ASSEMBLY, No. 483

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

 

 

By Assemblywoman VANDERVALK and Assemblyman BAGGER

 

 

An Act concerning promotion of the use of alternative fuels by motor vehicles in the State, amending P.L.1940, c.5, and supplementing chapter 2C of Title 26 and chapter 27D of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. (New section) This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Comprehensive Alternative Motor Fuels Promotion Act."

 

    2. (New section) a. The Legislature finds and declares:

    (1) The vast majority of motor vehicles in use in the United States are totally dependent on petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuels; the use of such fuels contributes to air pollution problems across the nation; and the reliable supply of these fuels from primarily foreign sources constitutes a national security concern;

    (2) The use of nonpetroleum alternative fuels could contribute to a Statewide air pollution control strategy to achieve the air quality standards and goals of the recently enacted amendments to the federal "Clean Air Act," 42 U.S.C. §7401 et seq., curb imported oil demand, restrain oil price rises, and help assure a reliable supply of motor fuel; and

    (3) It is in the public interest and would further the public health, safety, and welfare for the Legislature to facilitate improvement of the State's air quality through promotion of the use of alternative fuels in general, but especially in those types of vehicles that are engaged in fleet or central motor fuel operations, and thus by their nature lend themselves to such technology.

    b. The Legislature recognizes that:

    (1) The Department of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with private industry, has undertaken an alternative fuels demonstration project to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the use of alternative fuel vehicles; and

    (2) The Department of Environmental Protection maintains a Business Energy Improvement Program designed to assist eligible applicants by providing grants and loans to further energy conservation practices and promote the development and use of alternative energy sources.

 

    3. (New section) As used in this act:

    "Alternative fuel" means methanol, ethanol, or other alcohols, natural gas, compressed natural gas, propane, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, coal-derived liquid fuels, electricity, or any other fuel substantially composed of nonpetroleum substances that is used in a clean-fuel vehicle that complies with the standards and requirements applicable to such vehicles under the federal "Clean Air Act," 42 U.S.C. §7401 et seq.

    "Alternative fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle that is a dedicated alternative fuel vehicle or a flexi-fuel vehicle.

    "Conversion" or "converted" means the alteration, change, reconstruction, transmutation, transconfiguration, or transmogrification of a motor vehicle propelled solely by means of a fuel that is not an alternative fuel into an alternative fuel vehicle.

    "Dedicated alternative fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle constructed or converted to operate solely on alternative fuel.

    "Flexi-fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle that can operate on alternative fuel and on a fuel that is not an alternative fuel.

    "Local unit" means a county, municipality, or school district, or any political subdivision, authority, or agency thereof.

    "Motor vehicle" means all vehicles propelled otherwise than by muscular power, except those vehicles that run only upon rails or tracks and motorized bicycles.

 

    4. (New section) Any State agency or authority or any local unit engaged in motor vehicle fleet or central motor fuel operations shall, to the greatest extent possible, purchase, lease, and use alternative fuel vehicles.

 

    5. (New section) No local unit may limit, restrict, or prohibit the use or transportation of any alternative fuel for alternative fuel vehicles except as authorized pursuant to law.

 

    6. (New section) The Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection and any other appropriate State agencies, shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et


seq.), rules and regulations consistent with the purposes of this act concerning the transportation of alternative fuels in the State.

 

    7. (New section) In addition to any other authority or power conferred upon the Department of Transportation, the Department of Transportation may:

    a. Acquire by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise, on terms and conditions and in the manner the Department of Transportation deems proper, any land or property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, for the purpose of establishing or facilitating alternative fuel refueling and other facilities as needed to facilitate the use of alternative fuel vehicles;

    b. Acquire by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise, on terms and conditions and in the manner the Department of Transportation deems proper, alternative fuel vehicles and related equipment or facilities, for the purpose of promoting and facilitating the use of alternative fuel vehicles;

    c. Plan, design, construct, equip, operate, improve or maintain, either directly, by contract, or by grant with any public or private entity, alternative fuel vehicles, refueling stations, and related equipment or facilities for the purposes of facilitating their use;

     d. Lease as lessor, sell or other dispose of, on terms and conditions that the Department of Transportation may prescribe as appropriate, real and personal property, including tangible or intangible property and consumable goods, or any interest therein, to any public or private entity in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties under this section, and may, in order to provide or encourage adequate and efficient use of alternative fuel vehicles, refueling stations, and related equipment and facilities, lease or otherwise permit the use or occupancy of property without cost or at a nominal rental.

