Current Issues in Legislation

Action in Trenton

By Lynn Nowak and Jacy Lance, NJSHA Lobbyists

NJSHA continues to be engaged on a variety of issues under consideration by both the Legislature, the State Board of Education and the New Jersey Speech-Language Audiology Advisory Committee. Please read below to see all the work that we have been doing to advance the profession and protect the interests of the NJSHA membership!

On January 8, 2024, the 2022-2023 Legislative Session concluded, and the 2024-2025 Legislative Session began the very next day. This VOICES article will provide an update on the important NJSHA successes that occurred at the end of the last legislative session and will outline efforts that are currently underway in the new Session, which will span two years until January of 2026.

EDUCATION

Virtual Related Services
In May 2023, the State Board of Education introduced a proposal to amend the Code to allow for the provision of related services through telemedicine or telehealth, or through electronic communications, which include virtual, remote, or other online platforms, as appropriate and as required by the student’s IEP. The proposed regulation sets forth conditions for when the related services can be provided:
– a student with a disability is unable to attend school due to a temporary or chronic medical condition,
– a school building or school district is closed and the school district has implemented its program of virtual or remote instruction,
– the student requires a mandatory period of isolation/quarantine for at least five days because the student has contracted a communicable disease or has been exposed to a communicable disease.

Sue Goldman and Robynne Kratchman presented testimony to the State Board regarding this proposal on June 7, 2023 and suggested recommendations to improve the proposal. The Board listened intently, and the testimony provided by SAC was supported by other commenters including ELC, SPAN and The Arc. In October 2023, NJDOE released their responses to the public testimony that was received in June. The DOE did not accept NJSHA’s recommendations, but they did schedule an additional public testimony session for December 6, 2023. NJSHA submitted additional written comments and oral testimony was provided by Robin Kanis on behalf of NJSHA/SAC. Public comments through the NJ Register were due by January 5, 2024, and recommendations were again submitted on NJSHA’s behalf by Porzio. The DOE and the State Board have not yet reviewed, discussed, or responded to the public comments.

School Employees/Contractors
Following the November 2023 election, Porzio became aware that Assembly Education Committee Chair Pam Lampitt was drafting a bill to require boards of education to directly employ certain professionals, and, alternatively, permit boards of education to contract for certain personnel. The bill was proposed for introduction on December 7, 2023, and by December 11th the text of the bill was still not available to the public, however, Jacy was able to obtain an advance copy of the legislation for NJSHA’s review. The bill was scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Education Committee on December 14, 2023.
As it relates to NJSHA, the proposal drafted would allow a BOE to contract for “speech-language services provided by a speech-language specialist when a board of education is unable to hire sufficient staff to provide the service.” Upon review, SAC felt that this language could be strengthened, and Jacy worked with the Sponsor’s chief of staff to add language that clarified that these contracted SLSs would serve “in a temporary position that supplements existing district staff.”
Despite a significant amount of input and amendment requests from almost every education-related advocacy group in the days leading up to the Assembly Education Committee, NJSHA’s amendment was the only amendment accepted on December 14, and Jacy testified in front of the Committee to express our appreciation and our support of the language.
Unfortunately, the bill did not make it through the legislative process before the end of the Legislative Session in January of 2024. The bill was reintroduced with the language relating to SLS still included, so that is a positive first step.

Literacy Legislation and Working Group on Literacy and Learning Loss
In early February 2024, Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz introduced a four-bill package addressing literacy:
– S2644 requires school districts to establish reading intervention programs for students.
– S2645 requires school districts to screen students for reading deficiencies.
– S2646 requires school districts to provide training and coaching on student literacy.
– S2647 creates Office of Learning Loss Czar.
Along with the legislation, she announced the creation of a Working Group on Literacy and Learning Loss. We reached out to the Majority Leader and she directed us to the senior policy advisor in the Senate Majority Office who is coordinating the effort. We were successful in securing a NJSHA member as a participant on the Working Group – it will be Karen Kimberlin, an expert in the area of literacy who also represented NJSHA on the Reading Disabilities Task Force. The first meeting has already been held and the work is underway with Karen already making many valuable suggestions and contributions!

