Bill Text: NJ A5428 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Creates mobility assistance vehicle services hotline.
Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-09-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee [A5428 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A5428-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Clifton and Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson
SYNOPSIS
Creates mobility assistance vehicle services hotline.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning mobility assistance vehicle services 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. As used in this act, "mobility assistance vehicle services" means the provision of nonemergency health care transportation, supervised by certified trained personnel, for individuals who are sick, have an infirmity, or have a disability, and who are under the care and supervision of a physician and whose medical condition is not of sufficient magnitude or gravity to require transportation by ambulance, but does require transportation from place to place for medical care and whose use of an alternate form of transportation, such as taxicab, bus, other public conveyance or private vehicle might create a serious risk to life and health.
b. The Commissioner of Health shall establish and maintain a hotline to receive calls from persons with complaints that pertain to mobility assistance vehicle services. The operators of the hotline shall seek to identify persons who require immediate medical transportation and attempt to refer those persons to the appropriate medical transportation service.
c. The operators of the hotline shall be trained by the Department of Health and, to the greatest extent possible, shall be persons, who by experience or education, are knowledgeable of mobility assistance vehicle service and the department's regulation thereof.
d. To encourage persons to utilize the hotline, at the request of a caller, the Commissioner of Health shall provide for the confidentiality of the name of the person calling, the information discussed by that person and the operator, and any referrals for services.
e. The Department of Health shall investigate and take appropriate actions with respect to complaints, which, if true, would constitute a violation of the laws or regulations that specifically pertain to the department's regulation of mobility assistance vehicle services.
f. The Department of Health shall adopt rules and regulations with regard to mobility assistance vehicle services providers to ensure patient safety and consumer protection.
2. The Commissioner of Health shall adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill creates a mobility assistance vehicle services hotline.
Under the bill, the bill defines "mobility assistance vehicle services" to mean the provision of nonemergency health care transportation, supervised by certified trained personnel, for individuals who are sick, have an infirmity, or have a disability, and who are under the care and supervision of a physician and whose medical condition is not of sufficient magnitude or gravity to require transportation by ambulance, but does require transportation from place to place for medical care and whose use of an alternate form of transportation, such as taxicab, bus, other public conveyance or private vehicle might create a serious risk to life and health.
The bill provides that the Commissioner of Health (commissioner) is to establish and maintain a hotline to receive calls from persons with complaints that pertain to mobility assistance vehicle services. The operators of the hotline are to seek to identify persons who require immediate medical transportation and attempt to refer those persons to the appropriate medical transportation service. The operators of the hotline are to be trained by the Department of Health (department) and, to the greatest extent possible, are to be persons, who by experience or education, are knowledgeable of with mobility assistance vehicle services and the department's regulation thereof. To encourage persons to utilize the hotline, at the request of a caller, the commissioner is to provide for the confidentiality of the name of the person calling, the information discussed by that person and the operator, and any referrals for services.
Under the bill, the department is to investigate and take appropriate actions with respect to complaints, which, if true, would constitute a violation of the laws or regulations that specifically pertain to the department's regulation of mobility assistance vehicle services.
Finally, the department is to adopt rules and regulations with regard to mobility assistance vehicle services providers to ensure patient safety and consumer protection.
