Bill Text: NJ S2908 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires medical sharps retailers operating in NJ to establish and maintain household-generated sharps waste disposal programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-10 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee [S2908 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S2908-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator BRIAN P. STACK
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires medical sharps retailers operating in NJ to establish and maintain household-generated sharps waste disposal programs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the disposal of medical sharps used in home-based care, and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
a. It is estimated that one in every 12 households in the United States is using medical sharps, including needles, syringes, and lancets, for home-based care, and that up to 700,000 medical sharps are used annually in the homes of New Jersey residents.
b. Most medical sharps used in home-based care in New Jersey are discarded into ordinary household garbage, and, although the law requires such sharps to be destroyed or placed in a rigid container before disposal, it is, nevertheless, often the case that waste management workers are subjected to unintended needle sticks as a result of their close work with municipal garbage streams.
c. Because used medical sharps are a common source of communicable disease, unintended needle sticks may cause significant health problems in the persons who are subjected thereto, and, at the very least, will result in costly, stressful, and time-consuming medical examinations to determine whether such a person has contracted any communicable disease.
d. Although the New Jersey Hospital Association has established a cooperative arrangement with hospitals and health centers in the State to provide hospital-based sharps collection and disposal services to consumers of sharps that are used in home-based care, hospitals and health centers are not always a convenient choice of drop-off location, and many consumers simply elect to continue to throw their used sharps in their household garbage.
e. Given the health concerns associated with unintended needle sticks, it is beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the citizens of this State for the Legislature to facilitate the safe disposal of used medical sharps by ensuring that there are frequent and convenient locations, throughout the State, where sharps used in home-based care can be collected and disposed of outside of the household waste stream, at no cost to the consumer.
f. The retail locations, including pharmacy sites, where medical sharps are sold to members of the public, are a logical and convenient disposal point for household-generated sharps waste, since home-based consumers of medical sharps will visit these local retail locations, on multiple occasions, to purchase new medical sharps.
g. It is, therefore,
reasonable and necessary to require retailers of medical sharps in the State to
provide complimentary collection and disposal services for household-generated
sharps waste at the point of sale.
2. As used in this act:
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Health.
"Consumer" means a person who purchases, or who has purchased, sharps for use in home-based care.
"Home-based care" means health care that is provided, without the assistance of a health care professional, either at the patient's home, or at any other location outside of a health care facility, and which involves either the self-administration of medication by the patient, or the administration of medication to the patient by another household member.
"Household-generated sharps waste" means sharps that are discarded after being used in home-based care.
"Retail outlet" means a store or other physical sales location where sharps are sold by a retailer directly to a consumer in this State.
"Retailer" means a person or business entity that sells sharps to the general public for home-based care, and includes, but is not limited to, a pharmacy, or a sharps manufacturer who sells sharps directly to a consumer in the State.
"Sharps" means hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, syringes, lancets, and any other devices that are used to puncture the skin for the delivery of medication.
3. a. Within 180 days after the effective date of this act, each retailer of sharps that are sold in this State for the purposes of home-based care shall establish, within each retail outlet that is owned or operated thereby, a system for the acceptance and collection of household-generated sharps waste for proper disposal.
b. Each collection system established pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall:
(1) provide a convenient location, and an appropriate receptacle, within the retail outlet, where the retailer can accept and collect household-generated sharps waste from the consumer, at no charge to the consumer;
(2) utilize appropriate signage, prominently displayed within five feet of any entrance to the retail outlet and easily visible to the consumer, indicating that the retail outlet accepts and collects household-generated sharps waste from consumers, as provided by paragraph (3) of this subsection; and
(3) provide the following collection services, at no charge to the consumer:
(a) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who previously purchased sharps from the retailer, in which case, the retailer may require proof of the earlier purchase, and shall only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed the amount of sharps that were previously sold to the consumer;
(b) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who is simultaneously purchasing new sharps from the retailer, in which case, the retailer shall only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed the amount of new sharps being purchased at the time of the exchange; and
(c) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who purchased sharps from another retailer, in which case, the retailer shall only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed a two-quart sharps container per week per consumer.
c. A retailer shall safely and properly dispose of any household-generated sharps waste, which is collected from a consumer pursuant to this section. Any waste disposal activities that are undertaken by a retailer, pursuant to this subsection, shall comply with the applicable provisions of the "Comprehensive Regulated Medical Waste Management Act," P.L.1989, c.34 (C.13:1E-48.1 et al.), and any rules and regulations that have been adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant thereto.
