Bill > A3513

Introduced Session

This bill increases the debt execution exemption amounts for household goods, establishes for persons in debt homestead, bank account, and disposable earnings exemptions, and places a cap on the medical debt interest rate. Under the bill, any person aged 18 or over, married or single, who resides within the State may hold as a homestead exempt from attachment, execution, and forced sale, not exceeding $400,000 in value any of the following: an interest in real property upon which exists a dwelling house in which the person resides; an interest in a condominium or cooperative in which the person resides; or a manufactured home, including the land on which the manufactured home is situated. The homestead exemption will automatically attach to the person's interest in identifiable cash proceeds from the voluntary or involuntary sale of the property. The homestead exemption in identifiable cash proceeds continues for 18 months after the date of the sale of the property or until the person establishes a new homestead with the proceeds, whichever period is shorter. Only one homestead exemption at a time may be held by a person under the bill. The bill additionally increases the total value of household goods that are exempt from debt collection from $1,000 to $15,000 or $25,000 for a debtor with a physical disability. The bill also provides for an exemption from garnishment of up to $5,000 for cash held in a deposit account or other account of the debtor and limits the amount of disposable earnings subject to execution to no more than 10 percent of disposable earnings for that week or the amount by which disposable earnings for that week exceed 60 times the applicable minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, whichever is less. For the purpose of this bill, "disposable earnings" means the remaining portion of a debtor's wages, salary, or compensation for the debtor's personal services, including bonuses and commissions, or otherwise, and includes payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program or deferred compensation plan, after deducting from the earnings those amounts required by law to be withheld. Finally, the bill places a cap on the interest rate for medical debt. The maximum interest rate on medical debt will be the lesser of the following: (1) the annual rate equal to the weekly average one-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the calendar week preceding the date when the consumer was first provided with a bill; or (2) three percent a year.

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Balvir Singh (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee (on 02/05/2024)

Official Document