HEALTHCARE / PRIVATE PRACTICE
On December 21, 2023, Governor Murphy signed A5757 (Conaway) / S4127 (Gopal) into law, which extends certain pay parity requirements regarding telemedicine and telehealth for one year. This bill was first introduced in November of 2023 and needed to move quickly throughout the Legislature because an earlier version of the law requiring payment parity was set to expire on December 31, 2023. As such, there was less than a month for the bill to be considered in Committees and passed by both Houses of the Legislature. In reality, the whole process was completed in 10 days.
Luckily, upon the bill’s introduction Jacy immediately obtained an advance copy of the proposal and shared it with NJSHA for review. After review, it was determined that the initial version of the bill would have included multiple changes to the telemedicine/telehealth payment structure that would potentially be harmful to in-state brick and mortar providers. Jacy scheduled a meeting for NJSHA with the sponsor’s Chief of Staff and the Assembly Health Committee aide to discuss our concerns. We advocated for an extension of the current law, especially because a Telehealth/Telemedicine Payment Parity Study which was required in the original law has yet to be conducted. The sponsor’s office ultimately agreed with the position that NJSHA presented, and the bill that was passed was a one-year extension of the current payment parity requirements. This policy will be up for consideration again in the coming months, as the extension only lasts until December of 2024.

INTERSTATE COMPACT/MILITARY SPOUSE LEGISLATION
Over the past two years, NJSHA has been tracking various pieces of legislation which endeavor to reduce barriers for military spouses seeking employment in New Jersey. NJSHA’s attention to this issue is in response to a national effort to introduce an interstate compact in New Jersey, which NJSHA is uncertain will have the intended positive benefits for our membership and New Jersey providers.
On December 7, 2023 the Senate Military & Veterans Affairs Committee considered A480/S3235 which would extend the validity of temporary instructional certificates issued to military spouses, require expedited processing of military spouse applications for instructional certificates and reduce certification fees for military spouses. After discussions with bill sponsors and staff, as well as with NJSHA members, it became clear that there was no easy way to include “educational services” certificates in this legislation, especially because NJSHA was wary about creating a “temporary” educational services certificate. We have instead decided to pursue our own “expedited” educational services legislation. This effort is currently underway.
Another issue that NJSHA engaged on in the previous Legislative Session was a bill that would allow for the issuance of two-year temporary courtesy licenses (as opposed to one-year) for nonresident military spouses in certain professions. When this bill was considered last session, it applied to certain licensing boards such as Applied Behavior Analysts, Marriage and Family Therapists, Alcohol and Drug Counselors, Board of Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Psychological Examiners and Social Workers. NJSHA advocated last session for the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Committee to be included in the bill, and our request was accepted. The bill did not complete the process last session but was heard in the first meeting of the Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee in January 2024. The Aud-SLP Advisory Committee was again included in the bill!

AUDIOLOGY

Expansion of Grace’s Law
In May 2022, Senator Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic) introduced a bill which would expand Grace’s Law to include cochlear implants, remove the biennial $1,000 coverage limit for hearing aids, and raise the covered age for hearing aid benefits from 15 years old to 21 years old. The out-of-network cost-sharing provision was also removed. By March 2023 the bill had received two Senate Committee hearings and had passed the full Senate Chamber. Lynn and Jacy met with members of the Audiology Committee to synthesize the information and input that had been shared by various NJSHA members throughout the process.
NJSHA decided to offer two specific amendments/recommendations to the legislation:
1. increase the limit from $1,000/two years to $2,500/five years, and
2. include “replacement of obsolete external cochlear implant processors.”
In December 2023 the bill moved in the Assembly, and NJSHA’s requested amendments were approved by both the Senate and the Assembly, and the bill was sent to the Governor’s desk.

