STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 4690

with Assembly Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Assemblyman HOUGHTALING)

ADOPTED: JUNE 21, 2021

      These floor amendments provide that, if a municipality at the time of the initiation of a project receiving New Jersey Redevelopment Authority assistance, was ranked in the top 25 percent of the most distressed municipalities listed in the Municipal Revitalization Index (MRI) Distress Score, as published by the Department of Community Affairs, the municipality constitutes a “qualifying municipality.”  In doing so, the amendments remove the eligibility criterion of a qualified municipality that allows Commissioner of Community Affairs to nominate a municipality having a rank in the top 20 percent of the current Municipal Distress Index, the former index that was replaced by the MRI Distress Score, and other conditions related to that criterion.  The amendments also remove language providing that a “qualifying municipality” includes a municipality that establishes and operates a special improvement district prior to enactment of the bill.