Tuesday morning, before Gov. Jon Corzine's budget speech, the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee met to consider the bills it was supposed to take up earlier this month that were postponed due to snow. The meeting wound up being very under the radar, given all the attention on the afternoon address. In fact, no testimony was heard on any of the bills on the agenda, though written testimony was accepted, so things would move along quickly. Testimony was heard for more than an hour on a bill that would eliminate the exemption under the indoor smoking ban for casinos; that bill was listed as being up for discussion only, so to not accept testimony on it would have been screwy even by Trenton standards.
Eight bills were advanced, and another two on the agenda were delayed until later in the spring at the earliest. For full details, click below.
- -- S236: Eliminates smoking ban exemption for casinos and simulcasting facilities. FOR DISCUSSION ONLY, NO VOTE.
- -- S1003: Allows deduction against gross income for unreimbursed expenses incurred by organ donor. APPROVED. SENT TO BUDGET COMMITTEE.
- -- S1636: Requires State IV-D agency to assess interest or late payment fees on unpaid child support. APPROVED. SENT TO BUDGET COMMITTEE.
- -- S1767: Provides prescriber or health care facility with discretion to number prescription blank forms consecutively. HELD.
- -- S1808/A2038: Denies public access to extinguished psychiatric liens. AMENDED & APPROVED.
- -- S1974: Restricts gifts to certified homemaker-home health aides from patients. HELD.
- -- S2471: Requires DHSS to report certain patient safety indicators on a hospital by hospital basis and prohibits hospitals and physicians from charging for certain medical errors. AMENDED & APPROVED.
- -- S2502: Establishes "New Jersey Lung Cancer Research Fund"; provides for voluntary contributions by taxpayers on gross income tax returns. AMENDED & APPROVED. SENT TO BUDGET COMMITTEE.
- -- S2550: Permits physicians to issue multiple prescriptions for total of up to 90-day supply of Schedule II drugs. AMENDED & APPROVED.
- -- SCR65: Urges Congress and President to establish "America Cares" program. APPROVED.
- -- SJR29: Designates first week of May in each year as "Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Awareness Week." AMENDED & APPROVED.