During their further review of the proposed updates to Grace’s Law, the Governor’s Office ascertained that the Affordable Care Act does not allow for payment limits on “essential health benefits.” Further, recent guidance from CMS in its “Final 2023 Notice of Benefits and Payment Parameters” stated that age limits in insurance mandate bills are discriminatory.
Governor Murphy’s office Conditionally Vetoed the bill and recommended various changes in order to come into compliance with federal law. As signed, the new Grace’s Law now removes the monetary limit and age limit on a hearing aid benefit for all individuals covered by a small number of state-regulated plans such as individual and small group plans.
The majority of individuals in state-regulated plans are covered by the State Health Benefits Plan (SHBP) or the School Employees Health Benefits Plan (SEHBP). These plans do not have to comply with federal laws/guidelines. Consequently, for these two plans in which a monetary limit does remain in place, NJSHA was successful in proposing a new limit of $2,500 per hearing aid for each hearing-impaired ear every 60 months, (versus the $1,000 per hearing aid for each hearing-impaired ear every 24 months in prior law).
In addition to the monetary limit, while there is no age limit in the SEHBP, the SHBP does maintain an age limit for the hearing aid benefit, which increased from 15 years old in the prior version of Grace’s Law, to 21 years old in the newly approved law.
Probably the most critical addition to Grace’s law is coverage for cochlear implants. As drafted, the bill originally only covered the cost of treatment related to initial cochlear implants, including implantation and costs for parts, attachments or accessories. NJSHA’s audiology team advocated for the inclusion of language to cover the “replacement of obsolete external cochlear implant processors,” and this phrase was added for all state-regulated plans including the SHBP and SEHBP and is now in law.

POLICE TRAINING FOR INTERACTIONS WITH INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
On May 15, 2023, Governor Murphy signed a bill to allow MVC to provide a notation on a driver’s license or identification card of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or a communication disorder. Because of our outreach to the Governor’s office encouraging him to sign the bill, a quote from NJSHA was included in the Governor’s press release on the bill’s signing.

In addition to the notation described above, there is a provision of this bill which calls for the development of guidance to be distributed to each police department in the State to assist law enforcement officers in effectively communicating with an individual who has been diagnosed with autism or a communication disorder. This guidance will be developed jointly between the Commissioner of Human Services, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Division of State Police, and at least one organization which advocates on behalf of persons who have autism or communication disorders. Through NJSHA’s advocacy, including Robynne Kratchman and Donna Spillman-Kennedy coming to Trenton to testify on this bill, NJSHA was recently contacted by the Department of Human Services to participate as one of the key stakeholders in these discussions! Our first meeting was on September 7th solely between NJSHA and the Department of Human Services. DHS then convened a larger meeting which included all stakeholder groups as well as various departments in State Government in October 2023. The group met again in January 2024 to continue developing the guidance and discussing additional materials to be provided in conjunction with the written guidance. NJSHA representatives continue to be active participants.

HADEC Nominations
NJSHA has submitted recommendations for nominees to the HADEC board – Anne Eckert would be reappointed, along with new nominees MaryAnn Pladdys and Ken Bodkin. MaryAnn was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate on June 15, 2023, and is now listed on the HADEC website. Ken Bodkin received his Senate Judiciary Committee approval on December 7th and was approved by the full Senate on Monday December 11. Both have already participated in their first HADEC meetings.

Virtual Related Services

In May 2023, the State Board of Education introduced a proposal to amend the Code to allow for the provision of related services through telemedicine

or telehealth, or through electronic communications, which include virtual, remote or other online platforms, as appropriate and as required by the student’s IEP. The proposed regulation sets forth conditions for when the related services can be provided:

1. A student with a disability is unable to attend school due to a temporary or chronic medical condition;
2. A school building or school district is closed, and the school district has implemented its program of virtual or remote instruction; or
3. The student requires a mandatory period of isolation/quarantine for at least five days because the student has contracted a communicable disease or has been exposed to a communicable disease.

