ASSEMBLY, No. 1370
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION
By Assemblyman STUHLTRAGER
An Act establishing farmland preservation license plates and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The director may issue farmland preservation license plates for a motor vehicle owned or leased and registered in the State. In addition to the registration number and other markings or identification otherwise prescribed by law, the license plate shall display words or an emblem indicating support for, or interest in, the preservation of farmlands and open space. The director shall choose the license plate design after soliciting input from the general public on the design.
b. The director shall collect a $50 application fee for the farmland preservation license plate in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for registration of a motor vehicle. The director shall collect annually, subsequent to the year of issuance of the license plate, a $10 fee for the license plate in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle.
c. In the event that the average cost per license plate as certified by the director and approved by the Joint Budget Oversight Committee, or its successor, is greater than the $50 application fee established in subsection b. of this act in two consecutive fiscal years, the director may discontinue the issuance of the farmland preservation license plates.
2. a. There is created in the Department of Treasury a non-lapsing, interest bearing fund to be known as the "Garden State Preservation Fund." The fund shall be the depository of the fees collected pursuant to subsection b. of section 1. of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as this bill), after reimbursement to the division for costs reasonably and actually incurred in producing and issuing the special license plates, including the cost of any initial computer programming changes.
b. Moneys in the Garden State Preservation Fund shall be appropriated and distributed for farmland and open space preservation projects in a manner consistent with section 5 of P.L.1992, c.88, the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992." The director shall annually certify to the State Treasurer the average cost per license plate incurred in the immediately preceding year by the Division of Motor Vehicles in producing and issuing the farmland preservation license plates. Interest or other income earned on moneys deposited pursuant to this section shall be credited to the Garden State Preservation Fund.
3. The Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles shall notify eligible motorists of the opportunity to obtain farmland preservation license plates by including a notice with all motor vehicle registration renewals, and by posting appropriate posters or signs in all division facilities and offices, as may be provided by the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles. The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection shall supply the Division of Motor Vehicles with the notices, posters and signs to be circulated or posted by the division.
4. This act shall take effect on the 180th day after enactment, but the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, the State Treasurer and the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles may take such anticipatory acts in advance of that date as may be necessary for the timely implementation thereof.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a farmland preservation license plate. The bill also creates the "Garden State Preservation Fund" and dedicates the money raised from the sale of the special license plates to the fund. The special plates would contain markings indicating support for, or an interest in, farmland and open space preservation. The fee for the plates would be $50, with an additional $10 fee for each annual renewal, in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle. The costs incurred by the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety (DMV) for producing and issuing the special plates would be reimbursed from the fees collected. The remaining moneys deposited in the fund would be used for projects consistent with the purposes of the Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992, including preserving farmland for agricultural use and production, and
acquisition or development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes.
Establishes special license plate to aid farmland, open space preservation.