Resident Stacy Moore, who lives on $41.20 a month after deductions, drafted the legislation. The bill cleared the committee with no industry opposition and no updated fiscal note.

WAYNE, N.J. — Stacy Moore lives at Preakness Healthcare Center in Wayne, Passaic County. She has lived in long-term care since a spinal cord injury in 2007. She pays $10 a month for the facility's landline telephone, $10 for the hairdresser, and tries to survive on what remains of her $50 monthly personal needs allowance.

"I end up with $41.20 a month to live off of," she told NJ Spotlight News in July 2025. "Toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, clothes — everything. You can't do it. You can't even go to a dollar store and get things. It's just impossible."

Moore leads NJ Nursing Home Residents United, a grassroots group that has testified repeatedly in Trenton. She has circulated petitions, reached out to legislators, appeared on NJ Spotlight News in July 2025 and testified before the Senate Health Committee by phone in October 2024. Her group testified again on May 7.

Moore drafted legislation to raise the allowance to $140 a month, with yearly cost-of-living adjustments. She worked with the office of Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips (R-40th) to write the bill. The state Long-Term Care Ombudsman's Community Engagement Program connected her to lawmakers and scheduled her testimony.

Moore's advocacy grew out of that program, which the state established to cultivate resident leadership in long-term care facilities. The Ombudsman's office provided technical assistance, but Moore wrote the policy.

The bill would establish yearly cost-of-living adjustments for nursing home allowances. In a state where the cost of living ranks fifth nationally, that mechanism would prevent future stagnation if enacted. Approximately 28,000 residents currently receive $50 monthly before facility deductions, leaving many with substantially less for personal expenses.

The bill was reported from the Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee on May 7, 2026, according to legislative tracking records. The Jersey Vindicator reported the advancement as unanimous, though committee minutes were not immediately available to confirm the vote tally. A prior version cleared two committees unanimously in 2024, but died at the end of the legislative session, when end when bills that do not reach the floor automatically expire. The current bill, A2691, now sits in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Its Senate companion, S1576, carries identical language.

NJ Spotlight reported 25,000 Medicaid nursing home residents in 2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman estimated 30,000 in 2025. Moore testified to 28,000 in 2026. The state gives these residents $50 a month for personal expenses, including coffee, clothing, phone service, toiletries and anything beyond what the facility provides. That figure rose from $35 to $50 under the FY 2024 Appropriations Act, which took effect July 1, 2023. The proposed $140 would nearly triple the allowance.

New Jersey's cost of living ranks fifth nationally, according to data cited by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that the 2026 median personal needs allowance for institutional care nationwide is $70 a month. New Jersey's $50 sits 29 percent below that median. The proposed $140 would place the state 100 percent above median, not the highest in the country, but well above the middle.

Florida's Medicaid personal needs allowance is $160 as of 2026, according to state elder law sources. Minnesota's is $132, according to the Department of Human Services. Both figures apply to institutional Medicaid recipients, the same population the NJ bill targets.

The Office of Legislative Services produced a fiscal estimate for the prior session's version of the bill. It projected $15.8 million in state costs for calendar year 2025, rising to $16.6 million by 2027. The office has not produced an updated fiscal note for the 2026-2027 session bill.

The bill also extends the increased allowance to residents of state and county psychiatric hospitals and state developmental centers. The fiscal impact of covering those populations has not been separately modeled. The Legislature has not projected the cost-of-living adjustment's compounding effect. It has also not separately calculated the cost of extending the allowance to residents of state and county psychiatric hospitals and state developmental centers.

Sylvia Ellis testified alongside Moore on May 7. She visits her mother-in-law at a nursing home and purchases toiletries and personal items for her. Federal regulations require facilities to provide basic personal hygiene items. Ellis did not specify whether the facility failed to meet that standard or whether the items she buys go beyond what regulations require.

"Families are already struggling with gas prices, food prices, mortgages, tuition, and other rising costs," she told the committee. "I do not believe residents should have to ask family members for help."

Governor Mikie Sherrill has not publicly addressed the bill. Her administration's $60.7 billion FY 2027 budget proposal contains no line item for a personal needs allowance increase. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman's January 2026 newsletter noted that resident advocates met with representatives of the governor's office and that support for the bill grew after those meetings.

Department of Human Services Commissioner Dr. Stephen Cha testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on May 6, 2026. He discussed nursing home workforce wage increases, Medicaid enrollment technology, and county social services support. He did not mention the personal needs allowance.

The New Jersey Health Care Association and LeadingAge NJ, the state's major nursing home industry associations, did not respond to requests for comment and have not filed lobbying disclosure reports with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission regarding this bill. As of early May 11, no lobbying entity has filed disclosure reports with NJ ELEC regarding this bill. Second-quarter filings covering April through June are not due until July.

The bill awaits consideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Moore and other residents plan to testify when it moves to public hearings. The bill is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Meanwhile, she is back home in Wayne, where the phone is still $10, the hairdresser is still $10, and the rest of the allowance still runs thin before the month ends.

Sources

• Jersey Vindicator, "Lawmakers unanimously advanced a bill that would raise the monthly personal needs allowance for Medicaid residents to $140" (May 10, 2026)

• NJ Long-Term Care Ombudsman, "Issue Brief: A2691/S1576 Personal Needs Allowance" (2026-2027 session)

• NJ Long-Term Care Ombudsman, "2024 Annual Report" (2024)
• NJ Long-Term Care Ombudsman, "The Beacon: January 2026 Newsletter" (January 2026)

• NJ Spotlight News, "Nursing home residents press state to raise $50 personal-needs allowance" (October 16, 2024)

• NJ Spotlight News, "The ombudsman supports a bipartisan bill (S-3319) that would raise New Jersey's personal needs allowance to $140 a month" (July 17, 2025)

• FastDemocracy, "A2691 — New Jersey 2026-2027 Regular Session" (2026)
• Legiscan, "S1576 — New Jersey 2026-2027 Regular Session" (2026)

• Kaiser Family Foundation, "Medicaid Eligibility Levels for Older Adults and People with Disabilities (Non-MAGI) in 2026" (April 30, 2026)

• Minnesota Department of Human Services, "Appendix F Standards and Guidelines — Clothing and Personal Needs Allowance" (January 1, 2026)

• Virtual Law Office, "2026 Florida Medicaid Eligibility Limits Explained" (February 10, 2026)
• Dr. Stephen Cha, NJ Department of Human Services, "FY 2027 Budget Testimony" (May 6, 2026)

• Governor Mikie Sherrill, "FY 2027 Budget Address" (March 2026)