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A 4577

Enacts the "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act"

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Josh Jensen

NJ agencies must annually report digital-service upgrades and remote-work improvements; OIT will synthesize findings and issue recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.

REFERRED TO HEALTH
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Bill Summary · A 4577

Summary — A4577 (Reprint ASSEMBLY 10/28/24 2R)

Title: Enacts the "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act"
Status: Referred to Health; Passed Assembly 79–0–0 (6/30/2025); Received in Senate and referred to Senate Commerce (10/20/2025)
Introduced: 6/13/2024
Effective: Immediately upon enactment

Purpose

A4577 requires New Jersey State departments, agencies, and instrumentalities to assess and report on technology improvements to modernize constituent-facing digital services and strengthen employee remote-work capabilities. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) must compile recommendations and a summary report to the Governor and Legislature. The measure aims to improve service delivery, increase government continuity during emergencies, and recommend specific technology upgrades.

Key provisions

  • Reporting by State entities

    • Each State department, agency, and instrumentality must prepare an annual report explaining:
    • Ways to enhance digital services to create cohesive online, mobile, and in‑person experiences (user research, feedback-driven changes, emergency-oriented service design).
    • Ways to improve remote work capabilities (updated hardware/software procurement, staff training on digital tools, digitization of paper processes, and flexible internal rules to maintain operations in emergencies).
    • Timing: initial report within one year of the law’s effective date and annually thereafter.

  • OIT responsibilities

    • OIT must receive the departmental reports and produce an annual summary report to the Governor and Legislature that:
    • Synthesizes findings from agency reports and provides detailed analysis.
    • Recommends strategies including cloud transitions, integrating data into a single portal, ensuring privacy/security of constituent data, moving remote-work solutions toward web-portal architectures (vs. VPN), and specific hardware/software upgrade recommendations.
    • Timing: OIT report due within one year after receiving agency reports and annually afterward.

  • Amendments

    • Committee amendment: technical title change.
    • Floor amendments: require agencies to submit their reports only to OIT (rather than directly to Governor and Legislature); OIT then issues a single summary containing findings, analysis, and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.

Who is affected

  • All New Jersey State departments, agencies, and instrumentalities (obligation to assess and report).
  • Office of Information Technology (responsible for analysis and recommendations).
  • Governor’s Office and Legislature (receive OIT summary report).
  • Indirectly affects State employees and constituents via potential service and infrastructure changes.

Fiscal and implementation notes / potential impacts

  • The bill does not appropriate funding; implementation may require agencies to identify costs for hardware/software, cloud migration, training, digitization, and security upgrades within existing or future budgets.
  • Potential benefits: improved constituent experience, better emergency continuity, centralized planning for technology investments.
  • Considerations: procurement timelines, data-privacy and cybersecurity measures, integration complexity across agencies.

Legislative status & sponsors

  • Passed Assembly (79–0–0) 6/30/2025. Referred in Senate to Commerce (10/20/2025). Also referred to Health earlier in 2025.
  • Primary/co-sponsors: Reginald W. Atkins; Mitchelle Drulis; Annette Quijano; Josh Jensen; plus cosponsors Shanique Speight, Gerry Scharfenberger, Roy Freiman, Yvonne Lopez.
  • Related prior-session bills: A9821, A3896, A6061.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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