ASSEMBLY TRANSPORTATION AND INDEPENDENT AUTHORITIES COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 3683

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 10, 2018

      The Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3683.

      As amended and reported, this bill requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to issue a placard to authorize parking privileges for home care service employees who render care at a patient’s home.  The bill specifically applies to the following employees licensed or certified under Title 26 or Title 45 of the Revised Statutes: nurses, nurse aides, homemaker-home health aides, personal care assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers, and hospice care workers.

      Under the bill, the placards entitle the home care service employees to park their motor vehicles in on-street areas that are generally reserved for municipal residents, in municipal parking lots, and in college and university parking lots.  The home care service employees are also entitled to park in these areas overnight when overnight parking is prohibited.  In addition, the permit entitles the home care service employees to travel on roads which are designated by a municipality as being reserved for municipal residents during certain times when traffic volume is high and to park overtime at metered parking when rendering health or personal care services.              Under the bill, the MVC is to issue the placards to home care service agencies which are to then distribute the placards to their employees who qualify as home care service employees.  A home care service agency applying for the placards is to submit a copy of agency’s license or other credentials issued by the Department of Health or Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.  The bill requires the MVC to take action within 30 days of receiving a home care service agency’s application. 

      The placard is to be valid for one year, but may be renewed for as long as the home care service agency continues to render health or personal care services to patients in their private residences.  The bill allows the MVC to establish a one-time registration fee of not more than $50 for each parking placard issued.  A home care service agency is not required to pay a fee when renewing the placards.  

      The bill requires the placards to display a unique identifying number which is to be recorded by the MVC and maintained in a central registry.  A home care service employee who receives a placard is required to submit to the home care service agency a copy of the employee’s driver’s license.  The home care service agency is required to use the identifying numbers on the placards and employee driver’s license numbers to maintain a record of placards assigned to the agency’s employees. 

      The bill requires home care service employees to return the placard to the home care service agency upon termination of employment. A home care service employee who fails to return the placard within 30 days of termination of employment is to be fined $100 by the MVC.  The bill establishes an additional $100 fine to be imposed on a home care service employee who improperly uses the placard.  

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill to include physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers as home care service employees covered under the bill.  The amendments also provide corrections to statutory and regulatory references in the bill.