 

    8. (New section) Within 18 months of the date of enactment of this act, the Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, and any other appropriate State agencies, shall prepare and submit to the Legislature, including the chairpersons of the Senate Environment Committee and the Assembly Environment and Energy Committee, or their successors as designated respectively by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly, a progress report concerning implementation of this act, which report shall also include recommendations on the progress of instituting a fuel distribution system for alternative fuel vehicles in the State and any recommendations for legislative or administrative action that the department deems appropriate.


    9. (New section) a. The Department of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, and any other appropriate State agencies, shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) and within 180 days of the date of enactment of this act, rules and regulations amending the State Uniform Construction Code concerning the construction of alternative fuel refueling stations for alternative fuel vehicles.

    (1) In adopting the rules and regulations prescribed pursuant to this section with respect to the construction of VNG refueling facilities, the Department of Community Affairs shall consider any rules and regulations concerning natural gas and compressed natural gas usage adopted by the United States Department of Transportation, and shall make use of the recommendations and standard procedures of the following organizations:

    (a) The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), One Batterymarch Park, Quincy, Massachusetts;

    (b) The Compressed Gas Association (CGA), 1725 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia; and

    (c) The American Gas Association (AGA), 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia.

    (2) In adopting the rules and regulations prescribed pursuant to this section with respect to the construction of propane refueling facilities, the Department of Community Affairs shall make use of the recommendations and standard procedures of the New Jersey Propane Gas Association.

    b. As used in this section:

    "Alternative fuel" means methanol, ethanol, or other alcohols, natural gas, compressed natural gas, propane, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, coal-derived liquid fuels, electricity, or any other fuel substantially composed of nonpetroleum substances that is used in a clean-fuel vehicle that complies with the standards and requirements applicable to such vehicles under the federal "Clean Air Act," 42 U.S.C. §7401 et seq.

    "Alternative fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle that is a dedicated alternative fuel vehicle or a flexi-fuel vehicle.

    "Conversion" or "converted" means the alteration, change, reconstruction, transmutation, transconfiguration, or transmogrification of a motor vehicle propelled solely by means of a fuel that is not an alternative fuel into an alternative fuel vehicle.

    "Dedicated alternative fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle constructed or converted to operate solely on alternative fuel.

    "Flexi-fuel vehicle" means a motor vehicle that can operate on alternative fuel and on a fuel that is not an alternative fuel.

    "Motor vehicle" means all vehicles propelled otherwise than by muscular power, except those vehicles that run only upon rails or tracks and motorized bicycles.

    "VNG" means vehicular natural gas.

 

    10. Section 2 of P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-50) is amended to read as follows:

    2. Definitions: As used in this act--unless the context otherwise requires:

    (a) "Taxpayer" means any corporation subject to taxation under the provisions of this act. A person or business entity owning or operating a cogeneration facility as defined in subsection (j) of this section shall not be deemed a corporation subject to taxation under this act unless it shall be a public utility as specifically enumerated in sections 1 and 6 of P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-49 and C.54:30A-54).

    (b) "Real estate" means lands and buildings, but it does not include railways, tracks, ties, lines, wires, cables, poles, pipes, conduits, bridges, viaducts, dams and reservoirs (except that the lands upon which dams and reservoirs are situated are real estate), machinery, apparatus and equipment, notwithstanding any attachment thereof to lands or buildings.

