FISCAL NOTE TO


ASSEMBLY, No. 1897


STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: November 12, 1996

 

      Assembly Bill No. 1897 of 1996 provides for the suspension of the professional license of a physician, chiropractor or dentist who has been certified by a lending institution for nonpayment or default of a State or federally guaranteed educational loan. The professional’s license would be reinstated by the appropriate State licensing board upon a written release from the lending institution stating that the loan payments have been resumed in accordance with a repayment agreement approved by the institution.

      Information provided informally by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety, which oversees the State's professional licensing boards, places the cost of implementing this bill at $143,000 in the first year following enactment. This estimate is based on the approximately 100 cases of educational loan defaults reported to the three affected professional boards in FY 1996. The division has included in its estimate the cost of conducting a half-day hearing to provide the right to due process to the professional certified as in default of an educational loan prior to the suspension of his or her license. The division's first-year estimate includes $137,000 for the salary and fringe benefit costs of one deputy attorney general and three clerks, and $6,000 for related expenses. The bill’s second and third year costs would be $150,000 and $158,000 respectively, allowing for an annual inflation rate of five percent.

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds the division's estimate to be high, based on the estimated workload of 100 cases, but notes the number of cases is likely to increase if this bill is enacted. OLS further notes that a portion of the bill's implementation costs would be offset by license reinstatement fees imposed by the professional boards. No cost to the State would be incurred by enactment of this bill. Professional boards are fully supported through professional licensing fee revenue.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.