On Monday, June 11, the full Assembly passed the bill A 3989, bringing the long campaign of ORANJ to within a whisker of victory. ORANJ is the organization representing over 10,000 seniors residing in Continuing Care Retirement Communities in NJ. Already in 2002 ORANJ highlighted in its mission statement its effort “To Establish and Safeguard Resident Rights and Responsibilities” by pursuing legislation towards that end. We are now awaiting the Governor’s signature to create the new law.
The identical bills, S 425 and A 3989, that have now passed both the full body of the NJ Senate and Assembly, contain the following major provisions:
- Residents’ right to free self-organization,
- Quarterly meetings between Board of Directors (or their designated representative who shall not be the CEO or staff member of the CCRC) and residents (or their elected representatives) to discuss subjects that may include income, expenditures and financial matters as they apply to the facility and proposed changes in policies, programs and services.
- Inclusion by the Board of Trustees or other local governing body of the facility of at least one resident as a full voting member of that body. Resident members shall be nominated by the elected representatives of residents and selected by the Board of Trustees or other local governing body.
- Consultation and discussion by the Board with representatives of residents of any proposed action that might significantly affect the well being of the residents or the financial stability of the facility BEFORE taking any such action.
To achieve its mission ORANJ and particularly its legislative committee worked with Senators Karcher and Singer to draft and support passage of legislation. Since then, other legislators, including Senator Vitale and Assemblymen Panter, Dancer and Conaway have provided invaluable support. Senator Singer in a message to a plenary session of ORANJ invoked the enormous potential for public pressure from well educated, senior citizens who are well informed, loyal voters.
Throughout the long process of bringing the bill through the legislative machinery, residents of NJ’s CCRCs responded to the carefully crafted calls for action by its special legislative committee members: Gary Baldwin of Seabrook Village in Tinton Falls, President of ORANJ, Charles Germany of Winchester Gardens in Maplewood, former President of ORANJ, Wink Livengood of Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, Vice President of ORANJ for the Northeast Region, and herself a resident trustee at Fellowship Village, and Dave Hibberson of Harrogate in Lakewood, Chairman of the ORANJ Legislative Committee. Residents wrote innumerable letters to appropriate legislators and even traveled to Trenton repeatedly to demonstrate support when the bills were being debated in committees and when passed by the Senate and Assembly.
This year, finally, the bills won by large majorities at each step even though ORANJ lacked the professional paid lobbying arm of the opposition. The only dramatics were the applause of residents that greeted the series of victories as the bills marched through the legislature. Achieving passage of the bills has been a long and sometimes disheartening three year effort. In 2006, the bill cleared the NJ Assembly Committee but did not make it through the Senate Committee.
These bills mandate the inclusion of residents on Boards of Trustees of CCRCs in New Jersey, which has enormous importance because fewer than half the Boards of Trustees of CCRCs in New Jersey have voluntarily invited resident participation. With passage of the bills, New Jersey will take its place alongside five other states that already mandate resident participation on Boards of Trustees in all Continuous Care Retirement Communities. These bills will insure that, as Senator Karcher D-Monmouth and Mercer Counties and Vice Chair of the Health Panel of the Senate, said, “Seniors’ rights to representative government do not end at the retirement home door.”
Passage of the legislation will initiate another important task for the Organization of Residents Associations of New Jersey. ORANJ is planning a crucial educational program for its resident members to demonstrate what it means to serve as a responsible member of the Boards of Trustees and not as a resident representative. Residents will have to learn that responsibilities of the resident member(s) will be identical to those of other members of the Board of Trustees. This means that the resident trustees will not be allowed to bring resident gripes to the Board since these are generally the responsibility of management and resident committees. Resident Trustees will need to become familiar with the functions of a Board of Trustees so that they will find effective ways to bring the resident point of view to trustee discussions.
This is not the first time that ORANJ successfully brought pressure to bear for a cause that had great import to its members. In early 2005 ORANJ directed a campaign to exempt CCRCs from the “bed tax.” Residents of NJ CCRCs are looking forward to showing their gratitude to legislators by supporting their friends in future elections and by supporting initiatives that legislators may foster that align with the values and objectives of our ORANJ membership.