Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires county or municipal police department or force provide medication refrigeration service to residents during power outage.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning county and municipal police departments and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A county or municipal police department or force shall offer a medication refrigeration service to its residents during power outages.
b. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, shall promulgate guidelines to effectuate the provisions of this section. The guidelines shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) a list of equipment needed by a county or municipal police department or force to offer a medication refrigeration service;
(2) security protocols and best practices for the appropriate and safe refrigerated storage of medication;
(3) procedures for secure drop-off and pick-up of medication;
(4) any waiver of liability that the county or municipal police department or force would need to obtain from its residents; and
(5) methods to determine the projected need of those residents served by that municipal police department or force and the subsequent storage capacity necessary to serve those residents.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment, but the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Health may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires a county or municipal police department or force to offer a medication refrigeration service to its residents during power outages.
Under the bill, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, is required to promulgate guidelines to effectuate the provisions of this bill. The guidelines are to include, but not be limited to:
· a list of equipment needed by a county or municipal police department or force to offer a medication refrigeration service;
· security protocols and best practices for the appropriate and safe refrigerated storage of medication;
· methods of determining the procedures for secure drop-off and pick-up of medication;
· any waiver of liability that the county or municipal police department or force would need to obtain from its residents; and
· methods of determining the projected need of those residents served by that municipal police department or force and the subsequent storage capacity necessary to serve those residents.
The sponsor notes that many medications require refrigeration. In the event of a power outage, residents prescribed these types of medications frequently have to bear the cost of replacement or risk going without. The sponsor hopes that this bill will provide assistance to those residents who face the prospect of losing their medication anytime there is a power outage.