ASSEMBLY SENIOR ISSUES, TOURISM AND GAMING COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 2134

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: OCTOBER 17, 1996

 

      The Assembly Senior Issues, Tourism and Gaming Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 2134.

      This bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in cooperation with the Division of Travel and Tourism in the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, to establish a natural resources inventory, using the Geographic Information System, to encourage ecologically based tourism and recreation in New Jersey. This inventory would contain information on New Jersey's natural, historic, and recreational resources. The bill requires that, within one year of the date of enactment, DEP publish and make available to the public at all State offices a pamphlet containing information on the location, available facilities and activities, operating hours, admission fees, parking fees, and phone numbers of the inventoried areas.               The bill also requires DEP to make that same information available on the Internet within one year of the pamphlet's publication.

      The bill appropriates $20,000 from the General Fund to DEP to implement the bill's provisions.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill to specify that the Commissioner of the DEP should consult with the Pinelands Commission to the extent that the natural resources inventory affects the pinelands area.