New Jersey lawmaker proposes $20M burial fund for coronavirus victims

New Jersey Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly calls himself the “unfortunate sponsor of a needed bill” as coronavirus deaths continue to mount across the state.

Wimberly, a Democrat whose Paterson-based district in North Jersey is in one of that state’s coronavirus hot spots, said his office has received dozens of phone calls from constituents having a hard time affording funeral expenses for loved ones who have died from Covid-19.

“Between that and unemployment issues, we’re flooded,” Wimberly said in a phone interview.

Wimberly this week introduced a bill to create a $20 million burial assistance fund exclusively for families of coronavirus victims.

“People have reached out to our office for assistance, and people are going the route of GoFundMe accounts and things of that nature to bury their loved ones — and the old fashioned pass the hat with the family,” Wimberly said.

Paterson has had at least 5,200 cases of Covid-19 since early March and 175 deaths. Passaic County, which makes up most of Wimberly’s district, has recorded 13,971 cases, the fourth-most of any county in New Jersey, and 690 deaths.

New Jersey already has a funeral public assistance program for residents enrolled in a number of state and federal welfare programs. That program pays up to $2,246 for funeral expenses and $524 for cemetery expenses, and allows families to supplement it with up to $1,570 of their own money.

Wimberly’s bill, NJ A4033, would create a different, one-year program with less stringent guidelines on eligibility and leave it up to the state human services commissioner to decide the maximum amount a family could be reimbursed.

The fund would pay for funeral expenses not covered by other sources and require applicants to provide the state with “documentation regarding the applicant’s available household assets and income as of the date of the death.” The program would use any federal funds available before dipping into the New Jersey’s general fund.

“The food bank’s low. The blood bank’s low. ... At this point, even with a little stimulus package, people are going to go dry really quick,” Wimberly said. “Do you bury a loved one or eat dinner and pay a bill?”

It’s not clear whether the bill will advance in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, who decides which bills advance through the lower house, “hasn’t formed an opinion yet,” his spokesperson, Kevin McArdle, said. “He’ll review the legislation.”

A companion bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate.

The $20 million Wimberly is proposing for the fund is no small expenditure, considering that state revenues are plummeting to the point where Gov. Phil Murphy is pushing the Legislature to approve a multibillion-dollar borrowing package.

New Jersey’s official coronavirus death toll rose to 8,549 as of Wednesday, though that could be an undercount. The funeral home and crematory industry has seen about twice its normal volume due to the pandemic, said Althea Ford, the director of government relations for the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association.

Ford said that “at first blush,” Wimberly‘s bill appears as though it would be helpful to families, though she stressed it’s important to focus on quick reimbursement to families and funeral homes because, she said, payments under the current state assistance programs have been delayed.

“With the number of deaths related to Covid, there are a number of individuals who might not have otherwise been thinking of issues where they’re staring at death,“ Ford said. “Now families have to come around and identify funds for that.”