Assembly committee releases bills to curb facility-linked financial control over long‑term care residents

The New Jersey General Assembly committee voted on May 7, 2025, to release A588 and A1888 with committee amendments, advancing measures that aim to limit conflicts of interest when long‑term care facilities or their affiliates acquire financial control over residents.

The bills would revise the statutory definition of a long‑term care facility and prohibit facility‑connected individuals from acting as a principal's attorney in fact in certain circumstances, while adding contract‑ and notice‑related provisions and an explicit carve‑out allowing family members to serve as an attorney in fact. "We support what this bill is trying to accomplish," John Endyke of the Health Care Association of New Jersey said in testimony.

Supporters told the committee the measures are consumer‑protection reforms to reduce financial exploitation of vulnerable residents. "I couldn't think of more common‑sense legislation," Dan Jercovic of the New Jersey chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys said, arguing facility…