SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 3522

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JANUARY 6, 2020

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3522 (1R).

      This bill requires the New Jersey Office of Minority and Multicultural Health established pursuant to P.L.1991, c.401 (C.26:2-160 et seq.) to study of the effects of racial and ethnic disparities on the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women.

      The purpose of the study would be to: identify Statewide and regional trends, patterns, and racial and ethnic disparities in adverse health outcomes, and medical, non-medical, and system-related factors that may affect the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women; review the extent to which the effects of racial and ethnic disparities on the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women in a geographic area indicate the need to increase access to health care services among racial and ethnic populations in that area; and identify ways to reduce or eliminate racial and ethnic disparities that affect the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women.

      When conducting the study, the office would be allowed to seek the advice of persons specializing in the fields of women’s health, minority health advocacy, or other related fields.

      The bill stipulates that within one year of the enactment of the bill, the office would prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report containing the study’s findings concerning the effects of racial and ethnic disparities on the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women and recommendations for legislative or other actions that could be taken to: improve the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women in this State; reduce or eliminate racial and ethnic disparities that affect the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women; and increase access to high quality health care services among African-American women in the following priority areas: childbirth; breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer screening; HIV/AIDS; hepatitis C; and other sexually transmitted diseases.

      Each report prepared by the office pursuant to the bill, with the exception of the first report, would identify the extent to which the office’s prior recommendations have been successfully implemented and the impact the implementation of the recommended changes has had on African-American women’s sexual and reproductive health in the preceding years.

      As reported by the committee, Senate Bill No. 3522 (1R) is identical to Assembly Bill No. 5029 (1R) which was also reported by the committee on this date.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) estimates that this bill will result in an indeterminate, likely marginal, one-time increase in State expenditures due to costs incurred by the New Jersey Office of Minority and Cultural Health to: 1) study of the effects of racial and ethnic disparities on the sexual and reproductive health of African-American women; and 2) report the study’s findings to the Governor and Legislature.