SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[First Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 601
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: NOVEMBER 17, 1997
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 601 (1R).
Assembly Bill No. 601 (1R) applies to liens arising from the federal "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980," 42 U.S.C.§9601 et seq., and to other federal liens, notice of which under any act of Congress or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto, are required or permitted to be filed in such filing or recording office as a state may designate. The bill does not apply to federal tax lines arising under the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. sec. 1 et seq.; the filing of those would continue to be subject to the provisions of R.S.46:16-13.
The bill requires a federal lien to be filed with the county recording officer of the county wherein the property subject to such lien is located. The fee for the filing of a notice and indexing of a federal lien on real estate or personal property, and for a certificate of discharge or subordination, will be $8. The fee for the filing of all other notices, including a certificate of release or nonattachment, will be $5. The bill amends the current $8 fee charged for recording a notice of a federal tax lien to include other federal liens.
FISCAL IMPACT
In a fiscal estimate prepared by the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) on the bill in a previous legislative session, the OLS stated that the enactment of this bill would have no discernable fiscal impact on the State, since all lien filings will occur at the county level. The OLS noted that the fiscal impact at the county level should also be minimal. The county recording offices are generally well equipped to perform the function of filing and indexing liens. Assuming an increase in the number of non-tax federal liens filed, any costs associated with the increased filing should be offset by the filing fees permitted to be charged under the bill.