'Emma's Law' To Help Special Needs Kids To Be Introduced Tuesday

CRANFORD, NJ - A little over a week after taking her plea to help increase the safety and security of special needs students public, Cranford resident Jennifer Love will see the introduction of Emma's Law into the legislature.

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick is the primary sponsor of the bill and he told Patch he will be seeking bipartisan support for the bill, which is scheduled for introduction Tuesday.

Love has been championing Emma's Law, named after her 17-year-old autistic daughter, which would equip all transportation for special needs students with GPS systems and cameras.

Emma attends The Children's Center of Monmouth County in Neptune and a change in the transportation provider placed Love at odds with the company. According to Love, the issue began when the school her daughter attends changed transportation providers.

"I contacted the new company and requested to meet and speak to the driver and aide before the first day of the route. I was told that was not possible. They disclosed to me that we were able to meet the bus driver and the aide the day of morning pick up. When they arrived, I asked for the bus driver and aide's contact information," Love told Patch.

She was told that it was against their company policy to give out their contact information.

"That is absolutely absurd to me. I was told that if I had an issue, I need to discuss I had to go through the front office of the bus company," Love said. "The problem is that the office opens at 9 a.m. and my daughter is traveling at 7:30 a.m."

When a student goes to an out of district school, transportation is paid for by the district and arranged through the Union County Education System system. Love said this system leaves families at the mercy of whatever bus company bids the lowest and whatever policies they have in place for communication.

After a disastrous experience years ago where a bus was lost in Camden for five hours, Love said she is not leaving anything to chance. Love said one of the things that disturbs her is how in 2019 buses are not equipped with surveillance cameras and GPS tracking. And that there isn't an open line of communication to parents.

"I do not think this is an unreasonable request, to be able to communicate with the people who are in charge to take care of my non-verbal special needs child. Typical children are able to communicate for themselves, my daughter does not have a voice so I have to be her voice," she said. "When you call an Uber, you get a text message with the resume and name as well as a photo of the driver. Should we not have at least that for the people we are entrusting our most vulnerable and precious children?"

For his part, Bramnick didn't think it was an unreasonable request either, and he responded immediately when contacted.

"A constituent called me and I began to draft the legislation. The constituent advised people on the radio to ask the Governor for help," Bramnick said. "There are plenty of areas where politics has stopped good policy but this is clearly a proposal that probably has universal support."

Bramnick's bill is one of the avenues being pursued by Love, who has also started a Facebook campaign to bring her plight directly to Governor Phil Murphy, bypassing legislation and urging Murphy sign an executive order

Love posted a call to action on the page.

"Everyone please start calling Governor Murphy to ask him to consider an executive order to push Emma's Law through," Love said.

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