After extended research by Robin Kanis and upon discussion with Education Law Center (ELC) and the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), the NJSHA School Affairs Committee (SAC) became concerned about the lack of specificity and guardrails/ protections in the proposed regulations. On June 7, 2023, Sue Goldman and Robynne Kratchman had the opportunity to present testimony to the State Board regarding these concerns and suggested recommendations to improve the proposal. The board listened intently, and the testimony provided by SAC was supported by the other commenters including ELC, SPAN and The Arc. We will learn at the July meeting whether any of our recommendations were added to the proposal.

Teacher Shortage Legislative Package

In early May, Assembly Education Chairwoman Pam Lampitt introduced a package of bills intended to  address the teacher shortage. The package totaled 12 bills, seven of which were heard in the Assembly Education Committee on May 11. Jacy worked with SAC to determine which bills were of interest to NJSHA, and we settled on the following three:

• A2227 (Lampitt, D-Camden) / S1980 (Beach, D-Camden): provides gross income tax deduction to eligible educators and paraprofessionals for expense of classroom supplies.
• A5418 (Atkins, D-Union) / S3891 (Gopal, D-Monmouth): establishes Teacher Certification Reimbursement Fund in DOE to reimburse certain teachers for costs associated with certification.
• A5422 (Jasey, D-Essex) / S3798 (Ruiz, D-Essex): permits teacher and professional staff member who provides special services, who retired from TPAF to return to employment for up to two years without reenrollment in TPAF if employment commences during the 2023-2024 school year.

Per SAC’s recommendation, Porzio has undertaken the following efforts:

• A2227: Successfully secured an amendment to include speech-language specialists (SLS) employed by a public or private school in the state. As such, district employed SLSs are now eligible to deduct $250 per year for non-reimbursable expenses incurred for the purchase of classroom supplies. As drafted, the bill originally included only K-12 teachers, instructors, counselors, principals, aides and paraprofessionals.
• A5418: Porzio continues to work with the sponsors of this legislation to again secure the inclusion of district-employed SLSs. This bill would provide for reimbursement of the costs associated with certification, including fingerprinting, testing requirements and certificate fees. This is a retroactive program, meaning once the fees are incurred, individuals can apply for reimbursement. While originally drafted to only include teachers, the inclusion of SLSs would require additional documentation demonstrating that the SLSs is employed by a school district – the SLS would have to wait until they have a signed contract with a district before they can apply for the reimbursement of their licensure/certification fees.
• A5422: Porzio secured the inclusion of “professional staff member providing special services, including but not limited to a speech- language specialist or therapist,” in this bill when it was originally drafted in 2021. We supported the bill as it moved through the legislative process again this past month, to extend the program which originally applied to the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, to now apply to the 2023-2024 school year, as well.

Education

In early 2023, NJSHA shared their White Paper on the benefits of expanding access to fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) with the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Committee and requested to make a presentation to the committee about the findings in the paper. This request was honored at the January 2023 meeting. The committee allowed Kathy Palatucci and Barbara Schwerin Bohus to make remarks and share some comments. It was clear from the questions that were asked, that committee members had taken the time to review the paper. It was also revealed at this meeting that the committee is forming a Rules and Regulations Subcommittee to review the Code in its entirety and determine where amendments are needed. We plan to encourage the subcommittee to follow the recommendations in the White Paper to allow SLPs to practice to the full extent of their licensure and training to perform FEES without a physician on-site and make this change one of the proposed amendments.

Expansion of Grace’s Law

In May 2022, Senator Vince Polistina (R-Atlantic) introduced a bill which would expand Grace’s Law to include cochlear implants and remove the biennial $1,000 coverage limit. The out-of-network cost- sharing provision was also removed. Grace’s Law currently mandates coverage of hearing aids for individuals 15 years of age or younger and the bill also raises this age limit to 21. The bill moved through the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Budget Committee, ultimately receiving unanimous passage in the full Senate on March 20, 2023. Members of the Audiology Committee met with Lynn and Jacy to synthesize the information and input that had been shared by various NJSHA Audiology Committee members throughout the process. NJSHA decided on two specific recommendations to the legislation. Jacy shared them with the appropriate individuals in the Senate and ultimately coordinated a meeting with Senator Polistina’s chief of staff, and the Senate Republican Office staffer who was taking the lead on this bill. Jacy was joined by Dr. Eric Sandler during the meeting. Our recommendations were well-received, and we feel that an important groundwork was laid.

