Protecting Access to Health Care, By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

Assemblywomen Luanne Peterpaul and Margie Donlon

The State Assembly advanced several of our bills last week, including legislation to enhance protections for reproductive healthcare services and an initiative to give the state Department of Health access to information on global disease outbreaks.

The Assembly also passed our legislation requiring providers of substance or alcohol use disorder treatment be assessed for conflicts of interest, along with several other bills.

These bills reflect the importance of access to affordable health care as a high priority for us and our Legislative District 11 partner Senator Vin Gopal. One of those concerns is securing protections for patients and providers accessing and providing legally protected reproductive healthcare services.

Women’s health care has been under attack by the administration in Washington. Draconian federal funding cuts to reproductive healthcare facilities are limiting access to basic women’s reproductive healthcare such as prenatal care and abortion.

We must do everything we can to ensure access to affordable women’s healthcare services, which is why it’s gratifying to report that our legislation to establish the new crime of “interference with reproductive health care services” continues to progress through the Assembly.

The bill addresses the actions of a person who purposely inflicts or attempts to inflict bodily injury to intimidate patients attempting to access legally protected healthcare services or the healthcare professionals and volunteers providing the services.

The legislation also applies to anyone who damages, defaces, or destroys the property of providers of reproductive healthcare services or the property of their patients.

 The Assembly passed our bill requiring certain providers of substance or alcohol use disorder treatment, services, or supports to be assessed for conflicts of interest prior to receiving state funds, a state license or certification. We want to make sure that these service providers are providing the best available treatment, and are not motivated by financial gain from personal relationships that could impede their ability to ethically deliver treatment.

The bill applies to any department, agency, bureau, board, commission, authority, or other entity of the state, or of any county or municipality, that provides state funds to providers to assess the provider for conflicts of interest.

We also need to protect residents from threats to their health from external sources such as the current Ebola outbreak spreading in East and Central Africa. The COVID pandemic taught America the need to be prepared to address infectious disease outbreaks that come from beyond our borders.

The Assembly passed our legislation to protect patients and providers by allowing the state Department of Health to establish partnerships in international public health and to participate in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. The Network is a World Health Organization coordinated international technical network that supports the detection of and response to infectious disease outbreaks.

The bill permits the Health Department to coordinate and share in activities necessary to participate in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, while expressly providing that nothing in the bill confers membership of New Jersey in the WHO or to take actions that conflict with federal law or the United States Constitution. The legislation does not permit the disclosure of confidential health information or require spending funds beyond those otherwise available.

Our other bills that the Assembly passed last week include legislation that permits a prosecutor to file a motion for the pretrial detention of an eligible defendant charged with contempt of an order entered under the “Victim’s Assistance and Survivor Protection Act”. The legislative body also passed our bill to authorize the NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend funding to make loans for Community Hazard Assistance Mitigation Program projects for FY2027.