Bill > A488

Introduced Session

The bill establishes the Overdose Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board in, but not of, the Department of Human Services. The purpose of the board would be to review overdose fatalities and near fatalities in New Jersey and to identify their causes, their relationship to governmental support systems, and methods of prevention. Specifically, the 13-member board would consist of the Commissioners of Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, and the Superintendent of State Police, or their designees; the State Medical Examiner, and the Executive Director of the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, who shall serve ex-officio; and seven public members appointed by the Governor. The public members would include representatives from the New Jersey Prosecutors Office, the Facing Addiction Task Force, The Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey, New Jersey Prevention Network, and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse New Jersey, a physician with expertise in drug addiction and substance use disorder treatment, and a substance use disorder counselor. The board would identify all overdose fatalities and near fatalities involving controlled substances or controlled substance analogs that occur in the New Jersey and determine which overdose fatalities and near fatalities would receive full review. Under the provisions of the bill, the board would be allowed to establish local or regional community-based teams to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the overdose fatalities and near fatalities identified by the board. The teams would include, at a minimum, members of the medical, law enforcement, forensic pathology, and drug addiction and substance use disorder treatment fields. The teams could add additional members or seek the advice of experts in other fields, according to the facts of a case. Each team would submit a report about its findings and recommendations, based on its review, to the board's chairperson. The board would then to review the reports submitted by each team and issue an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature. The report would include specific information about cases reviewed by the board and recommendations for achieving better coordination and collaboration among State and local agencies and system-wide improvements in services to prevent overdose fatalities and near fatalities. The bill requires the board to maintain a master confidential file containing identifying information and information on an overdose fatality and the circumstances surrounding the fatality. The file would contain similar information for a near fatality reviewed by the board. The file would serve as the minimum record of the case and would not be subject to discovery, but could be used by the board's chairperson to refer a case for an appropriate agency to investigate or to provide services. The board would also be able to subpoena and review school, private medical, hospital, substance use disorder treatment, mental health, and other pertinent records of the person whose overdose death or near fatality is being reviewed, except as provided in any federal or State statute, regulation, or Executive Order relating to the confidentiality of criminal investigations, criminal investigative files, and medical records from programs or activities involving substance use disorder education, prevention, training, treatment, or rehabilitation. If, as a result of a records review, the board believes that an overdose fatality or near fatality is the result of another person's actions, the board would be required to notify or verify that notification has been made to the county prosecutor where the fatality or near fatality occurred or was pronounced. The bill stipulates that board members could not be held liable for any civil damages as a result of providing in good faith any reports, records, opinions, or recommendations pursuant to the provisions of the bill, and allows the board to solicit and receive grants or funds for its purposes made available by governmental, public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit agencies.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Robert Clifton (R)*,  Chris DePhillips (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document