Sen. Joe Lagana

Maddy summaryThis bill clarifies New Jersey's child custody procedures by requiring courts to prioritize a child's expressed preference (when age-appropriate) and consider recommendations from the child's mental health professional in custody decisions. It restricts courts from ordering family therapy to reunite a parent and child without scientific evidence of its safety, effectiveness, and the child's willingness to participate. Courts must document reasons if they override a child's preference, and the State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners must develop professional standards for such therapy within 12 months. The bill directly affects courts, parents, children, and mental health professionals in custody cases.

Maddy summaryThe bill (A4182) establishes labor protections for cannabis workers in New Jersey who are not covered by federal labor laws. It requires cannabis employers to provide employee contact information to worker organizations seeking representation and allows those organizations to meet with workers on premises. The bill prohibits both employers and worker organizations from engaging in unfair labor practices, including interference with organizing efforts or refusal to negotiate. Employers who violate the law face penalties up to $5,000 per day and must compensate affected workers. This extends rights similar to those provided to most private sector workers under federal law to cannabis workers who were previously excluded.

Maddy summaryThis bill (S 3772) changes how the value of employer-provided board and lodging is calculated for workers' compensation benefits in New Jersey. Currently, such benefits are valued at a flat $25 per week unless otherwise specified at hiring. The bill revises this to require valuation at "market value" unless a different amount was agreed upon during hiring. It also specifies that if a worker continues to receive board or lodging during total temporary disability, that value will not be included in calculating their compensation rate. This directly affects workers receiving workers' compensation who are provided housing or meals by their employer.

Maddy summaryThis bill clarifies that New Jersey real estate salespersons and broker-salespersons may form limited liability companies (LLCs) or other legal entities to receive their commissions, without changing their business relationship with their employing broker. It explicitly permits salespersons to accept commissions directly from their own LLC or entity, provided this arrangement aligns with their written agreement with the broker. The New Jersey Real Estate Commission will establish a registration process for these entities to ensure compliance. The law takes immediate effect.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a three-year pilot program in eligible New Jersey counties (population over 950,000) to provide nursing services for students in nonpublic schools. It shifts funding directly to county consortia of nonpublic schools - replacing the previous system where school districts received funds - to cover nursing services for participating schools. Nonpublic schools in the pilot must stop offering "courtesy nursing services" to students and instead rely entirely on the county consortium for these services. The program requires schools to formally join the consortium by June 1 each year and includes annual audits and a state report on the pilot's effectiveness after two years.

Maddy summaryS 4387 requires New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs to create an automated tracking system for licensees in regulated professions (like healthcare or real estate) who must complete continuing education to renew their licenses. The system will automatically monitor each licensee’s completed education hours and verify compliance before license renewal. It specifically allows regulating boards to still address individual hardships, even if a licensee hasn’t met requirements. This bill affects professionals needing continuing education to maintain their licenses, ensuring timely compliance checks. The system must be implemented within 13 months of the bill’s enactment.

Maddy summaryThe Climate Superfund Act would require fossil fuel companies that extracted or refined fossil fuels between 1995 and the bill's effective date to pay compensatory damages for climate change impacts they caused. Companies responsible for over one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during this period would pay based on their proportional share of emissions. The Department of Environmental Protection would collect these payments into a special fund and distribute them as grants for climate adaptation projects like flood protection, infrastructure upgrades, and health programs. Companies would have six months to pay in full or choose nine annual installments, with potential for administrative appeals if they disagree with the assessment.

Maddy summaryThis bill extends the enrollment window for newborn infants in health benefits coverage from 60 to 90 days after birth. It directly affects newborns and their parents or guardians who must enroll infants in existing health plans. The key change modifies existing law to require that notification of a birth and required payment must be submitted within 90 days (previously 60 days) to maintain coverage beyond that period. The policy change provides families with additional time to complete enrollment paperwork without losing coverage for their newborn. This applies to both family-type and non-family-type health benefit contracts.

Maddy summaryThis bill (S 3997) restructures New Jersey's Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) by eliminating membership tiers and granting current non-retired PERS members and certain retirees the same benefits available to members who joined before July 1, 2007. It requires public employers to enroll eligible employees (meeting salary but not hour requirements) into PERS within 60 days, and automatically transfers service credit from the Defined Contribution Retirement Program (DCRP) to PERS for DCRP participants - without transferring their contributions - unless they opt out within six months. Disabled PERS members receiving long-term disability insurance become eligible for disability retirement benefits within two years. These changes apply only to members processing retirement applications after the bill's effective date.

Maddy summaryNew Jersey's S 3041 prohibits cooperatives from receiving public works contracts if any member contractor or subcontractor within the cooperative has failed to pay prevailing wages. The bill extends a three-year ban (currently applied to individual contractors) to cover entire cooperatives, meaning a cooperative cannot win contracts if one of its members violates wage laws. It defines a "cooperative" as a business with collective ownership and long-term member control, and includes a process for affected cooperatives to request a hearing if they believe the ban is wrongly applied. The prohibition applies to all cooperative entities with a member on the prevailing wage violation list, lasting three years from the date of listing.