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.
Several bills the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) has been monitoring advanced to the governor’s office. Here is what they are about and where they stand:
A3707 (Coughlin)/S2395 (Scutari) – New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect
The governor signed into law a bill that implements a court order to end the federal oversight of New Jersey’s child welfare system. The bill expands the role of the Staffing and Oversight Review Subcommittee of the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect to serve in the review capacity that the federal monitor currently performs. The NJSBA supported the bill with an amendment to create a dedicated NJSBA seat.
Though the bill was not amended to provide a specific designation for an NJSBA member, it includes designated seats for attorneys engaged in the representation of parents in child protection matters, the indigent and of children in out-of-home placement. In addition, the new law creates funding for the committee to hire independent, contracted staff or other resources to meet the responsibilities. Finally, the bill fixes average daily caseloads of child protection workers and implements measures to enforce this standard.
A1357 (Mosquera)/S1034 (Vitale) – New Jersey Siblings’ Bill of Rights
This bill establishes the New Jersey Siblings’ Bill of Rights, which provides rights for siblings who have been placed in a resource family or a congregate care setting. The NJSBA supported the bill with amendments to permit siblings to be notified of permanency hearings of other siblings and be given an opportunity to attend the hearing and provide their recommendations to a judge. This would put the siblings in the same position as resource parents, who currently can do this.
In addition to other protections, the bill would clarify that a child in an out-of-home placement has the right to participate in the permanency planning decisions of the child’s siblings, whenever appropriate; invite any other siblings of the sibling who is the subject of the permanency planning to participate in the permanency planning decision; and have the recommendations of the child and of each sibling who participates in the permanency planning decision documented in the case record of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency and provided to the court either in words written or otherwise expressed by the sibling. The bill awaits the governor’s signature.
A4768 (Quijano)/S3162 (Cryan) – Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act
The governor has not yet signed this one-sentence-long bill, which would implement advance notification and severance pay in cases of mass layoffs – otherwise known as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. If signed, the bill would implement these protections 90 days following the signing of the bill rather than 90 days following termination of Executive Order 103. The amendment would reinstate the WARN Act, which was enacted by Gov. Phil Murphy in January 2020, but was held in the wake of the pandemic. The NJSBA took no position on the bill, but monitored the bill based on its impact on the practice of law. The governor may sign the bill earlier or it will automatically become law by Feb. 2.
A2527 (Murphy)/S1388 (Singer) – Military Pro Bono Program
This bill would provide pro bono legal representation to active-duty members of the armed forces, reserve components, members of the National Guard and veterans. The program would be housed in the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and offer pro bono legal representation in various areas of the law including civil, family, estate planning, employment, immigration, debtor-creditor and military administrative matters. The NJSBA did not take a position on this bill but monitored it on behalf of its Military Law and Veterans Affairs Section. The bill awaits the governor’s signature. Murphy may sign the bill earlier or it will automatically become law by Feb. 2.