New Jersey A 3026: Requires DHS to verify level of severity of reports received about incidents involving individuals with developmental disabilities.

Bill Text

A3026 

ASSEMBLY, No. 3026 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman ERIK PETERSON

District 23 (Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman DiMaio and Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires adoption of school tick remediation policy 
in public and private schools.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

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

��

An Act concerning the incorporation of, and subsequent 
implementation of, a school tick remediation policy in the existing integrated 
pest management policy of public and private schools, and supplementing P.L.2002, 
c.117 (C.13:1F-19 et seq.).

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

���� 1.��� a.� No later than 12 
months after the effective date of this act, the Commissioner of Environmental 
Protection, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education and the 
Commissioner of Health, shall develop a school tick remediation policy to be 
added to its model school integrated pest management policy, established 
pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2002, c.117 (C.13:1F-22), to reduce the presence 
of ticks on school property located within counties that, according to Lyme 
disease data collected by the Department of Health, have a high incidence of 
Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

���� b.��� In developing the school 
tick remediation policy, pursuant to this section, the Commissioner of 
Environmental Protection shall identify environmental variables, such as, but 
not limited to, the deer population, type of vegetation, type of climate, and 
presence of leaf litter, pine needles, and other debris, commonly found within counties 
identified by the Department of Health to have a high incidence of Lyme 
disease.� 

���� c.���� The Commissioner of 
Environmental Protection shall include in the school tick remediation policy, simple, 
cost-effective, and pesticide-free recommendations and solutions to reduce the 
presence of ticks on school property that take into consideration the most 
common environmental variables within each county that is identified by the New 
Jersey Department of Health Vector-borne Surveillance Reports to have a high 
incidence of Lyme disease pursuant to subsection b. of this section. 

���� 2.� a.� No later than 18 
months after the effective date of this act, the superintendent of every school 
district, the board of trustees of a charter school, and the principal or chief 
administrator of a private school, shall:

���� (1)�� adopt and implement a 
school tick remediation policy for the school property consistent with the policy 
developed pursuant to section 1 of this act; 

���� (2)�� adopt and implement recommendations 
and solutions to reduce the presence of ticks on school property consistent 
with the simple, cost-effective, and pesticide-free recommendations and 
solutions identified for the county where the school property is located 
pursuant to section 1 of this act;

���� (3)�� contract with, and 
provide oversight of, entities qualified to diagnose and treat tick 
infestations;

���� (4)�� require contracted 
entities to evaluate the presence of ticks on school property, identify areas 
of high tick activity on school property, and provide a list of areas 
identified to have high tick activity on school property;

���� (5)�� provide oversight of the 
application of a low-impact pesticide only if the simple, cost-effective, and 
pesticide-free recommendations and solutions developed pursuant to section 1 of 
this act are not sufficient to reduce the presence of ticks on school property; 
and

���� (6)�� provide any other 
measures deemed necessary by the Department of Environmental Protection to 
implement the provisions of this act.� 

���� b.��� If a local school board, 
board of trustees of a charter school or principal or chief administrator of a 
private school, as appropriate, determines that a pesticide, other than a low-impact 
pesticide, must be used on school property, a pesticide may be used only in 
accordance with section 7 of P.L.2002, c.117 (C.13:1F-25).

���� 3.��� a.� Each local school 
board of a school district, each board of trustees of a charter school, and 
each principal or chief administrator of a private school, as appropriate, 
shall designate the school�s integrated pest management coordinator, designated 
to carry out the school�s integrated pest management policy pursuant to section 
5 of P.L.2002, c.117 (C.13-1F-23), to carry out the school tick remediation 
policy required pursuant to section 2 of this act. 

���� b.��� The integrated pest 
management coordinator shall:

���� (1)�� maintain information 
about: (a) the school or school district�s school tick remediation policy; (b) 
the recommendations and solutions implemented on school property that are consistent 
with the simple, cost-effective, and pesticide-free