A 1673 New Jersey General Assembly · 2024-2025 Regular Session

"Right to Mental Health for Individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Act"; establishes certain requirements concerning provision of mental health services to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.*

This bill requires mental health services in New Jersey to be provided in a culturally affirming and linguistically appropriate manner for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. It mandates that services be delivered in the client's primary method of communication, as determined by the client's preference or a communication assessment, and that mental health professionals be certified as fluent in that method. The bill establishes a deaf services coordinator position within the Department of Human Services to oversee implementation, develop certification standards for professionals, and ensure access to services statewide, including through telemedicine in underserved areas. It also requires the development of a statewide system of care with specific standards for communication accessibility and cultural competence in mental health services.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Sub-Topics: Telehealth

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2024

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 9, 2024 Last action Feb 27, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Reprint AHU 6/6/24 1R → Reprint AAP 2/20/25 2R · 6 edits

MODERATE

The Assembly Appropriations Committee removed the bill's appropriation of General Fund money and eliminated the requirement to hire a dedicated 'deaf services coordinator' position. Instead, the existing Executive Director of the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is now directly responsible for coordinating and overseeing culturally affirmative mental health services statewide, in consultation with the Assistant Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services. This shifts the bill from creating a new funded role to assigning duties to an existing official.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed from creating a new dedicated position with appropriated funding to assigning existing leadership responsibilities. The effective date section was renumbered from 10 to 9 due to the removal of the appropriation section.

FISCAL

Section 19, which appropriated General Fund money to the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to employ a deaf services coordinator, was struck entirely. The short title and synopsis no longer reference an appropriation.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services to 'employ a deaf services coordinator' was replaced with a provision making the Executive Director of the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing directly responsible for coordinating and overseeing implementation, in consultation with the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The duty to 'provide clinical and administrative case consultations' was changed to 'facilitate the provision of' such consultations, a less direct obligation.

The reporting duty was changed from preparing 'such reports as shall be required by the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Division for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing' to simply preparing 'reports as needed,' removing the specific reporting obligation to those two divisions.

ELIGIBILITY

All specific qualifications for the deaf services coordinator (master's degree or higher in behavioral health, ASL fluency, three years of one-on-one client experience, knowledge of state and federal law) were deleted since no new position is being created.

TECHNICAL

Three new Assembly sponsors were added: Assemblywoman Lopez, Assemblymen Stanley and Moen.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 20, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported out of Assembly Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading

lower

Jun 17, 2024

Committee

Reported and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee

lower

Jun 6, 2024

Committee

Reported out of Assembly Committee with Amendments and Referred to Assembly Health Committee

lower

Jan 9, 2024

Introduced

Introduced in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee

lower

3 primary · 60 co-sponsors