Bill > S2612

Introduced Session

This bill would supplement the "Overdose Prevention Act," P.L.2013, c.46 (C.24:6J-1 et al.) to provide for the court-ordered testing of certain persons who have been administered an opioid antidote by a first responder. The bill provides that a professional or an emergency medical responder (as those terms are defined in the "Overdose Prevention Act," which include emergency medical technicians, sterile syringe access program workers, and law enforcement officers) who administers an opioid antidote to a person may notify the local public health officer within 24 hours if the contact with the person or an object involved or was likely to involve the transmission of the person's bodily fluid to the professional or emergency medical responder. Upon the emergency medical responder's request, the public health officer is required to seek consent from the person who was administered the opioid antidote to voluntarily submit to serological tests or other medically appropriate tests, including repeat or confirmatory tests, for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, and any other infectious diseases that can be transmitted by contact with bodily fluids. If the person does not consent and submit to testing within 24 hours of the public health officer's request, the public health officer is required to file an emergency application for a court order requiring the person to submit to testing. The court is to grant the order for testing if the court finds, by a preponderance of evidence, that there is a risk that an infectious disease was transmitted as a result of the contact. The court order would require testing to be performed as soon as practicable by a health care provider or at a health care facility licensed or authorized to administer the ordered testing. The results of any testing would be disclosed to the person tested and the professional or emergency medical responder who requested the testing, but are not to be disclosed to any other individual except as authorized by law or court order. A consent order for testing and any test results would be confidential and could not be used for any law enforcement purposes or as evidence in any civil proceeding. A person who knowingly discloses or uses such confidential information in violation of the bill would be guilty of a fourth degree crime. The bill authorizes the court to order the person who was administered the opioid antidote to reimburse the State for the costs of the tests. A person who performs a test ordered in accordance with accepted medical standards for the performance of such tests would be immune from civil and criminal liability arising from their conduct. The bill is not to be construed to preclude or limit any other testing for HIV, hepatitis, or any other infectious disease that is otherwise permitted by statute, court rule, or common law.

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Samuel Thompson (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 05/12/2022)

Official Document