We plan to revisit our request for amendments in July once the budget is passed and things slow down a bit for both legislators, staff and lobbyists.

Police Training for Interactions With Individuals With Disabilities

A bill which NJSHA has supported since last legislative session, which would allow motor vehicle commission (MVC) to provide notation on a driver’s license (DL) or identification card of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or a communication disorder, has finally passed both houses of the Legislature and is currently on the Governor’s Desk! In addition to this notation on the DL or ID card, there is a provision of this bill which calls for the development of guidance to be distributed to each police department in the state to assist law enforcement officers in effectively communicating with an individual who has been diagnosed with autism or a communication disorder. This guidance will be developed jointly between the Commissioner of Human Services, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Division of State Police and at least one organization which advocates on behalf of persons who have autism or communication disorders. Through NJSHA’s advocacy, including Robynne

and Donna coming to Trenton to testify on this bill, NJSHA is positioning themselves to be named as the organization mentioned in the legislation. The Governor signed this bill on May 15, 2023! Since that time, Porzio has initiated conversations with the Attorney General’s office to advocate for NJSHA to be named as the community organization participating in  the development of the guidance. Similar efforts will also be undertaken with staff at the Department of Human Services. Initial feedback from the Attorney General’s Office was that the requirement of “consultation” with “at least one organization” would likely lead to outreach to many organizations, not just one in particular.

Appointments to Hearing Aid Dispensers Examining Committee (HADEC)

NJSHA has submitted three recommendations for nominees to the HADEC board – Anne Eckert would be reappointed, along with new nominees MaryAnn Pladdys and Ken Bodkin. In early June, Lynn was notified by Sam Parker, head of the Governor’s Appointment Office, that the Governor has approved all three appointments. Appointments to this Committee require the approval of the Senate (formally called “advise and consent”). MaryAnn was formally approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate on June 15. Lynn has asked Ms. Parker to provide information on the status of Anne and Ken regarding Senate approval.

Scope of Practice Issues – Updated August 2021“]
On May 12, 2021 a critical meeting was held with key decision-makers in the Department of Law and Public Safety: Howard Pine, deputy director of the Division of Consumer Affairs and Sharon Joyce, Assistant Attorney General. NJSHA was represented by our lobbyists Lynn Nowak and Jacy Lance, as well as Robynne Kratchman, Mary Faella, Marykate Vaughn, Donna Merchant and Robin Kanis. The meeting addressed important issues, including the growing number of Registered Dental Hygienists (RDHs) in New Jersey providing and publicly advertising a variety of myofunctional therapy services (swallowing/oral therapy services) without having the appropriate license to do so. Log into the Member Portal to continue reading this in the Committee Resources section.

The New Jersey Department of Education: On April 7, 2021, members of the State Board of Education approved a resolution designating May as Better Hearing and Speech Month. Log into the Member Portal to continuing reading this in the Committee Resources section.

Regulatory Issues
The Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Committee regulates the profession of audiology and speech-language pathology in New Jersey. The committee licenses audiologists and speech-language pathologists. NJSHA actively monitors this committee to stay aware of new information and provides comment/input on issues affecting the profession. The following are current issues we are tracking: Log into the Member Portal to continue reading this in the Committee Resources section.

Insurance Issues

Horizon Update – April 12, 2021

NJSHA has established a relationship with executives at Horizon. As a consequence, and benefit, NJSHA and Horizon has been meeting regularly with executives at Horizon to address a variety of issues brought to our attention by members. Several of these issues have been resolved. This ongoing open dialogue between NJSHA and Horizon will allow us to continue to work together on concerns as they arise in the future. Log into the Member Portal to continue reading this in the Committee Resources section.