New Jersey A 683: Exempts certain students with disabilities from requirement to take college credits during Bridge Year Pilot Program; modifies age eligibility criteria under program.

Bill Text

A683 

ASSEMBLY, No. 683 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman GREGORY P. MCGUCKIN

District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)

Assemblyman JAMES J. KENNEDY

District 22 (Somerset and Union)

Assemblyman PAUL KANITRA

District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblymen Clifton, S.Kean, Bergen, Assemblywoman 
Fantasia, Assemblymen Azzariti Jr., Peterson, Inganamort and Auth

SYNOPSIS

���� Permits any member of PERS to receive accidental 
disability retirement allowance for disability resulting from participation in 
9/11 World Trade Center rescue, recovery, or cleanup operations.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative 
Counsel.

��

An Act concerning the accidental disability retirement 
allowance for members of the Public Employees� Retirement System and amending 
P.L.1954, c.84.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 43 of P.L.1954, 
c.84 (C.43:15A-43) is amended to read as follows: 

���� 43.� a.� A member who has not 
attained age 65 shall, upon the application of the head of the department in 
which he is employed or upon his own application or the application of one 
acting in his behalf, be retired by the board of trustees, if said employee is 
permanently and totally disabled as a direct result of a traumatic event 
occurring during and as a result of the performance of his regular or assigned 
duties, on an accidental disability allowance.� A traumatic event occurring 
during voluntary performance of regular or assigned duties at a place of 
employment before or after required hours of employment which is not in 
violation of any valid work rule of the employer or otherwise prohibited by the 
employer shall be deemed as occurring during the performance of regular or 
assigned duties. 

���� The application to accomplish 
such retirement must be filed within five years of the original traumatic 
event, but the board of trustees may consider an application filed after the 
five-year period if it can be factually demonstrated to the satisfaction of the 
board of trustees that the disability is due to the accident and the filing was 
not accomplished within the five-year period due to a delayed manifestation of 
the disability or to circumstances beyond the control of the member. 

���� Permanent and total disability 
resulting from a cardiovascular, pulmonary or musculo-skeletal condition which 
was not a direct result of a traumatic event occurring in the performance of 
duty shall be deemed an ordinary disability. 

���� Before consideration of the 
application by the board of trustees, the physician or physicians designated by 
the board shall have first made a medical examination of the member at his 
residence or at any other place mutually agreed upon and shall have certified 
to the board that he is physically or mentally incapacitated for the 
performance of duty, and should be retired, and the appointing authority shall 
have certified to the board that the member is permanently and totally disabled 
as a direct result of a traumatic event occurring during and as a result of the 
performance of his regular or assigned duties, the time and place where the 
duty causing the disability was performed, that the disability was not the 
result of his willful negligence and that the member should be retired.� 

���� No person who becomes a member 
of the retirement system on or after the effective date of P.L.2010, c.3 shall 
be eligible for retirement pursuant to this section. 

���� b.��� (1) For purposes of this 
subsection: 

���� "Qualifying condition or 
impairment of health" includes:

���� diseases of the upper 
respiratory tract and mucosae, including conditions such as conjunctivitis, 
rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, vocal cord disease, upper airway 
hyper-reactivity and tracheo-bronchitis, or a combination of such conditions;

���� diseases of the lower 
respiratory tract, including but not limited to bronchitis, asthma, reactive 
airway dysfunction syndrome, and different types of pneumonitis, such as 
hypersensitivity, granulomatous, or eosinophilic;

���� diseases of the 
gastroesophageal tract, including esophagitis and reflux disease, either acute 
or chronic, caused by exposure or aggravated by exposure;

���� diseases of the psychological 
axis, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, or any 
combination of such conditions;

���� diseases of the skin such as 
contact dermatitis or burns, either acute or chronic in nature, infectious, 
irritant, allergic, idiopathic or non-specific reactive in nature, caused by 
exposure or aggravated by exposure; and

���� new onset diseases resulting 
from exposure as such diseases occurring in the future including cancer, 
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asbestos-related disease, heavy metal 
poisoning, musculosk