Bill Text: NJ S2416 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes parking privileges for certain healthcare workers who render care at patients' home residences.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-07-01 - Substituted by A3683 (2R) [S2416 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S2416-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator FRED H. MADDEN, JR.
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Authorizes parking privileges for certain healthcare workers who render care at patients' home residences.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning parking and supplementing Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this act:
"Health or personal care services" means nursing and other home health care services rendered at a patient's place of residence.
"Home care service agency" means a home health care agency licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), a health care service firm registered pursuant to N.J.A.C.13:45B-14.1 et seq., or a Medicare-certified hospice program.
"Home care service employee" means a nurse, nurse aide, homemaker-home health aide, or personal care assistant licensed or certified pursuant to Title 45 of the Revised Statutes or a hospice care worker licensed pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1997, c.78 (C.26:2H-80) who provides at home health or personal care services.
b. The Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall issue upon application parking placards to home care service agencies indicating that a motor vehicle is being operated by a home care service employee. The placards shall be distributed by the home care service agencies to their home care service employees who render health or personal care services. A home care service agency applying for the placards shall submit to the commission a copy of the agency's license or other credentials issued by the Department of Health or Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety. The commission shall take action within 30 days of receiving the application.
c. The placard shall be displayed on a motor vehicle operated by a home care service employee when rendering health or personal care services and while traveling to render health or personal care services. The placard shall entitle the employee:
(1) to park the motor vehicle in on-street areas that are generally reserved for municipal residents, municipal parking lots, and college and university parking lots;
(2) to park overnight in on-street areas that are generally reserved for municipal residents, municipal parking lots, and college and university parking lots when overnight parking is prohibited;
(3) to travel on roads which are designated by a municipality as being reserved for municipal residents during certain times when traffic volume is high; and
(4) to park overtime at metered parking when rendering health or personal care services.
d. A home care service agency shall be entitled to receive a parking placard for each home care service employee employed by the agency. The parking placards shall be valid for one year from the date of issuance and may be renewed indefinitely provided that the home care service agency continues to provide health or personal care services. The commission may impose on each home care service agency a one-time registration fee of $50 or less for each parking placard issued. A home care service agency shall not be required to pay a fee when renewing the placards.
e. A parking placard shall display a unique identifying number that shall be recorded by the commission and maintained in a central registry. A home care service employee who receives a placard shall submit to the home care service agency a copy of the employee's driver's license. The home care service agency shall use the identifying numbers and employee driver's license numbers to maintain a record of placards assigned to the agency's home care service employees which shall be made available to the commission for inspection upon request.
f. A home care service employee shall return the placard to the home care service agency upon termination of employment as a home care service employee. A home care service agency shall report to the commission if an employee fails to return the placard upon termination of employment. A home care service employee who fails to return the placard within 30 days of termination of employment shall be fined $100 by the commission.
g. A person who uses a placard to receive parking privileges established pursuant to this section other than when rendering health or personal care services at a patient's place of residence shall be subject to a $100 fine.
h. The chief administrator shall notify the Attorney General, who shall, in turn, notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies of the placard established pursuant to this section.
i. The chief administrator may establish regulations necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the eighth month after enactment, except the chief administrator may take anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to issue a placard to authorize parking privileges for home care service employees who render care at a patient's home. The placards would entitle the home care service employees to park their motor vehicles in on-street areas that are generally reserved for municipal residents and in municipal parking lots and college and university parking lots. The home care service employees also would be entitled to park in these areas overnight. In addition, the permit would entitle the home care service employees to travel on roads which are designated by a municipality as being reserved for municipal residents during certain times when traffic volume is high and to park overtime at metered parking when rendering health or personal care services. The bill specifically applies to the following employees licensed or certified under Title 45 of the Revised Statutes: nurses, nurse aides, homemaker-home health aides, or personal care assistants, and hospice care workers licensed under Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Under the bill, the MVC would issue the placards to home care service agencies which would then distribute the placards to their employees who qualify as home care service employees. A home care service agency applying for the placards would be required to submit a copy of agency's license or other credentials issued by the Department of Health or Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety. The bill requires the MVC to take action within 30 days of receiving a home care service agency's application.
The placard would be valid for one year, but would be renewable for as long as the home care service agency continues to render health or personal care services to patients in their private residences. The bill allows the MVC to establish a one-time registration fee of $50 or less for each parking placard issued. A home care service agency would not be required to pay a fee when renewing the placards.
The bill requires the placards to display a unique identifying number which would be recorded by MVC and maintained in a central registry. A home care service employee who receives a placard would be required to submit to the home care service agency a copy of the employee's driver's license. The home care service agency would be required to use the identifying numbers on the placards and employee driver's license numbers to maintain a record of placards assigned to the agency's employees.
The bill also requires home care service employees to return the placard to the home care service agency upon termination of employment. A home care service employee who fails to return the placard within 30 days of termination of employment would be fined $100 by the MVC. The bill establishes an additional $100 fine to be imposed on a home care service employee who improperly uses the placard.
