Bill Text: NJ S684 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Requires telecommunications, cable television, and Internet service providers to allow for service contracts to be paused or canceled following service recipients's admission to long-term care facility.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)
Status: (Enrolled) 2024-12-19 - Passed Senate (Passed Both Houses) (37-0) [S684 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S684-Amended.html
SENATE, No. 684
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Senator PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR.
District 18 (Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Pou, Holzapfel and Moriarty
SYNOPSIS
Requires telecommunications, cable television, and Internet service providers to allow for service contracts to be paused or canceled following service recipient's admission to long-term care facility.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee on October 24, 2024, with amendments.
An Act allowing 1[certain telecommunications service recipients to terminate] for1 service contracts 1to be paused or canceled1 following 1[a physician's referral] service recipients' admission1 to certain long-term care facilities and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A service provider doing business in this State shall allow a service recipient to 1[terminate] pause and, as may be applicable, cancel1 a contract for telecommunications service, cable television service, or Internet connection service pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
b. (1) A service provider shall permit a service recipient to 1[terminate] pause1, without incurring an 1[early termination] additional1 fee, the contract for those services 1[after the service recipient receives a physician's order, or develops a plan of care in collaboration with a physician responsible for the care of the service recipient, to relocate the service recipient to a long-term care facility for a period of at least 90 days, if the service recipient relocates to a long-term care facility that meets the description in the physician's order or the plan of care] upon the admission of the service recipient to a long-term care facility. The service provider shall not resume charging the service recipient under the contract for a minimum period of 90 days. If the service recipient remains admitted to a long-term care facility after a period of 90 days, the service provider shall cancel the contract without any additional charge1.
(2) 1[The service recipient shall, unless waived or not required by the service provider, provide the service provider with no less than 45 days' notice prior to the requested date of the contract termination or cancellation; provided, however, a service provider shall waive the notice requirement and permit the termination within 48 hours if a physician's order requires immediate relocation to a long-term care facility.]1 The service provider shall provide a standard 1[termination]1 form to the service recipient upon request, which the service recipient and a physician shall utilize when requesting contract 1[termination] pause1 or cancellation pursuant to the provisions of this section. If the service recipient is unable to submit the standard 1[termination]1 form and a representative of the service recipient is requesting contract 1[termination] pause1 or cancellation pursuant to the provisions of this section, the representative shall submit to the service provider the standard 1[termination]1 form and a copy of the power of attorney, conservatorship, or guardianship documents verifying the representative's authority to act on behalf of the service recipient.
(3) A service provider may require written proof of a service recipient's 1[relocation] admission1 to a long-term care facility. If the service provider requires written proof, then the delivery of a written notice to the service provider of the 1[requested contract termination] request pursuant to this subsection1 and a letter signed by the service recipient's physician 1[, no later than 45 days prior to the requested date of termination,]1 attesting that the requirements established pursuant to this subsection are met, shall be deemed sufficient proof.
(4) Nothing in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall relieve a service recipient of an obligation to return equipment to the service provider or to 1[be charged] pay1 a lawful unreturned equipment charge 1,1 nor shall a service recipient be relieved from any amounts owed for any equipment purchased by the service recipient.
c. For purposes of this section:
"Assisted living facility" means an assisted living residence or comprehensive personal care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
"Cable television company" and "cable television service" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-3).
"Certified mail" shall have 1the1 same meaning as provided in R.S.1:1-2.
"Dementia care home" means a community residential facility which: (1) provides services to residents with special needs, including, but not limited to, persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of dementia; (2) is subject to the licensure authority of the Department of Health as a health care facility pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.); (3) and meets the requirements of section 19 of P.L.2015, c.125 (C.26:2H-150).
"Internet service provider" shall have 1the1 same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.2007, c.272 (C.56:8-170).
"Long-term care facility" means a nursing home, assisted living residence, comprehensive personal care home, residential health care facility, or dementia care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
"Physician" means a physician authorized by law to practice medicine in this or any other state and any other person authorized by law to treat sick and injured human beings in this or any other state.
"Service provider" means a telecommunications service provider, a cable television company, or an Internet service provider.
"Service recipient" means any individual who resides in this State who receives telecommunications service, cable television service, or Internet service from a service provider through equipment that is located in this State.
"Telecommunications service provider" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that provides a telecommunications service that is subject to regulation by the Board of Public Utilities pursuant to Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the 12th month next following enactment.
