A 4295 New Jersey General Assembly · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Establishes Council for Community Recovery and Family Success.*

This bill establishes a new 25-member Council for Community Recovery and Family Success within New Jersey's Department of Community Affairs (though operating independently). The council, funded with $4.0 million, will develop a coordinated approach to prevent family crises by focusing on early intervention, family support, and child well-being - shifting from current crisis-response services. It includes state agency leaders, community advocates, and residents from underserved areas, with members appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and Assembly Speaker. The council will create a work plan and budget to advance preventive services aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 19, 2026 Last action Jun 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 9 edits

MAJOR

The bill was substantially restructured from a statewide initiative model to a community-based service network model, with the council's role shifting from guiding a single state program to overseeing local place-based partnerships. The $4 million General Fund appropriation was removed entirely, and a new provision requires all funds to be held by the Community Foundation of New Jersey or similar nonprofit. The council was reduced from 25 to 17 members, the Commissioner of Corrections was removed, and the three-year implementation timeline was eliminated.

FISCAL

The $4 million appropriation from the General Fund was struck entirely. The bill no longer provides any state funding for the council.

A new provision requires that all funds provided to the council (appropriations, grants, donations, philanthropic gifts) be held and administered by the Community Foundation of New Jersey or a similar non-governmental nonprofit entity.

SCOPE

The core model changed from a single 'Statewide initiative' guided by the council to multiple 'community-based service networks' in communities throughout the state, with priority attention to communities of greatest need. Each network is a place-based partnership that may include local residents, government authorities, education agencies, nonprofits, business leaders, and health systems, and must have a lead agency for fiscal and administrative management.

The council's purpose changed from 'guide and oversee the development and implementation of a Statewide initiative' to 'oversee and support the development of community-based service networks.' The term 'preventive services' was replaced with 'supportive services' in several places.

The old duty to establish separate county-level 'community recovery and family success councils' was replaced with a duty to provide funding, technical support, and oversight of the community-based service networks directly.

ELIGIBILITY

Council membership reduced from 25 to 17 members. The Commissioner of Corrections was removed from ex officio membership. Governor-appointed public members reduced from 13 to 8, Senate President appointees from 2 to 1, and Speaker appointees from 2 to 1.

TIMELINE

The three-fiscal-year implementation timeline (subject to availability of funds) was removed from the bill.

REQUIREMENT

Initial findings criteria changed from 'assessment of need and county readiness' to 'assessment of need, collective impact, and readiness to implement or expand family success programs.'

TECHNICAL

The entire explanatory statement section that accompanied the introduced version was removed in the reprint.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jun 23, 2026

Committee

Transferred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Introduced

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee

lower

3 primary · 0 co-sponsors