Requires issuance of tourniquets to law enforcement officers; requires emergency service vehicles be equipped with tourniquets.
Summary
S3372 requires tourniquets to be issued to every New Jersey State trooper and to every county and municipal law enforcement officer. It also requires every basic life support ambulance and mobility assistance vehicle licensed by the Department of Health to carry a tourniquet while in service. The bill is framed as a public-safety and emergency-response measure intended to ensure that first responders have immediate access to a hemorrhage-control device that can save lives in traumatic injuries and active-shooter or motor-vehicle incidents.
The bill authorizes the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Health to adopt guidelines or directives to implement and enforce the new requirements. For law enforcement, the cost of the tourniquets may be paid using forfeiture funds collected under the State’s criminal forfeiture law, subject to an amount determined by the Attorney General. The bill would take effect on the first day of the third month after enactment.
Impact
If enacted, the bill would supplement New Jersey law by creating a statewide equipment mandate for law enforcement agencies and certain emergency medical transport vehicles. It would require the State Police superintendent, county police chiefs, and municipal police chiefs to provide tourniquets to officers, and it would add tourniquets to the required in-service equipment for basic life support ambulances and mobility assistance vehicles regulated by the Department of Health. The measure also gives the Attorney General and Health Commissioner rulemaking or directive authority to carry out the new requirements, and it allows forfeiture funds to be used for the law-enforcement portion of the mandate.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have a strongly supportive public-safety rationale, with the sponsor emphasizing that tourniquets are life-saving tools that should be standard equipment for first responders. The statement cites recent emergency uses and successful outcomes as justification for expanding access. No committee testimony or vote record is provided, so there is no documented opposition or bipartisan debate in the available materials.
Contention
The main policy questions raised by the bill are practical rather than ideological: whether tourniquets should be mandated for all officers and emergency vehicles, who should bear the cost, and how implementation should be standardized. The bill addresses cost by allowing forfeiture funds to be used for law-enforcement purchases, but it does not specify a dedicated funding source for the ambulance and mobility-assistance vehicle requirement. Another possible point of contention is the scope of the mandate, since it applies broadly to all State, county, and municipal law enforcement officers and to licensed emergency transport vehicles while in service.
Requires executive county superintendent to distribute funds to each public school located in county for purchase of tourniquets and requires training on tourniquet use; appropriates up to $500,000.
Requires executive county superintendent to distribute funds to each public school located in county for purchase of tourniquets and requires training on tourniquet use; appropriates up to $500,000.
Education: other; recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for health education and certain guidelines for health education; modify. Amends sec. 1170a of 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1170a).