Bill Text: NJ A4444 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires county protective services staff to receive training on means and methods of effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of assistance to, adults with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-23 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Aging and Senior Services Committee [A4444 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A4444-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires county protective services staff to receive training on means and methods of effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of assistance to, adults with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the training of county protective services provider staff on the ways to ensure effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of assistance to, adults with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias and amending P.L.1993, c.249.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 17 of P.L.1993, c.249 (C.52:27D-422) is amended to read as follows:
17. a. The commissioner or [his] a designee thereof shall establish a training program for county protective services provider staff, which shall be offered at least annually and shall include a minimum of 90 classroom hours. This training shall be required during the first year of employment with an adult protective services provider.
b. (1) Commencing on the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the first-year training program provided under subsection a. of this section shall include at least three classroom hours of instruction on the means and methods that should be used by county protective services staff to facilitate and ensure their effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of necessary assistance to, adults who have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
(2) Each staff member employed by a county protective services provider on the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) who has already completed the mandatory first-year training program under subsection a. of this section, but who has not received the instruction required by paragraph (1) of this subsection as a part of that first-year training, shall be required to complete three classroom hours of supplemental training on the issues specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection within 90 days after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(3) Each county protective services staff member who has completed initial training on the issues specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection, whether as a part of first-year training received pursuant to subsection a. of this section or as part of supplemental training received pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection, shall be required thereafter to biennially complete three additional classroom hours of refresher training on the issues specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(4) The commissioner or a designee thereof shall establish a program to provide the supplemental and refresher training courses required by paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection. The training program established pursuant to this paragraph shall provide for supplemental and refresher training courses to be offered on a regular basis in varying regions of the State or, as deemed by the commissioner to be necessary and appropriate, to be provided remotely through an online classroom learning format.
(5) Course materials used for training under this subsection shall be regularly reviewed and updated as necessary to incorporate new data, principles, and approved findings relating to the means and methods that should be used by county protective services staff to best facilitate and ensure their effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of necessary assistance to, adults who have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
(cf: P.L.1993, c.249, s.17)
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following the date of enactment, except that the Commissioner of Human Services shall take anticipatory administrative action in advance of the effective date as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Commissioner of Human Services or the commissioner's designee to provide training to county protective services provider staff on the means and methods that should be used by staff to facilitate and ensure their effective, respectful, and compassionate communication with, and provision of necessary assistance to, adults with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
Existing law already requires
the commissioner or his designee to establish a training program for county
protective services provider staff, which is to include a minimum of 90
classroom hours and is to be completed by staff members during the first year
of employment with an adult protective services provider. However, the law
does not specify the content of the courses to be offered under that first year
training program. This bill would amend the existing law to specify that, commencing
on the bill's effective date, the first-year training program provided by the
commissioner will be required to include at least three classroom hours of
instruction on the means and methods that should be used by county protective
services staff to effectively, respectfully, and
compassionately communicate with and provide assistance to adults who have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Each staff member employed by a county protective services provider on the bill's effective date who has already completed the first-year training program mandated by existing law, but who has not received the instruction required by the bill as a part of that first-year training, will be required to complete three classroom hours of supplemental training on these issues within 90 days after the bill's effective date.
The bill would further require each county protective services staff member who has completed initial training on the means and methods of effective and respectful communication with, and provision of assistance to, adults who have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias to biennially complete three classroom hours of refresher training on these issues throughout the course of the person's employment with the county protective services provider.
The bill requires the commissioner or the commissioner's designee to establish a program to provide the supplemental and refresher training courses required by the bill. The program is to provide for supplemental and refresher training courses to be offered on a regular basis in varying regions of the State or, as deemed by the commissioner to be necessary and appropriate, to be provided remotely through an online classroom learning format.
The bill further provides for any course materials, which are used in the training courses required under the bill, to be regularly reviewed and updated as necessary to incorporate new data, principles, and approved findings relating to the means and methods that should be used by protective services staff to best facilitate and ensure their effective, respectful, and compassionate communications with, and provision of assistance to, adults who have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
The bill would take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following the date of enactment, and the Commissioner of Human Services will be required to take anticipatory administrative action, in advance of the effective date, as may be necessary to ensure the proper implementation of the bill's training requirements.
