Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Provides certain protections for pandemic financial assistance.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning pandemic financial assistance and supplementing N.J.S.2A:17-19.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. All financial assistance shall be the property of the individual that is entitled to the assistance, and shall be reserved, both before and after the individual’s death, for the individual’s use, or that of the individual’s family or estate, and shall not be liable to be seized or taken by virtue of any execution or civil process whatever, issued out of any court of this State.
Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed or held to protect from sale under execution or other process any goods, chattels or property, for the purchase whereof the debt or demand for which the judgment on which that execution or process was issued, shall have been contracted, or to apply to process issued for the collection of taxes or assessments.
b. (1) If the State or federal government deposits financial assistance into an account at a financial institution, the financial institution shall allow the individual to access the full amount of financial assistance, without withholding any amount for overdraft or other fees that the individual may owe the financial institution at the time the assistance is deposited.
(2) If an individual with an account at a financial institution cashes a check for financial assistance at the financial institution, the financial institution shall not withhold any amount for overdraft or other fees that the individual may owe the financial institution.
c. As used in this section:
“Financial assistance” means money provided by the State or federal government to an individual in response to the Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency declared by Executive Order No. 103 of 2020 concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic or any related federal emergency declaration pursuant to federal law concerning that same pandemic.
"Financial institution" means a State chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire on the 18th month next after the expiration of the Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency declared by Executive Order No. 103 of 2020 concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
STATEMENT
This bill provides certain protections for pandemic financial assistance. As used in the bill, “financial assistance” means money provided by the State or federal government to an individual in response to the Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency declared by Executive Order No. 103 of 2020 concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic or any related federal emergency declaration pursuant to federal law concerning that same pandemic.
The bill provides that all financial assistance shall be the property of the individual that is entitled to the assistance, and shall be reserved, both before and after the individual’s death, for the individual’s use, or that of the individual’s family or estate, and shall not be liable to be seized or taken by virtue of any execution or civil process whatever, issued out of any court of this State.
The bill also provides that, if an individual has financial assistance deposited into an account at a financial institution, the financial institution shall allow the individual to access the full amount of financial assistance, without withholding any amount for overdraft or other fees that the individual may owe the financial institution at the time the assistance is deposited. The bill prohibits a financial institution from withholding any amount for overdraft or other fees that an individual may owe the financial institution if an individual with an account at the financial institution cashes a check for financial assistance at the institution. As used in the bill, "financial institution" means a State chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union.