Bill Text: NJ A572 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires DOE and DCF to establish online reporting systems for schools and child care centers to report lead testing results.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A572 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A572-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman STERLEY S. STANLEY
District 18 (Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Calabrese
SYNOPSIS
Requires DOE and DCF to establish online reporting systems for schools and child care centers to report lead testing results.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning lead in drinking water at schools and child care centers and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes and P.L.1983, c.492 (C.30:5B-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Within one year after the effective date of this act, the Department of Education shall establish an online reporting system that allows a school to submit the results of any tests it has conducted for lead in drinking water and other related information to the department electronically.
b. Within 90 days after the establishment of the online reporting system pursuant to subsection a. of this section, any school that was required by law, rule, or regulation, on or after July 1, 2016, to test its drinking water for lead shall submit or resubmit its test results and other required information to the department via the online reporting system. The department shall compile the test results and other relevant information on its Internet website for access by the public in an easily-searchable format.
2. a. Within one year after the effective date of this act, the Department of Children and Families shall establish an online reporting system that allows a child care center to submit the results of any tests it has conducted for lead in drinking water and other related information to the department electronically.
b. Within 90 days after the establishment of the online reporting system pursuant to subsection a. of this section, any child care center that was required by law, rule, or regulation, on or after January 1, 2017, to test its drinking water for lead shall submit or resubmit its test results and any other required information to the department via the online reporting system. The department shall compile the test results and other relevant information on its Internet website for access by the public in an easily-searchable format.
3. Within two years after the effective date of this act, the Department of Education and the Department of Children and Families, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, shall prepare and submit a report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, outlining the extent of lead contamination in the drinking water of schools and child care centers, the associated need for assistance with remediation activities, and recommendations for how the State could assist schools and child care centers with remediating lead in drinking water. The Department of Education and the Department of Children and Families shall post the report on their respective Internet websites.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF), within one year after the bill is enacted into law, to establish online reporting systems for schools and child care centers to report lead testing results electronically. In July 2016, the State Board of Education adopted regulations requiring every school in the State to test for lead in drinking water, and in January 2017, the DCF adopted regulations requiring each child care facility in the State to test for lead in drinking water.
Under the bill's provisions, each school and child care center that was previously required to test for lead, pursuant to law or regulation, would be required, within 90 days after the DOE and DCF establish the online reporting systems required by the bill, to submit or resubmit the lead testing results, as well as any other required information, via those online reporting systems. The DOE and the DCF would be required to compile the test results on their respective Internet websites for access by the public.
The bill also would require the DOE and the DCF, within two years after the bill is enacted into law and in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature outlining the extent of lead contamination in the drinking water of schools and child care centers, the associated need for assistance with remediation activities, and recommendations for how the State can assist schools and child care centers with remediating lead in drinking water.
