ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 46

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 3, 1996

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No.46.

      Assembly Bill No.46 appropriates the sum of $5 million to the New Jersey Wastewater Treatment Trust from the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund" established pursuant to the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," (P.L.1992, c.88) and any net earnings received from the investment or deposit of moneys in the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund."

      The Trust is a State financing authority which can issue bonds, notes and other debt obligations for the purpose of providing financial assistance to local governments for wastewater treatment system projects.

      In 1992, the voters approved the $345 million "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88. The bond act allocated $50 million for the financing of wastewater treatment system projects, in order to bring such systems into full compliance to provide adequate wastewater treatment in areas where large numbers of septic systems have malfunctioned or become obsolete, or to connect an obsolete or malfunctioning wastewater treatment system to another wastewater treatment system.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The bond act allocated $45 million to the Department of Environmental Protection for zero interest loans to local governments and $5 million to the Trust to be used for reserve and guarantee funding to secure debt issued by the Trust or by local governments in connection with the financing of wastewater treatment system projects.

      This bill appropriates the $5 million and the net interest earnings from the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund" to the Trust for the purpose of establishing a reserve fund as required by the 1992 bond act.