SENATE SENIOR CITIZENS, VETERANS' AFFAIRS AND AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1374

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: SEPTEMBER 19, 1996

      The Senate Senior Citizens, Veterans' Affairs and Agriculture Committee reports favorably Senate Bill, No. 1374, with committee amendments.

      This bill, as amended, allows senior citizen holders of policies of personal lines of insurance to designate a third party to whom the insurer must transmit a copy of notices of cancellation, nonrenewal and conditional renewal. The amended bill also allows senior citizen residential property taxpayers to designate a third party to whom the municipal tax collector must transmit a copy of the property tax bill and notices of delinquent payments. The amended bill additionally allows senior citizens to designate a third party to whom public utilities must transmit a copy of the public utility bill and notices of delinquent payments and termination of services.

      The amended bill permits a third party designee to terminate the designation by written notice to the insurer, public utility or municipal tax collector, as the case may be, and the senior citizen. The senior citizen may terminate the third party designation by written notice to the insurer, public utility or municipal tax collector, as appropriate.

      The insurers, public utilities and municipal tax collectors must notify senior citizens annually in writing of the availability of the third party notices, except in those cases when the age of the insured is unknown. Designation as a third party does not constitute acceptance of any liability on the part of the third party for services provided to, or the tax liability of, the senior citizen, or on the part of the insurer, public utility or municipal tax collector, as the case may be.

      The committee amended the bill to: 1) update the official title of the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance; 2) remove the requirement that public utilities must mark the face of an envelope which contains delinquent payment or termination of service notices to the third party with a warning to open the envelope immediately when a third party is so designated; and 3) clarify that a qualifying senior citizen residential property taxpayer must be a resident of New Jersey.