Bill Text: NJ A3479 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires certain parking garages to have on-site emergency vehicle capable of accessing low-clearance areas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-05 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A3479 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A3479-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires certain parking garages to have on-site emergency vehicle capable of accessing low-clearance areas.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning parking garages 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 owner or operator of a parking garage with clearance levels preventing an ambulance from accessing any level of that garage shall maintain on the premises an emergency transport vehicle that is capable of accessing each level and which is appropriately equipped to transport persons in need of emergency medical transportation to an ambulance outside the garage.
b. For the purposes of this section, a "parking garage" shall mean a building owned or operated by the State, a county, a municipality, or any instrumentality thereof, or a private entity for the purpose of providing parking for motor vehicles on a number of floors or levels and includes, but is not limited to, a parking structure, parking ramp, parking building, parking deck, or indoor parking.
c. The Commissioner of Health shall promulgate guidelines for the implementation of this act, including the specifications for an emergency transport vehicle.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires parking garages with clearance levels that prevent access by ambulances to have on-site an appropriately equipped emergency transport vehicle that can access every level of the parking garage for the purpose of transporting persons in need of emergency medical transportation to an ambulance outside the garage. Under the bill, the Commissioner of Health would be required to promulgate guidelines governing the specifications for emergency transport vehicles.
This bill is in response to the tragic murder of Dustin Friedland in a parking garage at the Short Hills Mall in December 2013. An ambulance arrived just 18 minutes after Mr. Friedland was shot by perpetrators, but the parking garage clearance was too low for the ambulance to enter. Emergency responders lost precious time when they were forced to abandon the ambulance and run on foot with a stretcher to reach Mr. Friedland. Under this bill, an emergency transport vehicle would be available to reach a person in need of emergency services and transport that person to a waiting ambulance.
