Provides certain protections to residents of long-term care facilities and long-term acute care hospitals.
S 3023 protects residents of long-term care facilities (like nursing homes and assisted living facilities) and long-term acute care hospitals by preventing facility staff, owners, or financially benefiting parties from managing residents' finances or serving as their legal representatives. It requires facilities to use standardized admission forms developed by the Department of Health, with input from stakeholders, and prohibits residents from signing non-standard documents during admission. The bill also gives residents a legal right to sue if facilities violate these protections, allowing recovery of damages, attorney fees, and punitive penalties for financial exploitation. These changes directly affect residents, their families, and facility operators by creating new safeguards against financial abuse during admission and care.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
General Assembly Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 13, 2026
Last action Mar 23, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced
→
Reprint
·
3 edits
MINOR
The First Reprint of S3023 narrows the bill's scope by removing all references to 'long-term acute care hospital,' limiting protections to residents of long-term care facilities only. The co-sponsor list was updated, replacing Senator McKnight with Senator Ruiz. The explanatory Statement section at the end of the bill was removed, which is a standard formatting change for reprint versions.
SCOPE
All references to 'long-term acute care hospital' were struck throughout the bill. The protections against facility employees and affiliated persons serving as attorney-in-fact or guardian now apply only to long-term care facilities, not to long-term acute care hospitals.
TECHNICAL
Co-sponsor list changed from Senators McKnight and Burgess to Senators Burgess and Ruiz, indicating a change in legislative sponsorship.
The entire Statement section (the explanatory summary of the bill's provisions) was removed from the end of the document, which is typical when a bill moves to reprint status.
Floor votes
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
4
Key actions
1
Committee
1
Mar 23, 2026
Committee
Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Health Infrastructure Committee
lower
Mar 23, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed by the Senate (28-9)
upper
Jan 13, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee
upper
1 primary · 2 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Joe Vitale
DDemocratic
Co
Renee Burgess
DDemocratic
Co
Teresa Ruiz
DDemocratic
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