Limits reversals for failure of prompt prosecution under certain circumstances

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Amy Paulin

Exempts stipends paid to volunteer first responders from unemployment coverage and state taxes; excludes them from UI/TD/Family Leave benefits and payroll contributions.

REFERRED TO CODES

Summary — A1429

Title: Limits reversals for failure of prompt prosecution under certain circumstances
Status: Referred to Codes (01/09/2025)
Introduced: 01/09/2024
Primary sponsor (per provided info): Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (text also shows Assemblywoman Shama A. Haider as introducer)
Companion / related: S788 (companion); A7022 (prior-session)

Main purpose

A1429 would (1) exempt certain volunteer first responders who receive a municipal stipend (including clothing allowances) from coverage under New Jersey’s Unemployment Compensation law and associated payroll contributions, and (2) exclude those stipends from gross income for State tax purposes. In short: stipends paid to volunteer first responders would not be treated as taxable wages for unemployment, temporary disability, or family leave programs, and would be excluded from gross income taxation.

Key provisions

Amends R.S.43:21-19 and supplements Title 54A (gross income taxation) to:

Define and exempt “volunteer first responders” who receive a stipend from coverage under the State unemployment compensation law (R.S.43:21-1 et seq.).
Exclude stipends (explicitly including clothing allowances) paid by a municipality for volunteer first responder services from gross income.
Exclude those stipends from contributions to the State Temporary Disability and Family Leave insurance funds.
Render the exempt volunteer first responder ineligible for unemployment insurance (UI), temporary disability, and family leave benefits for those volunteer services.

“Volunteer first responder” is defined to include volunteer firefighters, volunteer members of first aid/ambulance/rescue squads, and persons dispatched while volunteering to motor vehicle accidents or emergencies to provide medical care or assistance.

Who is affected

Municipalities that pay stipends to volunteer first responders (changes payroll tax obligations and local stipend tax treatment).

Volunteer first responders who receive municipal stipends — estimated by the OLS to potentially affect about 49,100 volunteers (approx. 29,600 volunteer firefighters and ~19,500 volunteer EMTs).

State funds: Property Tax Relief Fund, Unemployment Insurance Compensation Fund, State Disability Benefits Fund.

Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Department of the Treasury (administration and fiscal impacts).

Fiscal impact (per Legislative Fiscal Estimate, Dec. 2, 2024)

Annual revenue loss to:

Property Tax Relief Fund — indeterminate (due to gross income exclusion).
Unemployment Insurance Compensation Fund — indeterminate (loss of employer/employee contributions on stipends).
State Disability Benefits Fund — indeterminate (loss of contributions).

Potential annual expenditure reductions (indeterminate) to UI and State Disability Benefits Fund if exempt volunteers would otherwise have claimed benefits.

Magnitude is indeterminate and depends on the number of stipends and stipend amounts paid by municipalities.

Procedural / timeline notes

Introduced in the Assembly 01/09/2024; reported by Assembly Labor Committee 10/24/2024; referred to Assembly Appropriations 10/24/2024; referred to Codes 01/09/2025.

No specific effective date is stated in the materials provided; final effective date would be set in the enacted text.

This summary reflects the bill text and the Office of Legislative Services fiscal estimate included in the provided documents.