Bill > S3024

Introduced Session

Michael Anthony Fornicola passed away on May 29th 2012 due to cardiac arrests at Harrah's Resorts in Atlantic City. The family believes that his life could have been save if an AED was available on his floor. This bill would require every hotel in the State to provide an automated external defibrillator (AED) in each lobby, meeting room, banquet hall, and fitness center, as well as on every residential floor. The bill defines hotel as any hotel, inn, boarding house, motel or other establishment whose proprietor offers and accepts payment for rooms, sleeping accommodations or board and lodging and retains the right of access to, and control of, the premises which are let. The bill would require the owner or operator of each hotel, within one year after the bill's effective date, to: - acquire, and maintain on-site at the hotel, at least one defibrillator in each lobby, meeting room, banquet hall, and fitness center, which shall remain accessible at all times; - store and maintain each defibrillator in a central, unlocked location that is known and accessible to employees; - ensure that the defibrillator is tested and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's operational guidelines; - provide notification to the appropriate first aid, ambulance, or rescue squad, or other appropriate emergency medical services provider, regarding the acquisition of the defibrillator's, the type, and the locations within the hotel; - mark the location of each defibrillator with a prominent sign; - arrange and pay for the training of employees and volunteers in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and defibrillator use; - ensure, during the hours when a public or private event or activity is taking place at the hotel, that at least one employee or volunteer who has current certifications from the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, or other training program recognized by the Department of Health, in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and the use of a defibrillator, is on-site and available to respond to any cardiac event; and - ensure that an employee requests emergency medical assistance from the appropriate first aid, ambulance, or rescue squad as soon as practicable after a defibrillator is used in response to a cardiac event. This bill provides that the owner or operator of a hotel and its employees and volunteers are immune from civil liability in association with the acquisition and use of a defibrillator. The owner or operator of a hotel and its employees and volunteers are also immune from civil or criminal liability resulting from the malfunctioning of a defibrillator, if it has been maintained and tested in accordance with the manufacturer's operational guidelines. In order to ensure that a person suffering a cardiac event while on-site at a hotel will receive timely emergency medical treatment and have the highest chance of survival, it is in the best interests of the residents of this State to require all hotels to provide a defibrillator in each lobby, meeting room, banquet hall, and fitness center.

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Vin Gopal (D)*,  Linda Greenstein (D)*, 

Reported from Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading (on 09/10/2019)