STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators O'Scanlon, Diegnan, Turner, Zwicker, Vitale, Johnson, Singer, Greenstein, Testa, Schepisi and Burgess
SYNOPSIS
Requires minimum annual State appropriation of $10 million for Public Health Priority Funding.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning Public Health Priority Funding and supplementing P.L.1966, c.36 (C.26:2F-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Commencing on July 1 next following the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and annually thereafter, there shall be appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health a minimum amount of $10,000,000 for Public Health Priority Funding, to be expended in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1966, c.36 (C.26:2F-1 et seq.).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill supplements the “Public Health Priority Funding Act of 1977” and requires a minimum annual State appropriation of $10 million for Public Health Priority Funding, thereby reinstating New Jersey’s only State appropriated, unrestricted fund for local health departments. Such appropriation will be expended in accordance to the provisions of the “Public Health Priority Funding Act of 1977.”
From 1966 to 2010, under the “State Health Aid Act” and later amended as the “Public Health Priority Funding Act of 1977,” the State provided local health departments with flexibility to address local needs, emerging threats, and other priorities via the appropriation of dedicated funds. The State eliminated Public Health Priority Funding in the FY 2011 Appropriations Act. For context, in FY 2010, Public Health Priority Funding amounted to approximately 15 percent of the total funding for local health departments.
Currently, local health departments in New Jersey are funded via local property taxes and State and federal funding that is designated for specific purposes, such as vaccines or environmental health services.