of Emergency Management to design regular emergency response training exercises related to pandemic influenzas.
e. As used in this section:
"Department" means the Department of Health.
"Plan" means the Department of Health's Pandemic Influenza Plan, or its successor plan.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
The bill requires the
Department of Health (department), in consultation with the State of Emergency
Management, to revise the
department's Pandemic Influenza Plan, or its successor plan.
The bill requires the department to revise the plan to:
(1) expand the scope of the emergencies anticipated by the plan to cover long-running and large-scale pandemic influenzas;
(2) address each capability as outlined in the most recent United States Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health, or such successor guidance as may be promulgated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
(3) outline the specific roles, succession plans, decision rights, and operational responsibilities of each State agency during a public health emergency involving a pandemic influenza;
(4) outline the department's approach to coordinating each element of a pandemic influenza emergency response with local health departments in New Jersey;
(5) establish or identify crisis standards of care to guide the healthcare response to pandemic influenzas in the State; and
(6) incorporate strategies to address any health equity gaps related to pandemic influenzas, including any gaps that were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In revising the plan pursuant to the bill, the department will solicit input from the Governor's Office, local health departments, and other key public health stakeholders as determined by the department.
The plan will be subject to regular review by the department and the State Office of Emergency Management and will be updated on a regular basis as may be appropriate. The plan will be utilized by the department and the State Office of Emergency Management to design regular emergency response training exercises related to pandemic influenzas.
