ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1936

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 13, 1996

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1936, with committee amendments.

      Assembly Bill No. 1936, as amended, requires the New Jersey Commission on Capital Budgeting and Planning to include in its State Capital Improvement Plan a report on the overall debt of local governments and school districts within the State. This report shall include information on the outstanding debt and debt service costs for the prior fiscal year, the current fiscal year, and the estimated amount for the subsequent five fiscal years.

      The bill also expands the commission's duties to require that the plan is to provide an assessment of the ability of the State, local governments and school districts to increase their overall debt and a recommendation on the amount of any such increase.

      Enactment of these changes would require the commission to consider all debt, including such non-capital debt as incurred by local authorities, because the total level of debt or debt service may have an impact on future capital financing.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      It was noted that the State Treasurer, pursuant to a companion bill, Assembly Bill No. 1894, is to obtain the needed data, prepare a report and submit it to the Commission. The Commission is to review the report, make an assessment and recommendations concerning future debt levels. Any additional staff to handle these duties would have to be requested and substantiated by the State Treasurer.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The amendments add the Office of Public Finance to the staff of the commission. Currently, the commission is statutorily staffed by by a capital planning office in the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury (through executive reorganization, this is in practice the Capital Planning Section of the Office of Management and Budget). The amendments add to the staff of the commission the component of the Department of the Treasury with expertise in matter of public finance. Under current departmental organization, this is the Office of Public Finance.