(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by
Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Green and Assembly members Shavonda E.
Sumter, Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and Thomas P. Giblin to
help transform ailing or obsolete health care facilities into productive health
care centers once again was approved Monday by a Senate panel.
“Shifts in
population, economic pressures and scientific advancement often lead to the
construction of new hospital facilities and the closing of older hospitals,”
said Green (D-Middlesex/Somerset/Union). “This is unfortunate for the
communities that house these once productive hospitals because they often
contribute greatly to local employment and tax revenue. This legislation would
aid in repurposing former hospitals health in a positive transition to health
centers that can still provide much needed support to the
community.”
“If we can
help transform these former hospitals into centers for the delivery of other
health care and support services then we can achieve a win-win for our
communities,” said Sumter (D-Bergen/Passaic). “Barnert Hospital in Paterson is a
perfect example of a productive transformation from hospital to community health
center. This bill would support transitions such as Barnert’s in other areas of
the state.”
The bill
(A-3043) would grant corporation business tax credits to developers who make
certain capital investments for repurposing qualified health care facilities.
Under the bill, a qualified health care facility is any licensed health care
facility that has been granted a certificate of need to cease all or partial
operation. The bill restricts the function of a repurposed facility to a
non-acute health care and health support services center, and requires a credit
applicant to demonstrate that such an investment will not destabilize the supply
and delivery of acute health care services in its market.
“A closed
hospital building can quickly turn into a neighborhood eyesore,” said Diegnan
(D-Middlesex). “This bill provides an incentive for developers to transform
former hospitals into functioning health centers in order to provide needed
health services for the community and prevent these buildings from becoming
nuisances.”
“Hospitals
that close to make way for newer, more advanced facilities in other locations,
take away jobs and leave the communities that housed them with a gap in health
care services,” said Watson Coleman (D- Mercer/Hunterdon). “This bill helps
retain important health services as well as jobs and tax revenue in communities
that once housed hospitals that have relocated.”
“A hospital
not only provides health services, but creates jobs. When they shutter, the
impact on the communities that house them is great,” said Giblin
(D-Essex/Passaic). “This bill would help revive these facilities so that they
can continue to contribute to the physical and economic well-being of the
community where they are located.”
The bill would
allow the developer of a repurposed qualified health care facility to qualify
for corporation business tax credits equal to 100 percent of the capital
investment, if that capital investment is at least $10 million and is applied
towards repurposing a facility that will have tenants with a total of 100 or
more full-time employees. Annually for ten years the taxpayer may use a credit
equal to 10 percent of the qualified capital investment.
The bill was
released by the Senate Economic Growth Committee. It was approved 46-25-2 by the
General Assembly in January.
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