STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 62

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed By Senator CAFIERO)

ADOPTED: MARCH 10, 1997

      This floor amendment ensures the confidentiality of any information provided by a public or private secondary school pupil during a counseling session in a school-based drug and alcohol abuse counseling program that a family member is abusing alcohol or drugs, except that the information could be disclosed to DYFS or a law enforcement agency when an individual suspects that the secondary school pupil or another child has been abused or neglected.

      The amendment clarifies that the provisions of the bill also apply to secondary school pupils or to other children, whether or not they reside in the pupil's household. The amendment also make a technical correction in a statutory cite.