SENATE, No. 565
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED JANUARY 29, 1996
By Senator BASSANO
An Act concerning the administration of general public assistance and amending and supplementing P.L.1947, c.156.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. The Commissioner of Human Services, no later than the 90th day after the effective date of this act, shall adopt rules and regulations which provide for specific standards of performance with respect to the administration of general public assistance pursuant to P.L.1947, c.156 (C.44:8-107 et seq.). Each municipal welfare agency or other agency administering general public assistance shall be required to comply with these standards, which shall be designed to ensure adequate access to services for all eligible citizens at the lowest possible cost of administration. The standards shall be developed in consultation with the general assistance advisory committee within the Department of Human Services and the Municipal Welfare Association of New Jersey.
b. The commissioner shall distribute an evaluation form to each municipal welfare agency for the purpose of measuring that agency's compliance with the standards adopted by the commissioner pursuant to subsection a. of this section. The agency shall complete and return the form to the commissioner within 60 days of its receipt, and the information provided by the agency shall be certified as correct by the municipal welfare director and the presiding officer of the local assistance board.
c. No later than 12 months after the effective date of this act, each municipality shall be required to provide a program of general public assistance which complies with the standards prescribed by the commissioner pursuant to subsection a. of this section, by use of the services of one or more of the following: its own municipal welfare agency, a regional agency, or an agency with which the municipality contracts for this purpose.
d. The commissioner shall periodically review the performance of each municipal, regional or contracting agency with respect to the administration of general public assistance to determine whether it is complying with the standards of performance prescribed by the commissioner.
2. (New section) a. Each municipal, regional or contracting agency which administers general public assistance shall be administered by a welfare director who has been certified in accordance with rules and regulations to be adopted by the Commissioner of Human Services no later than the 90th day after the effective date of this act. The standards for certification shall require, at a minimum, that an applicant present proof of completion of courses prescribed by the commissioner which are offered through Rutgers, The State University or at a college or university certified by the Department of Education. The standards for certification shall be developed in consultation with the general assistance advisory committee within the Department of Human Services and the Municipal Welfare Association of New Jersey.
b. A person serving as a welfare director on the effective date of this act is exempt from the provisions of subsection a. of this section.
3. (New section) A person who shall have been employed as a welfare director by a municipal welfare agency for a period of at least five years and whose employment shall have been terminated by reason of the assumption of its activities and responsibilities by another agency, shall be transferred to that agency and be assigned duties comparable to those previously performed by that person. He shall be entitled to and credited with all rights and privileges due him, and shall suffer no loss of compensation or benefits accruing to him, by reason of his tenure in the previous position the same as if the entire period of his employment in the previous position had been in the position to which he has been transferred.
4. Section 11 of P.L.1947, c.156 (C.44:8-117) is amended to read as follows:
11. Each local assistance board shall organize and select a chairman and a secretary, and shall appoint a director of welfare who shall be the first executive and administrative officer of the board. He shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of his appointment, and shall be paid such salary as may be fixed by such board subject to approval by the governing body. Nothing herein shall be construed to make the overseer of the poor of a municipality ineligible for appointment also as director of welfare by such local assistance board.
The director of welfare, subject to the superior authority of the local assistance board appointing him, shall be its general agent for the administration of general public assistance.
In case of vacancy in the office of director of welfare, one temporary or acting director may be appointed to serve for not more than ninety days.
Other employees, including assistants, clerks, investigators and nurses, in such number as may be necessary to properly administer public assistance, shall be appointed in the same manner as other employees of the municipality.
No employee of any welfare department of a municipality whose compensation is paid from funds received or appropriated for public assistance or the administration thereof in any manner shall hold any office in any political party.
(cf: P.L.1947, c.156, s.11)
5. The Commissioner of Human Services, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act.
6. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides for the adoption by the Commissioner of Human Services of specific standards of performance with respect to the administration of general public assistance, with which each municipal agency administering general public assistance shall be required to comply. The bill further requires that each agency which administers general public assistance be administered by a welfare director who has been certified in accordance with rules and regulations to be adopted by the commissioner. In addition, the bill provides that a person who shall have been employed as a welfare director by a municipal welfare agency for a period of at least five years and whose employment shall have been terminated by reason of the assumption of its activities and responsibilities by another agency, shall be transferred to that agency and be assigned duties comparable to those previously performed by that person.
Requires Commissioner of Human Services to develop and implement standards of performance for administration of general public assistance.