ASSEMBLY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN'S
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 4848
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: OCTOBER 17, 2024
The Assembly Community Development and Women's Affairs
Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4848.
This bill requires a physician or registered professional nurse, as
appropriate, to assess each pregnant person to whom the physician
or nurse provides health care services for possible risk factors for
lead exposure and elevated blood lead levels. If the assessment
identifies at least one risk factor in accordance with the most recent
recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, the physician or nurse is to perform lead screening,
as defined in the bill, on the patient.
If the physician or registered professional nurse cannot perform
the required lead screening, the physician or nurse may refer the
patient to another physician or nurse who is able to perform the lead
screening.
The bill stipulates that if a physician or nurse receives laboratory
test results indicating that the pregnant person has an elevated blood
lead level, the physician or nurse is to: notify the patient about the
test results; provide the patient with an explanation of the
significance of lead poisoning; and ensure that any of the patient’s
children or other members of the patient’s household under the age
of six are, or have been, screened for lead exposure.
A physician or registered professional nurse is: (1) prohibited
from conducting lead screening if the patient objects to the testing
in writing; and (2) to comply with the blood sample collection
requirements specified in section 4 of P.L.1995, c.328 (C.26:2-
137.5).
The bill requires a laboratory which performs a lead screening
test to report the test results to the Department of Health (DOH), the
local health department in the municipality in which the pregnant
person resides, and the physician or registered professional nurse
that submitted the specimen, within five business days of obtaining
the test result.
A record of all lead screenings conducted under the bill is to be
included in the central database maintained by the DOH as required
under section 5 of P.L. 1995, c.328 (C.26:2-137.6). The 2
information reported to and compiled by the DOH is confidential,
except that statistical reports may be made available using
information compiled from the database, excluding personal
identifying information.