The New Jersey Assembly Women and Children Committee approved an amended version of A1357 (Mosquera), which establishes a New Jersey Siblings’ Bill of Rights. The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) supported the bill with an amendment to notify siblings of permanency hearings and allow them to share with the court their wishes for placement of a sibling. While this amendment was not made to this version of the bill, Mosquera promised to continue to work on the bill to make amendments in line with recommendations from various stakeholders who testified.
“The Association recognizes the importance of this right – not only that it exists, but to give the child an unfettered ability to express these wishes concerning permanency planning as requested by the Youth Council,” said the NJSBA in its letter to the sponsors urging the amendment. The original bill would have allowed such wishes to be expressed to the case worker to be placed in the case record. “The opportunity for a sibling to participate in the permanency planning decisions of the child and to tell the court directly what the sibling’s wishes are will ensure better clarity of the child’s position on the permanency plan or other issues.”
Both the NJSBA and the Office of the Law Guardian, housed within the Office of the Public Defender, recommended amendments to the bill to invite any sibling to participate in the permanency planning decisions of the child and give the sibling the ability to provide directly to the court their recommendations and wishes in this regard, in the words written, or otherwise expressed by the sibling when possible.
The Law Guardian further recommended that the limitation on supporting relationships with siblings to those within the division’s care and who were adopted out be removed so that the Division of Children and Families supports all relationships with siblings. The Law Guardian also urged the sponsor to add a section to provide that siblings have access to a siblings adoption registry and have the right to update their contact in the registry as an adult to maintain contact with siblings.
The Administrative Office of the Courts also testified, urging an amendment to provide that siblings should be able to participate in permanency planning decisions “when appropriate” instead of limiting participation to when age- and developmentally-appropriate as recommended by some stakeholders.
The bill heads to a full vote of the Assembly and the amended bill goes back to the Senate for approval before going to the governor. However, further amendments are likely according to the sponsor.
Bill Easing Military Families’ Access to Home- and Community-Based Services Moves Through Committee
The state Assembly Human Services Committee approved a bill that would ensure dependents of military personnel assigned to duty stations in New Jersey qualify for home- and community-based services under the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services. The NJSBA supports S875 (Singer)/A2256 (Murphy), which would require the division to accept a permanent change of station order for the purposes of satisfying the residency requirement for the provision of these services.
“This bill is important to ensure that servicemembers stationed in New Jersey by virtue of their assignment in the military are given access to certain accommodations that are afforded to New Jerseyans despite their residency in another state,” said the NJSBA in a statement to the committee.
The bill passed the Senate and is now headed for a full vote in the Assembly.
Bill Modernizing LLC Filing Status Passes Committee
The NJSBA signaled its support of S142 (Diegnan), which modernizes business filing statutes to include entity conversion and domestication provisions. The bill passed out of the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and heads to the full Senate for a vote.
“The bill will align New Jersey with many other states that allow entity conversion and domestication, which will ultimately be a positive measure in making New Jersey a more business-friendly state,” said the association in a statement to the committee.
This is a status report provided by the New Jersey State Bar Association on recently passed and pending legislation, regulations, gubernatorial nominations and/or appointments of interest to lawyers, as well as the involvement of the NJSBA as amicus in appellate court matters.
To learn more, visit njsba.com.