Media
Singleton, Green, DeAngelo, Sumter & Lampitt Bill to Help Homeowners with Negative Home Equity Avoid Foreclosures & Short Sales Continues to Advance in the Assembly
Legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Troy Singleton, Jerry Green, Wayne DeAngelo, Shavonda Sumter and Pamela Lampitt to help homeowners with negative home equity avoid foreclosure and short sales, and prevent further agitating the state's troubled housing market continues to advance in the legislature with recent approval by the Assembly Appropriations panel.
The bill (A-303) would establish the "Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program" in the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) for a period of three years to allow homeowners, who have negative home equity and who are in default on an agency owned mortgage, to lower their principal balances by transferring shares of equity in the mortgaged property to the agency.
Downey, Houghtaling, Jasey & Singleton Bill to Require State to Provide Education for Students Living in Homeless Shelters Outside of School District Advances
Legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Joann Downey, Eric Houghtaling, Mila Jasey and Troy Singleton to require the state to pay the educational costs for certain students who reside in a homeless shelter outside of their district of residence continued advancing this week, receiving approval from the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
"Children and youth who experience homelessness face many barriers to education," said Downey (D-Monmouth County). "School can be a source of stability for a young person and family who have lost their housing."
Lawmakers OK insurance mandate for drug rehab treatment
Senate and Assembly panels on Monday advanced a bill that would implement the broad strokes of two proposals Gov. Chris Christie made earlier this month during a State of the State address that focused on “the crisis of drug addiction.”
The bipartisan legislation would mandate insurance coverage for the first 28 days of inpatient or intensive outpatient drug rehabilitation treatment for any patient whose doctor deems it medically necessary. It would also mandate up to six months of coverage for regular outpatient treatment. The new requirements, if the measure becomes law, would apply to the roughly 30 percent of New Jersey residents with insurance plans subject to state regulation.
TRANSPARENCY BILLS TAKE AIM AT LOBBYING, PRESIDENTIAL TAX RETURNS
Lobbying legislation has already passed Senate unanimously; measure dealing with candidates faces rougher road, including possible legal challenge
Lawmakers in Trenton have launched two very different efforts aimed at improving government transparency: one aimed at lobbyists and the other at candidates.
The latter (A-4520) is New Jersey’s own stab at making sure candidates for president cannot refuse to release their income tax returns, as Donald Trump did. The bill would prohibit candidates from being listed on the New Jersey ballot unless they release five years of tax returns. But even if it passes both houses, it is not likely to get the support of Gov. Chris Christie. What’s more, it’s not likely to stand up in court, legal experts say.
DOING MORE THAN WORRYING ABOUT SURPRISE MEDICAL BILLS
Consumer advocates, insurance companies, hospitals, and physicians believe it is high time for New Jersey to do more to protect patients against surprise bills from out-of-network healthcare providers.
They have good reason to be concerned: Unplanned out-of-network charges have become a growing problem as more and more patients find they owe hundreds if not thousands of dollars for treatments — often specialist care — even when they try to select a provider who is part of their insurance network.
N.J. could become 2nd state with public database of convicted animal abusers
New Jersey may become the second state with a public database of convicted animal abusers.
A bill sponsoring the database passed the state Assembly and now will be voted on by the state Senate.
The bill was created by Rep. Troy Singleton (D). Singleton said the database would track anyone charged with animal cruelty and can be used by animal rescues and shelters to help deciding who should adopt pets.
The bill would also bar any convicted animal abusers from becoming an animal control officer.
Parents: Here's how online predators target your kids
Editorial
You've probably never heard of Ask.fm, Omegle.com or KeepSafe. Chances are your children have.
That knowledge haunts N.J. State Police Lt. John Pizzuro, who sees first-hand the damage cyber predators can inflict on youngsters, often while their parents sit in blissful ignorance in another room.
Pizzuro is a commander of the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, a coalition of 61 groups representing more than 3,500 federal, state and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies nationwide.
The Garden State unit fields 2,500 cyber tips a year, the fifth highest total in the country, Pizzuro recently told 101.5 Radio.
NJ hospitals: Obamacare repeal would slam us
New Jersey hospitals would be hit hard by the repeal of Obamacare if Congress doesn't replace it with a law that would include similar levels of insurance coverage, their trade group said Thursday.
Hospitals would lose money from both private insurance and Medicaid reimbursements. They would need to treat more consumers who lose their coverage in emergency departments. And both would put a strain on their bottom line, officials said.
Safeguarding Our State’s Employee Pension Fund
When you have an agreement, there are often two components that make it both viable and fair. One component is that it must offer specific details, and those who enter into an agreement do so in good faith.
Unfortunately, it appears that in recent years, Governor Chris Christie’s administration has demonstrated a concerted effort to ignore good faith when dealing with New Jersey’s employee state pension funding.
2016 Investment Returns for Public-Employee Pension Up 7%, Much Better Than in 2015
New figures don’t negate fundamental funding problems, but they bring some good news for the beleaguered pension system
The board that oversees New Jersey’s beleaguered public-employee pension system received some good news yesterday as new figures showed overall investment returns finished ahead by about 7 percent last year.