    (c) "Gross receipts" means all receipts from the taxpayer's business over, in, through or from the whole of its lines or mains but does not include any sum or sums of money received by the taxpayer in payment for gas or electrical energy or water sold and furnished to another public utility which is also subject to the payment of a tax based upon its gross receipts, nor any sum or sums of money received by the taxpayer from a cogenerator in payment for cogenerated electrical energy resold by the taxpayer to the producing cogenerator where produced, nor any sum or sums of money received by the taxpayer from a cogenerator in payment for natural gas sold by the taxpayer to the cogenerator and separately metered for use in a cogeneration facility, nor in the case of a street railway or traction corporation, the receipts from the operation of autobuses or vehicles of the character described in R.S.48:15-41 through R.S.48:15-56, inclusive, nor in the case of a sewerage corporation, an amount equal to any sum or sums of money payable by such sewerage corporation to any board, commission, department, branch, agency or authority of the State or of any county or municipality, for the treatment, purification or disposal of sewage or other wastes, nor in the case of a water purveyor, the amount which represents the water tax imposed by section 11 of P.L.1983, c.443 (C.58:12A-21) and which is included in the tariff altered pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1983, c.443 (C.58:12A-17) , nor any sum or sums of money received by the taxpayer in payment for natural gas or electricity or any other alternative fuel sold by the taxpayer and separately metered for use as a fuel for motor vehicles. For the purposes of this subsection, "alternative fuel" and "motor vehicle" mean the same as those terms are respectively defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as this bill).

    (d) "Scheduled property" means only those classes or types of property of a taxpayer set forth in section 10 of this act and which are to be used in computing the apportionment value as herein defined.

    (e) "Unit value" means the value set forth in section 10 of this act to be uniformly applied to each of the several classes or types of scheduled property in computing the apportionment value.

    (f) "Apportionment value" or "apportionment valuation" means the result obtained by multiplying the quantities of each class or type of scheduled property of a taxpayer by the applicable unit value, and the addition of such results.

    (g) "Public street, highway, road or other public place" includes any street, highway, road or other public place which is open and used by the public, even though the same has not been formally accepted as a public street, highway, road, or other public place. However, for purposes of computing the tax in connection with lines or mains installed prior to February 19, 1991, "public street, highway, road or other public place" shall not mean or include non-restricted roadways, such as extended residential, commercial or recreational facility driveways, or dead end streets, [cul-de-sacs] culs-de-sac or alleys which are connected to public roadways and are for access to or the use of supermarkets, shopping malls, planned communities and the connecting roads within or around the above facilities whether these roadways shall be located on public or private property, unless such shall have been determined a "public street, highway, road or other public place" for the purposes of P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-49 et seq.) prior to February 19, 1991.

    (h) "Service connections" means the wires or pipes connecting the building or place where the service or commodity supplied by the taxpayer is used or delivered, or is made available for use or delivery, with a supply line or supply main in the street, highway, road, or other public place, or with such supply line or supply main on private property.

    (i) "State Tax Commissioner" or "director" means the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.

    (j) "Cogenerator" means a person or business entity which owns or operates a cogeneration facility in the State of New Jersey, which facility is a plant, installation or other structure whose primary purpose is the sequential production of electricity and steam or other forms of useful energy which are used for industrial, commercial, heating or cooling purposes; and which is designated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or its successor, as a "qualifying facility" pursuant to the provisions of the "Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978," Pub.L.95-617 (16 U.S.C.§2601 et al).


    (k) "Corresponding therms of gas" or "corresponding kilowatthours of electricity" means all therms of gas or kilowatthours of electricity from the taxpayer's business over, on, in, through or from the whole of its lines or mains, excluding therefrom, however, (1) any therms of gas or kilowatthours of electricity as may have been sold and furnished to another public utility which is also subject to either the payment of a tax based upon gross receipts or the payment of a unit-based tax applied to therms of gas or kilowatthours of electricity; (2) any kilowatthours of cogenerated electrical energy resold by the taxpayer to a producing cogenerator where produced; [and] (3) any therms of natural gas sold by the taxpayer to a cogenerator and separately metered for use in a cogeneration facility ; and (4) any therms of natural gas or kilowatthours of electricity or any other alternative fuel sold by the taxpayer and separately metered for use as a fuel for motor vehicles. For the purposes of this subsection, "alternative fuel" and "motor vehicle" mean the same as those terms are respectively defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as this bill).

