Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires periodic increases in personal needs allowance and prepaid burial allowance for residents of New Jersey veterans' memorial homes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning allowances for veterans in New Jersey veterans' memorial homes and amending P.L.1989, c.162.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 6 of P.L.1989, c.162 (C.38A:3-6.8) is amended to read as follows:
6. a. A person admitted to a veterans' facility shall be entitled to all of its benefits and be furnished with clothing, subsistence, medical and surgical attendance, necessary to promote his health and welfare in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Adjutant General.
b. A person admitted to a veterans' facility who has no source of funds shall be provided a monthly allowance for personal needs of $90.00 commencing on September 1 next after the effective date of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), which amount shall be adjusted by the State Treasurer every 48 months to reflect the cumulative increases in the Consumer Price Index for a calendar year as determined year to year using the decimal increase in the September through August 12-month average for the previous year of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as published by the United States Department of Labor.
c. Prepaid burial fund allowances shall be set at a face value of $15,000 commencing on September 1 next after the effective date of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), which amount shall be adjusted by the State Treasurer every 48 months to reflect the cumulative increases in the Consumer Price Index for a calendar year as determined year to year using the decimal increase in the September through August 12-month average for the previous year of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as published by the United States Department of Labor.
(cf: P.L.1989, c.162, s.6)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill increases from $50 to
$90 the monthly personal needs allowance of residents of the veterans' memorial
homes operated by the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs who have no
source of income. In addition, the bill increases the prepaid burial allowance
from $12,000 to $15,000 required to be prepaid by all residents of the veterans'
memorial homes operated by the
Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs. The bill requires the State Treasurer to adjust the allowances every four years based on the Consumer Price Index.
The current monthly personal needs allowance of $50 and the prepaid burial allowance of $12,000 are provided for in regulations, but they are not adjusted regularly on a periodic basis to account for the effects of inflation. The $50 monthly personal needs allowance was last increased more than 20 years ago and the prepaid burial fund allowance was last increased in 2008.
The bill addresses this matter in two ways. First, it increases the personal needs allowance and prepaid burial allowance amounts immediately to the amounts that would be in place if inflation adjustments had been made every four years since those rates took effect. Second, it provides for inflation adjustments to continue to occur every four years after the bill becomes law. This is to ensure that the veterans who reside in the State's veterans memorial homes will not see their personal needs allowances eroded by inflation for many years before an adjustment is made, and that the limit on prepaid burial fund allowances accounts for likely increases in the cost of funerals.