Bill Text: NJ A368 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires county boards of health to ensure on-site COVID-19 vaccines are available to persons age 65 and older residing in certain facilities; appropriates $2 million.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee [A368 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A368-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)
SYNOPSIS
Requires county boards of health to ensure on-site COVID-19 vaccines are available to persons age 65 and older residing in certain facilities; appropriates $2 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, each county board of health shall ensure that residents age 65 and older who are residing at a qualified housing facility in the county are provided with on-site vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To this end, each county board of health shall:
(1) confirm whether a program coordinated by an entity of State or federal government has arranged for the administration of on-site COVID-19 vaccines to a population that includes residents age 65 and older at the qualified housing facility, in which case no further action by the county board of health shall be required under this section with regard to COVID-19 vaccine administrations at that facility;
(2) to the extent possible, establish agreements with appropriate entities of the State and federal governments to extend an existing on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration program to include qualified housing facilities in the county with residents age 65 or older that do not otherwise have on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration under an existing program; and
(3) if the county board of health is unable to establish an agreement to extend an existing on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration program to a given qualified housing facility as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, enter into agreements with one or more pharmacies or other appropriate health care providers to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration to residents age 65 and older at the qualified housing facility.
b. A county board of health shall not be required to take steps to ensure on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration is provided at a qualified housing facility if fewer than 15 percent of the residents at the qualified housing facility are age 65 or older.
c. Nothing in this section shall be construed to:
(1) require any person residing at a qualified housing facility to consent to administration of the COVID-19 vaccine;
(2) require a county board of health to cover all or part of the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine administered to a person age 65 or older who is residing at a qualified housing facility, in the event the cost of the vaccine is not otherwise covered under the person's health benefits plan or reimbursed through other sources; or
(3) prohibit a county board of health from establishing a program to assist persons age 65 or older with paying all or part of the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine administered on-site at a qualified housing facility, if the cost of the vaccine is not otherwise fully covered under the person's health benefits plan and is not otherwise reimbursed through other sources.
d. As used in this section:
"Appropriate health care provider" means a general acute care hospital, ambulatory care facility, community health center, or individual health care practitioner licensed pursuant to Title 45 of the Revised Statutes, which person or entity has access to a supply of COVID-19 vaccines sufficient to provide vaccines to all individuals age 65 or older who are residing at a qualified housing facility, including all follow-up administrations of the vaccine as are needed to provide the maximum level of protection against COVID-19 available using that vaccine.
"Qualified housing facility" means any of the following: a rooming or boarding house licensed pursuant to the "Rooming and Boarding House Act of 1979," P.L.1979, c.496 (C.55:13B-1 et al.); a residential health care facility, an assisted living facility, or a nursing home licensed pursuant to the "Health Care Facilities Planning Act," P.L.1971 c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.); a continuing care retirement community operating under a certificate of authority issued pursuant to the "Continuing Care Retirement Community Regulation and Financial Disclosure Act," P.L.1986, c.103 (C.52:27D-330 et seq.); public housing designated for seniors that is owned by a housing authority created or continued pursuant to the "Local Redevelopment and Housing Law," P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-1 et seq.); and a community that complies with the "housing for older persons" exception from the federal "Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988," Pub.L.100-430 (42 U.S.C. ss.3601 et seq.), for that community as set forth in section 100.301 of Title 24, Code of Federal Regulations.
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health the sum of $2,000,000 for the purpose of providing grants to county boards of health for the purposes of implementing the provisions of this act. Any unexpended funds from this appropriation shall revert to the General Fund effective 180 days after the end of both the state of emergency and the public health emergency declared in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
3. This act shall take
effect immediately, and section 1 of this act shall expire 180 days after the
end of both the state of emergency and the public health emergency declared in
response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
STATEMENT
This bill requires county boards of health to take certain steps to ensure that all residents age 65 and older who reside in certain residential facilities are provided access to on-site vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The facilities to which the bill will apply include licensed rooming and boarding houses, residential health care facilities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, continuing care retirement communities, certain public housing designated for seniors, and other housing designated for seniors. The bill requires county boards of health to determine, for each such facility located within the county, whether an existing on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration program that includes residents age 65 and older has already been established by the State or federal government for that facility. If not, the county board of health will seek to determine whether an existing program can be extended to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals age 65 and older who are residing at the facility. If an existing program cannot be extended, the county board of health will then be required to enter into agreements with one or more pharmacies or other appropriate health care providers to provide on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration to residents age 65 and older at the qualified housing facility. The bill defines "appropriate health care provider" to mean a hospital, ambulatory care facility, community health center, or individual practitioner that has access to a supply of COVID-19 vaccines sufficient to provide all initial and follow-up doses of the vaccine to each resident of a given facility who is age 65 or older.
County boards of health will not be required to take steps to ensure on-site COVID-19 vaccine administration is provided at a qualified housing facility if fewer than 15 percent of the residents at the facility are age 65 or older.
Nothing in the bill is to be construed to require any resident of a qualified housing facility to consent to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. Nor is the bill to be construed to require county boards of health to cover the unreimbursed cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for persons residing in a qualified housing facility, although county boards of health will also not be prohibited from establishing a program to assist persons receiving an on-site COVID-19 vaccine under the bill with the unreimbursed costs of the vaccine.
The bill appropriates $2 million to the Department of Health to provide grants to county boards of health to assist with the costs of implementing the provisions of the bill.
The bill will expire 180 days after the end of both the state of emergency and the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and any unexpended funds appropriated pursuant to the bill will revert to the General Fund on that date.