    (l) "Class" means any segment, grouping or other division of an electric company's or gas company's customers which is established for the purpose of charging rates for electric or gas service. For the purposes of this act, any such class shall be designated to be in the residential class category or non-residential class category.

    (m) With respect to electric companies, (1) "residential class category" means any class established by an electric company which generally includes customers taking electric service under rate schedules that are primarily residential in nature; and (2) "non-residential class category" means any class established by an electric company which generally includes customers taking electric service under rate schedules that are primarily non-residential in nature.

    (n) With respect to gas companies, (1) "residential class category" means any class established by a gas company which generally includes customers taking natural gas service under rate schedules that are primarily residential in nature; and (2) "non-residential class category" means any class established by a gas company which generally includes customers taking gas service under rate schedules that are primarily non-residential in nature.

(cf: P.L.1991, c.184, s.8)

 

    11. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill would exempt the sale of natural gas and electricity and any other alternative fuels from public utility taxes imposed pursuant to P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-49 et seq.) if the fuel is separately metered for use as a motor vehicle fuel. This provision would prevent any current or possible future double taxation of these alternative fuels. Currently, natural gas used to power vehicles is subject both to public utility taxes imposed pursuant to P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-49 et seq.) and to the motor fuels tax. The motor fuels tax for natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas used to power motor vehicles is one-half the rate of taxation assessed traditional motor vehicle fuels under the motor fuels tax.

    The bill would also direct the Department of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, and any other appropriate State agencies, and within 180 days of enactment of the legislation, to adopt rules and regulations, as part of the State Uniform Construction Code, concerning the construction of alternative fuel refueling stations for alternative fuel vehicles, and in doing so, to make use of the recommendations and standard procedures of the National Fire Protection Association, the Compressed Gas Association, the American Gas Association, and the New Jersey Propane Gas Association.

    The bill would provide that any State agency or authority or any local government unit engaged in motor vehicle fleet or central motor fuel operations shall, to the greatest extent possible, purchase, lease, and use alternative fuel vehicles. The bill would also provide that no local government unit may limit, restrict, or prohibit the use or transportation of any alternative fuel for alternative fuel vehicles except as authorized pursuant to law.

    The bill would direct the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection and any other appropriate State agencies, to adopt rules and regulations consistent with the purposes of the legislation concerning the transportation of alternative fuels in the State.

    The bill would also authorize the Department of Transportation to:

    (1) Acquire by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise on terms and conditions and in the manner the Department of Transportation deems proper, any land or property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, for the purpose of establishing or facilitating alternative fuel refueling and other facilities as needed to facilitate the use of alternative fuel vehicles;

    (2) Acquire by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise, on terms and conditions and in the manner the Department of Transportation deems proper, alternative fuel vehicles and related equipment or facilities, for the purpose of promoting and facilitating the use of alternative fuel vehicles;

    (3) Plan, design, construct, equip, operate, improve or maintain, either directly, by contract, or by grant with any public or private entity, alternative fuel vehicles, refueling stations, and related equipment or facilities for the purposes of facilitating their use;

    (4) Lease as lessor, sell or other dispose of, on terms and conditions that the Department of Transportation may prescribe as appropriate, real and personal property, including tangible or intangible property and consumable goods, or any interest therein, to any public or private entity in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties under this section, and may, in order to provide or encourage adequate and efficient use of alternative fuel vehicles, refueling stations, and related facilities and equipment, lease or otherwise permit the use or occupancy of property without cost or at a nominal rental.

    Finally, the bill would require the Department of Environmental Protection, within 18 months of the date of enactment of the legislation and in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, and any other appropriate State agencies, to prepare and submit a progress report concerning implementation of the legislation, which report would include recommendations on the progress of instituting a fuel distribution system for alternative fuel vehicles in the State and any recommendations for legislative or administrative action that the department deems appropriate.

 

 

 

The "Comprehensive Alternative Motor Fuels Promotion Act."