Bill
A 6119
Allows facilities with inpatient maternity services to add intermediate/intensive neonatal bassinets or raise neonatal care level without a certificate of need.
Status: PRINT NUMBER 6119A
Introduced: 2025-11-24
Primary Sponsor: Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr.
Key statutory reference amended: Section 19 of P.L.1992, c.160 (C.26:2H-7a)
Effective date: Immediately (per bill text)
Note on source materials
- The bill header/title provided ("Relates to authorizing civil actions for certain violations of the cannabis law") does not match the bill text submitted. The actual text of the introduced version amends New Jersey's certificate-of-need (CON) law to add specific neonatal care-related exemptions. This summary treats the bill text on neonatal care as the operative content and flags the title/text discrepancy.
Purpose and intent
- To expand the list of projects and services exempt from New Jersey’s certificate-of-need requirement by specifically allowing certain expansions and upgrades of neonatal services in facilities that provide inpatient maternity care without first obtaining a CON.
Key provisions
- Amends Section 19 of P.L.1992, c.160 (C.26:2H-7a) to add two explicit CON exemptions for facilities that provide inpatient maternity services:
1. Addition of intermediate or intensive bassinets — A health care facility that provides inpatient maternity services may add intermediate or intensive neonatal bassinets without obtaining a certificate of need, regardless of whether the facility currently holds a CON to provide neonatal care.
- Exception: any reduction in the number of intermediate or intensive bassinets remains subject to the CON requirement (i.e., reductions are not exempt).
2. Increase in neonatal care designation level — A facility may increase its neonatal care designation level (e.g., move from lower to higher level of neonatal care) without a CON, again irrespective of an existing CON status for neonatal services.
- Exception: any decrease in the level of neonatal care designation remains subject to the CON requirement.
Who would be affected
- Hospitals and other health care facilities that provide inpatient maternity services in New Jersey:
- Those seeking to add intermediate/intensive bassinets or to raise their neonatal care designation would no longer need to file CON applications for those specific actions.
- Facilities proposing reductions of bassinets or reductions in neonatal designation would still require CON review.
- New Jersey Department of Health — fewer CON applications related to the newly exempted neonatal expansions.
- Patients and communities — potential for faster local increases in neonatal capacity and higher-level neonatal services; also possible implications for regional planning and distribution of specialty neonatal services.
Procedural/timeline aspects and legislative history (as provided)
- 2025-11-24: Introduced in the Assembly; referred to Assembly Health Committee.
- Print No. 6119A issued (records also show Print No. 6119A on 2025-03-17).
- Multiple entries indicate referral and amendment activity to Judiciary on 2025-02-26 and 2025-03-17; the event dates in the supplied record appear inconsistent or out of chronological order and may reflect data-entry anomalies.
- Companion/related bills listed: S3248 (multiple entries), S4816, and prior-session A10248.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Operational effect: This change would streamline and accelerate certain expansions of neonatal capacity and service-level upgrades by eliminating CON procedural timelines for those actions.
- System-level considerations: Removing CON review for these specific neonatal actions could reduce regulatory oversight intended to manage service distribution and avoid over-concentration of specialized services in some areas; stakeholders may weigh potential benefits of increased access and flexibility against concerns about coordinated regional planning and financial/resource impacts on other facilities.
If you would like, I can:
- Draft a one-paragraph explainer for public distribution,
- Compare this bill to its listed Senate companion(s), or
- Summarize CON process and standards in New Jersey for additional context.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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