SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 496

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: OCTOBER 7, 1996

 

      The Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee favorably reports Assembly Bill No. 496 (1R).

      Assembly Bill No. 496 (1R) provides that any municipality bordering on a municipality where a resource recovery facility is located shall be entitled to an annual economic benefit, provided that the municipal boundary of the contiguous municipality is within one-half mile of the incinerator building of the facility.

      The amount of the annual economic benefit accorded a contiguous municipality would be negotiated by its governing body and the person holding the franchise for the facility and the contracting unit, or both, as the case may be. The contiguous municipality's annual economic benefit would be separate and distinct from the "host municipality" benefit provided by existing law (i.e. subsection a. of the bill). The bill also exempts those contracting units which have already negotiated contracts for resource recovery facilities and services, and held public hearings thereon, from the contiguous municipality benefit provisions of the bill. If the parties fail to agree on an annual benefit, the bill permits the Department of Environmental Protection to mediate.