§ 40:48J-1 — Assessment of community service contribution for certain tax exempt property owners; definitions.

1. a. (1) The owner of property used as a hospital or a satellite emergency care facility, which is exempt from taxation pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2021, c.17 (C.54:4-3.6j), shall annually be assessed a community service contribution to the municipality in which the licensed beds of the hospital are located and, in the case of a satellite emergency care facility, to the municipality in which such facility is located. These contributions shall be remitted directly to the municipalities in which the contributions are assessed. (2) If a hospital and municipality have entered into a voluntary agreement prior to the enactment of P.L.2021, c.17 (C.40:48J-1 et al.), the hospital shall be required to pay the greater of the community service contribution required under paragraph (1) of subsection b. of this section, or the amount agreed upon in a voluntary agreement for the duration of the agreement between the municipality and the hospital. (3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a municipality and a hospital from entering into a voluntary agreement requiring additional payments by the hospital to the municipality pursuant to this section. b. (1) For tax year 2021, the annual community service contribution required pursuant to this section shall, for a hospital, be equal to $3 a day for each licensed bed at the hospital in the prior tax year, and shall, for a satellite emergency care facility, be equal to $300 for each day in the prior tax year. For tax year 2022 and each tax year thereafter, the per day amount used to calculate an annual community service contribution for a hospital and a satellite emergency care facility shall increase by two percent over the prior tax year. The Commissioner of Health shall annually promulgate the per day amount to apply for each tax year. For the purposes of this subsection, the number of licensed beds per hospital shall not be less than the number of such beds in existence on January 1, 2020. (2) An annual community service contribution shall be reduced by an amount equal to the sum of any payments remitted to the municipality in which the licensed beds of the hospital or satellite emergency care facility, as the case may be, is located, pursuant to a voluntary agreement operative in the prior tax year between the owner and the municipality to compensate for any municipal services benefitting the occupants and premises of the hospital or satellite emergency care facility. (3) An annual community service contribution shall be payable in equal quarterly installments. The installments shall be payable on February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1. c. The obligation to remit an annual community service contribution pursuant to this section is legal, valid, and binding. If a quarterly installment of an annual community service contribution installment is not paid as and when due pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the unpaid balance shall constitute a municipal lien on the hospital or satellite emergency care facility property after 30 days, and shall be enforced and collected in the same manner as unpaid property taxes. d. A municipality that receives an annual community service contribution installment pursuant to this section, or a payment under a voluntary agreement that reduces the amount of such contribution pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection b. of this section, shall forthwith, upon receipt, remit five percent of the installment or voluntary payment, as the case may be, to the county in which the municipality is located. e. The Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority in the Department of Health and the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs, shall, by the first day of the fourth month next following the enactment of P.L.2021, c.17 (C.40:48J-1 et al.), adopt regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions of this section pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). f. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, an owner of property used as a hospital shall be exempt from remitting an annual community service contribution for the hospital if the owner certifies to the Department of Health that, in the prior year, the hospital did not bill any patient for inpatient or outpatient professional or technical services rendered at the hospital and the hospital has provided community benefit over the preceding three years for which the hospital has filed such forms averaging at least 12 percent of the hospital's total expenses, as documented on IRS Form 990, Schedule H, part 1, line 7K, column F. The hospital shall file a copy of the documentation as enumerated in this subsection with the municipal tax assessor on or before December 1 of the pre-tax year. Upon receipt of a copy of the documentation, the tax assessor shall notify the hospital, on or before December 31, that it is exempt from payment of the community service contribution for the tax year commencing January 1. g. As used in this section: "Hospital" means a general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), which maintains and operates organized facilities and services as approved and licensed by the Department of Health for the diagnosis, treatment, or care of persons suffering from acute illness, injury, or deformity and in which all diagnosis, treatment, and care are administered by or performed under the direction of persons licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy in the State, and includes all land and buildings that are used in the delivery of health care services by such hospital and its medical providers or that are used for the management, maintenance, administration, support, and security of such hospital and its medical providers. "Hospital" shall not include a hospital owned or operated by a federal, State, regional, or local government entity, directly or as an instrumentality thereof. "Licensed bed" means one of the total number of acute care beds for which an acute care hospital is approved for patient care by the Commissioner of Health, excluding skilled nursing, psychiatric, sub-acute, and newborn beds, and further excluding any acute care beds not commissioned for use. "Medical provider" means an individual or entity which, acting within the scope of a licensure or certification, provides health care services, and includes, but is not limited to, a physician, physician assistant, psychologist, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, nurse practitioner, social worker, paramedic, respiratory care practitioner, medical or laboratory technician, ambulance or emergency medical worker, orthotist or prosthetist, radiological or other diagnostic service facility, bioanalytical laboratory, health care facility, or other limited licensed health care professional, and further includes administrative support staff of the individual or entity. "Owner" means an association or corporation organized as a nonprofit entity pursuant to Title 15 of the Revised Statutes or Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes exclusively for hospital purposes that owns a hospital. "Satellite emergency care facility" means a facility, which is owned and operated by a hospital, and which provides emergency care and treatment for patients. "Voluntary agreement" means any payment in lieu of taxes agreement or other agreement entered into between the owner of the property and the municipality for the purpose of compensating the municipality for any municipal services the municipality provides to the hospital. L.2021, c.17, s.1.