S705

An Act establishing the Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund and making an appropriation.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. There is hereby created in the Department of State a fund known as the Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund, which shall be held separate and apart from all other funds of the State. All monies appropriated to the fund by the Legislature under section 2 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be credited to the fund. The monies in the fund shall be administered by the State Treasurer.

b. Monies in the Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund shall be used by the Department of State to provide reimbursement to qualified New Jersey residents for additional costs incurred due to the need for an emergency evacuation from Israel, occurring since October 7, 2023, when the resident is not otherwise eligible for evacuation reimbursement by means of any other State or federal program.

A resident may be reimbursed for the reasonable cost of:

(1) economy airfare;

(2) hotel or other type of necessary overnight accommodations;

(3) train ticket;

(4) fare for a ship; and

(5) travel to and from an airport, train station, and port.

Reimbursement may be provided only if emergency evacuation was necessary due to hazardous conditions caused by the Israeli-Hamas war in the immediate vicinity of the location where the New Jersey resident was staying or residing in Israel.

c. Residents ineligible for reimbursement shall include, but need not be limited to:

(1) residents with costs incurred for a federal government assisted evacuation;

(2) residents whose costs have been partially or fully reimbursed by the federal government; and

(3) residents whose incurred additional costs were not necessary for an emergency evacuation.

d. The Secretary of State shall require such information and documents to be provided by a resident seeking reimbursement as the secretary shall deem appropriate and necessary. The secretary shall review each application to determine reimbursement eligibility based on the criteria set forth in this section and the moneys available in the fund.

2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of State the sum of $2,000,000 for deposit into the “Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund” to effectuate the purposes of section 1 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would create an Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund within the Department of State. The monies in the Israel Evacuation Reimbursement Fund would be used by the Department of State to provide reimbursement to qualified New Jersey residents for travel costs incurred for the emergency evacuation from Israel due to the Israel-Hamas war.

This bill also appropriates $2 million from the General Fund to the Department of State to implement the provisions of this bill.

The Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise multi-front attack against Israel. Following the attack, more than 1,400 civilians were killed and approximately 240 others, including Americans, were kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages. The current Israel-Hamas war is the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian conflict to date. Under certain circumstances, the U.S. government may assist American citizens in emergency evacuations which if not made available, New Jersey residents may seek recourse from the State.