ASSEMBLY, No. 1580

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 22, 1996

 

 

By Assemblywoman WEINBERG and Assemblyman ZISA

 

 

An Act concerning the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Paramus and amending P.L.1989, c.162.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. Section 11 of P.L.1989, c.162 (C.38A:3-6.13) is amended to read as follows:

    11. There is created within the Division of Veterans' Administrative Services in the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs four advisory councils to be known as:

    a. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Menlo Park;

    b. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Vineland;

    c. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Paramus; and

    d. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Cemetery Advisory Council-Arneytown.

    Each advisory council shall consist of seven members, at least five of whom are veterans, to be appointed by the Adjutant General with the approval of the Governor. The term of each council member, except for the initial members, shall be three years commencing on July 1 and ending on June 30 of the third year thereafter, and any vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term only. The initial membership of each veterans' facility advisory council, other than the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Cemetery Advisory Council-Arneytown, shall include four of the persons serving on the effective date of this 1989 amendatory and supplementary act as members of the Veterans' Facilities Council. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Cemetery Advisory Council-Arneytown shall include three of the persons serving on the effective date of this 1989 amendatory and supplementary act as members of the Veterans' Facilities Council. The New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Paramus shall include two members of the Friends and Family Council of the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home at Paramus. All of the members who served originally on the Veterans' Facilities Council and who serve subsequently on an advisory council shall serve for the remainder of the term for which they had been appointed to the Veterans' Facilities Council. Additional and subsequent appointments shall be made in such manner that the terms of either two or three of the members of each advisory council shall expire on June 30 of each year.

    The members of the advisory council shall receive no compensation for their services but shall be reimbursed for actual expenditures incurred in the performance of duty. They are subject to removal by the Adjutant General at any time for good and sufficient cause.

(cf: P.L.1989, c.162, s.11)

 

    2. (New section) Upon the expiration of the terms of office of two members of the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Paramus next following the effective date of this act, the Adjutant General, with the approval of the Governor, shall appoint members of the Friends and Family Council of the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home at Paramus to fill those vacancies.

 

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    The Friends and Family Council of the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home at Paramus was organized in February 1995 after the planned privatization of services at that facility was reported. The council was formed to advocate the maintenance of quality care at the Paramus home and to foster communication between the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs and the home's residents and loved ones.

    Although the department no longer plans to privatize services at the Paramus home, the council continues to play an active role in improving the quality of life for the home's residents. In order to ensure that the voices of those directly concerned with the well-being of the home's residents continues to be heard, this bill provides that the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council-Paramus shall include two members of the Friends and Family Council of the New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home at Paramus.


                             

Provides that two members of the Friends and Family Council shall be on the Paramus Veterans' Memorial Home Advisory Council.