ASSEMBLY TRANSPORTATION AND INDEPENDENT AUTHORITIES COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 3827

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 8, 2020

      The Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3827.

      As amended and reported, this bill establishes the New Jersey Council on Access and Mobility (council).

     The council is to consist of: the Commissioner of Transportation; the Commissioner of Human Services; the Commissioner of Education; the Commissioner of Community Affairs; the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development; the Executive Director of the New Jersey Transit Corporation; the Director of the Office of Disability Services; the Director of the Division of Aging Services; the Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities; the State Treasurer; and six public members, with three to be appointed by the President of the Senate and three to be appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly.

     The public members are required to have a demonstrated expertise in the coordination of transportation services or independent living services for persons with disabilities or senior citizens and be representatives of the following: Disability Rights New Jersey; the Arc of New Jersey; the New Jersey Statewide Independent Living Council; the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities; the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; and the New Jersey Council on Special Transportation.  

     The council is required to meet at least annually.  The purpose and duties of the council are to:

     -- study the transportation services provided to persons with disabilities and senior citizens by the New Jersey Transit Corporation, State departments and agencies, counties, or municipalities;

     -- analyze all available federal funding programs that may be used for mobility management of and to provide transportation services to persons with disabilities and senior citizens, and the ability of the State to qualify for those funds the ability of the State to qualify for those funds;

     -- inventory existing State and federal transportation funding sources used for transportation services within the various departments and agencies in the State to study ways to improve transportation services and programs;

     -- coordinate the provision of transportation services across all agencies that have an interest in the mobility of persons with disabilities and senior citizens;

     -- make recommendations for legislative or executive action to maximize the State’s acquisition of federal funding and the coordination of transportation services for persons with disabilities and senior citizens; and

     -- coordinate activities with the federal Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill to add the State Treasurer to the council, include State departments in the organizations whose transportation services the council is to study, and add two additional purposes and duties to the council.  The two additional purposes and duties are for the council to: inventory existing State and federal transportation funding sources used for transportation services within the various departments and agencies in the State to study ways to improve transportation services and programs; and coordinate activities with the federal Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility.  The amendments also make various technical changes to the bill.