NJ Gov. Murphy Signs 11 Bills Into Law, Focusing On Obamacare

NEW JERSEY – Gov. Phil Murphy today signed 11 bills into law this week, including a package of bills intended to safeguard the provisions of the Affordable Care Act – otherwise known as Obamacare – in New Jersey.

Murphy also signed two bills on Thursday to provide security funding for non-profit organizations at risk of terror attacks, and expand the definition of domestic terrorism following the December 2019 attacks in Jersey City that killed six people. Read more: Jersey City Attack Could've Killed '5 Football Fields Away:' Feds

The ACA bills, which will codify into state law the protections for health care consumers that are part of the Affordable Care Act, include protections for no-cost preventative care and contraception, prohibit exclusions for pre-existing conditions, allow children to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26, and incorporate mental health and maternity care as part of essential benefits, among others.

The governor highlighted the importance of these bills during an armchair discussion with Hackensack Meridian Health Chief Executive Officer Bob Garret on Thursday.

“At a time when the Affordable Care Act is under siege by the Trump Administration and being challenged in the courts, New Jersey has a responsibility to protect and provide access to high-quality, affordable health care for all of our residents,” said Murphy. “I applaud my colleagues in the legislature for taking the critical steps necessary to ensure that the provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act are codified into state law and for working to make the health of our residents a top priority.”

The governor signed the following bills into law:

• A5500 (Greenwald, Lopez, Lampitt/Pou, Lagana) - Expands rate review process in DOBI for certain individual and small employer health benefits plans.
• A5501 (McKeon, Vainieri Huttle, Speight/Pou, Weinberg) - Requires continuation of health benefits dependent coverage until child turns 26 years of age.
• A5503 (Reynolds-Jackson, Swain/Vitale, Cryan) - Establishes open enrollment period under Individual Health Coverage Program.
• A5504 (Benson, Schaer/Cryan, Diegnan) - Applies 85 percent loss ratio requirement to certain large group health benefits carriers.
• A5506 (Tully, Danielsen/Singleton, Diegnan) - Repeals statute authorizing offering of “Basic and Essential” health benefits plans under individual health benefits plans and other statutes concerning basic health plans; makes conforming amendments.
• A5507 (McKeon, Conaway, Mukherji/Pou, Ruiz) - Requires health benefits coverage for certain preventive services.
• A5508 (Zwicker, Murphy, Sumter/Ruiz, Pou) - Revises law requiring health benefits coverage for certain contraceptives.
• A5248 (Conaway, Mukherji, McKeon/Gill, Singleton) - Preserves certain requirements that health insurance plans cover essential health benefits.
• S626 (Vitale, Diegnan/Vainieri Huttle, Chiaravalloti, Downey, Danielsen) - Clarifies prohibition on preexisting condition exclusions in health insurance policies.

As for the security bills, Murphy signed A6123, which appropriates $1 million to the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness for the New Jersey Nonprofit Security Grant Pilot Program. This program provides funding to eligible nonprofit organizations across New Jersey at the greatest risk of terrorist attacks.

Primary sponsors of A6123 include Assemblymembers Gary Schaer, Annette Quijano, Lisa Swain, and Senate President Sweeney, and Senator Joseph Cryan.

Murphy also signed A3087, which expands the definition of terrorism to include people who commit certain crimes with the purpose to influence or incite an act of terror against an individual based on the their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or creed.

Primary sponsors of A3087 include Assemblymembers Schaer, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, and Quijano, and Senators James Beach and Joseph Lagana.

“Our state and our nation are facing a rising tide of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred,” said Murphy. “We recently bore witness to how this can manifest itself in violence, with the attack on our Jewish community in Jersey City. We must stand together against terrorism and recommit to the elimination of hate in all its forms in order to protect New Jerseyans and our country. This legislation is crucial to making it clear that hatred will not be tolerated in our state.”