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Senate Commerce Committee Statement — Senate Bill No. 818 (New Jersey, February 12, 2026)

Summary

This is the Senate Commerce Committee Statement to Senate, No. 818, State of New Jersey, dated February 12, 2026. The committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 818, which requires the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety to hire additional staff to alleviate the professional license application backlog. The bill appropriates $10,000,000 in fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029 for hiring additional staff. It also requires the division to provide an annual report on the spending and its effect on division staffing and the processing of license applications and renewals.

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“Senate Commerce Committee Statement — Senate Bill No. 818 (New Jersey, February 12, 2026).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2026-02-12-scm-s818-s1-64e375c6e0/, SHA-256 f6aa9d1ed10d2a572abc486f6e460a3f808f4d478a8a23d0d142a39808b2dd9a.

Full text

     SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

                    STATEMENT TO

                  SENATE, No. 818

 STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                  DATED: FEBRUARY 12, 2026

    The Senate Commerce Committee reports favorably Senate Bill
No. 818.
    This bill requires the Division of Consumer Affairs in the
Department of Law and Public Safety to hire additional staff to
alleviate the professional license application backlog. The bill
appropriates $10,000,000 in fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029 for
the hiring of additional staff.
   The various State professional boards are responsible for both
the processing of initial license requests and the periodic licensure
renewals as required by statute. There is currently a significant
backlog of these license requests in several of the regulated
professions within the Division of Consumer Affairs.
   Starting in fiscal year 2016, language has been included in the
annual appropriations act allowing the transfer of funds from the
professional boards to other organizations within the Department of
Law and Public Safety. These transfers may have taken away
flexibility the boards would have to hire additional staff to address
backlogs. This bill appropriates $10,000,000 in each of the cited
three fiscal years to allow for both the immediate hiring of
additional staff to alleviate the current backlog as well as to ensure
ongoing funding to maintain proper levels of service for license
processing across the regulated professions.
    The bill also requires the division to provide an annual report
that provides details on the spending authorized by the bill, and the
effect of the spending on division staffing and the processing of
license applications and renewals.
    This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2026-2027 session
pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes
required by technical review, which has been performed.

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