4. a. The commissioner, and any other official who is authorized by statute or ordinance to enforce the State or local health codes, shall be authorized to enforce the provisions of this act.
b. The commissioner, or other health official, as the case may be, may institute a civil action for injunctive relief, in a court of competent jurisdiction, to prohibit and prevent a violation of this act, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto. The court may proceed in the action in a summary manner. In any such proceeding the court may grant temporary or interlocutory relief, which may include the imposition of a temporary or permanent injunction; and the assessment, against the violator, of reasonable costs for the inspection or investigation that led to the establishment of the violation, and for the preparation and litigation of the case under this subsection.
c. A person who violates this act, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, shall be liable to pay a penalty of not more than $1,000 for each offense, to be collected in a summary civil proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.), or in any case before a court of competent jurisdiction wherein injunctive relief has been requested. If the violation is of a continuing nature, each day during which the violation continues shall constitute an additional, separate, and distinct offense. The penalties imposed pursuant to this subsection shall be in addition to any other penalties that are applicable under subsection d. of this section, or under any other law.
d. A person who knowingly or willfully violates this act, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a disorderly persons offense.
e. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to limit the authority of the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, or the authority of any other official who is authorized by statute or ordinance to enforce the State's environmental laws, to undertake appropriate enforcement action when a retailer fails to comply with the laws or regulations that pertain to the proper disposal of medical waste, as required by subsection c. of section 3 of this act. Any penalties that are imposed as a result of such environmental enforcement action shall be in addition to the penalties that are imposed pursuant to this section.
5. The commissioner shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), and within 90 days after the effective date of this act, rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
6. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require in-State retailers of needles, syringes, and other medical sharps that are used in home-based care (including pharmacies and manufacturers who sell such sharps directly to the public) to establish, within each retail outlet that is owned or operated thereby, a system for the acceptance and collection of household-generated sharps waste for proper disposal.
Each waste collection system is to be established within 180 days after the bill's effective date, and is to provide the following waste collection services, at no charge to the consumer: (1) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who previously purchased sharps from the retailer, in which case, the retailer may require proof of the earlier purchase, and will only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed the amount of sharps that were previously sold to the consumer; (2) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who is simultaneously purchasing sharps from the retailer, in which case, the retailer will only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed the amount of sharps being purchased at the time of the exchange; and (3) the collection of household-generated sharps waste from a consumer who has purchased sharps from another retailer, in which case, the retailer will only be required to accept household-generated sharps waste in an amount that does not exceed a two-quart sharps container per week per consumer.
Each waste collection system is to provide a convenient location, and an appropriate receptacle, within the retail outlet, where the retailer can accept and collect household-generated sharps waste from the consumer, at no charge to the consumer; and is to utilize appropriate signage, prominently displayed within five feet of any entrance to the retail outlet and easily visible to the consumer, indicating that the retail outlet accepts and collects household-generated sharps waste from consumers.
The bill would require each sharps retailer to safely and properly dispose of any collected household-generated sharps waste, in accordance with the State's "Comprehensive Regulated Medical Waste Management Act," and the rules and regulations that have been adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant thereto.
The bill specifies that either the Commissioner of Health, or any other official who is authorized by statute or ordinance to enforce the State or local health codes, may enforce the bill's provisions.
The commissioner, or other health official, as the case may be, will be authorized to institute a civil action for injunctive relief to prohibit and prevent a violation of the bill's provisions, or the provisions of any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto. The enforcement official may simultaneously seek to recover, from the violator, reasonable costs associated with the investigation and court proceeding.
The bill further provides that any person who violates the bill's provisions, or the provisions of any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, will be liable to pay a penalty of not more than $1,000 for each offense, which penalty is to be collected in a summary civil proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," or in any case before a court of competent jurisdiction wherein injunctive relief has been requested. If the violation is of a continuing nature, each day during which the violation continues would constitute an additional, separate, and distinct offense.
Any person who knowingly or willfully violates the bill's provisions, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, will also be guilty of a disorderly persons offense. The penalties imposed for such offense will be in addition to any civil penalties that are imposed pursuant to the bill's provisions.
The bill would expressly state, moreover, that nothing in its provisions may be deemed to limit the authority of the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, or any other duly authorized environmental law enforcement officer, to bring an enforcement action or impose penalties when a retailer fails to dispose of sharps waste in accordance with applicable medical waste disposal laws and regulations. Any penalties imposed for a violation of these environmental laws and regulations would be in addition to the applicable penalties that are imposed under the bill's provisions.
