What’s Important to Know About NJ This Week -01/13/2024

Jan 13, 2024

Ambitious Week for Murphy on Education, Immigration, Mental Health and More….

Education

From NJ Education Report:

“While the work of cementing important changes and implementing them on the ground has just begun, Governor Murphy’s proposed initiatives reflect those for which our coalition has long advocated, such as investment in teacher training, literacy assessments of students, and collaboration with local universities and colleges to prepare future teachers to address these significant challenges once they are in our public classrooms.

“Today, Governor Murphy clearly made addressing literacy a top priority. We commend him for showcasing the issue in a transparent and public forum and defining clear solutions that will have an impact. But there is a great deal of work to be done, and there will be no quick fix. The solutions outlined today energize a discourse to provide our children and our teachers with with support to address this battle, and we pledge to work side by side with him to ensure we address this issue with the urgency it deserves.” Read More

Immigration

From the New Jersey Monitor:

Murphy, a Democrat, signed a trio of bills Friday that extend protections for domestic workers in New Jersey, mandate state agencies to translate documents into multiple languages other than English, and change how Asian residents can identify in demographic data collection. He referred to the three new laws as the “people’s agenda.” Read More

Mental Health

From northjersey.com

Two men who were killed by police will be memorialized in a law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday.

Known as the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Crisis Response Act, for Paterson’s Najee Seabrooks and Jersey City’s Andrew Washington, the bill is geared toward helping towns and local organizations respond to crisis incidents.

It will provide $12 million over three years to support a pilot grant program within the state Department of Health to create a 13-member council in the Department of Law and Public Safety that would be responsible for coming up with best practices and recommendations for developing a community crisis response program. Read More

Foreclosure Protection

From the New Jersey Monitor:

The new law creates the community wealth preservation program, which will give homeowners facing foreclosure — plus their families and certain nonprofits — the right of first refusal to purchase their home at a sheriff’s sale. Read More

Medical Debt

From NJ Spotlight News

New Jersey officials are planning steps to better protect patients from the impact of medical debt, building on an initiative Gov. Phil Murphy outlined last year to pay off health care bills now burdening tens of thousands of low-income residents.

In his annual State of the State message Tuesday, Murphy called on lawmakers to work with him to pass a measure to ensure bills from hospitals, doctors and other health care providers are clear and transparent. Read More