A2177

ASSEMBLY, No. 2177

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED JUNE 20, 1996

By Assemblyman KRAMER

An Act concerning solid waste management, and amending, supplementing and repealing parts of the statutory law.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. (New section) This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Solid Waste Management System Cost Recovery Act."

2. (New section) The Legislature finds and declares that in response to the need to protect and enhance the quality of the natural environment, to reduce, abate and prevent pollution or environmental degradation, and to establish quality standards necessitating the employment of devices, equipment and facilities for the collection, recycling or disposal of solid waste, the Legislature made a determination that these goals would be best achieved through the development of solid waste management systems.

The Legislature further finds and declares that in furtherance of these environmental needs, goals and policies, and to provide for an overall regulatory framework for the implementation thereof on a Statewide basis, the Legislature enacted the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), which designated every county and the Hackensack Meadowlands District as a solid waste management district for planning and implementation purposes and required each county, or a public authority designated by the governing body of the county, to develop, adopt and implement a district solid waste management plan for the collection, recycling or disposal of solid waste generated within its geographic boundaries.

The Legislature further finds and declares that in furtherance of this State mandate, each county or designated public authority has entered into contracts, acquired real and personal property, incurred administrative and other operating expenses, and issued debt obligations, all in the service of district solid waste management plan implementation.

The Legislature further finds and declares that the ability of each county or designated public authority to fulfill its lawful responsibilities with respect to district solid waste management plan implementation, including the ability to raise revenues sufficient to provide funds for payment of the costs of developing solid waste management systems, has been predicated on its legal authority to control the flow of solid waste generated within the geographic boundaries of the county to State-designated solid waste facilities, thereby ensuring the economic viability of these facilities; and that waste flow control by counties and public authorities has been supported by statute, rules and regulations adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection, and franchises awarded by the Board of Public Utilities.

The Legislature further finds and declares that counties and public authorities must be able, under all circumstances, to collect revenues sufficient to pay for the costs incurred in developing solid waste management systems, through the acquisition, construction and operation of solid waste facilities or through execution of contracts and implementation of solid waste collection, disposal or recycling programs, regardless of whether these solid waste facilities were actually acquired, constructed or operated in the manner intended when such costs were incurred, facilities constructed, contracts executed or property acquired.

The Legislature therefore determines that in furtherance of this public policy it is necessary to authorize and empower every county and public authority that has previously developed and implemented a solid waste management system, through the acquisition, construction or operation of solid waste facilities or through execution of contracts and implementation of solid waste collection, disposal or recycling programs, to (1) establish and implement a system for the collection of fees or charges to provide funds for payment of the costs incurred with respect to a solid waste management system that may not have been acquired, constructed or operated in the manner intended; (2) establish and implement a system for the collection of fees or charges from all public and private users of the solid waste management system as the system may be restructured or reconfigured; and (3) exercise sole jurisdiction to undertake enforcement programs or activities to assure compliance with the solid waste management system so as to collect revenues sufficient to pay for the costs previously incurred in developing or implementing its State-mandated solid waste management system, including debt service on bonds or other indebtedness, or payment for contract services under previously executed contracts.

3. (New section) As used in this act:

"Bonds" means bonds, notes or other obligations issued by a public authority for, or with respect to, a solid waste management system.

"Construct" and "construction" means acts of clearance, demolition, construction, development or redevelopment, reconstruction, replacement, extension, improvement and betterment.

"Cost" means, in addition to the usual connotations thereof, the cost of planning, acquisition or construction of all or any part of any solid waste management system by, or on behalf of, a public authority or a county and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements and franchises deemed by the public authority or county to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds, architectural, engineering and inspection costs and legal expenses, cost of financial, professional and other estimates and advice, organization, administrative, operating and other expenses of the public authority or county prior to and during such acquisition or construction, and all such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction and completion of such solid waste facility or facilities or part thereof and the placing of the same fully in operation or the disposition of the same, and also such provision or reserves for working capital, operating, maintenance or replacement expenses or for payment or security of principal of or interest on bonds during or after such acquisition or construction as the public authority or county may determine, and also reimbursements to the public authority, county or any governmental unit or person of any moneys theretofore expended by the public authority or county for, or with respect to, the solid waste management system.

"Public authority" means a municipal or county utilities authority created pursuant to the "municipal and county utilities authorities law," P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.); a county improvement authority created pursuant to the "county improvement authorities law," P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.); a pollution control financing authority created pursuant to the "New Jersey Pollution Control Financing Law," P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.); or any other public body corporate and politic created for solid waste management purposes in any county, pursuant to the provisions of any law.

"Real property" means lands within or without the State, above or below water, and improvements thereof or thereon, or any riparian or other rights or interests therein.

"Solid waste" means garbage, refuse and other discarded materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations, and from domestic and community activities, and shall include all other waste materials including liquids, except for solid animal and vegetable wastes collected by swine producers licensed by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such wastes to swine on their own farms.

"Solid waste management system" means the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by a public authority or county for the benefit or use by any governmental unit or person, including transfer stations, incinerators, resource recovery facilities, sanitary landfill facilities or other plants for the disposal of solid waste and all other real and personal property and rights therein and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, recycling or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner. "Solid waste management system" also means any contracts executed or to be executed by a public authority or county in order to provide for the collection, recycling, or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner.

"Stranded investments" means any: (1) facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed by a public authority or county for, or with respect to, the implementation of a solid waste management system; (2) contracts executed by a public authority or county for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste; or (3) programs undertaken and implemented by a public authority or county for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste, if the facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed, contracts executed or programs undertaken and implemented were: (i) commenced prior to May 1994; (ii) the obligations of the public authority or county relating thereto, including, without limitation, the obligation to make payments with respect thereto, continue beyond the date that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs are no longer utilized by, or on behalf of, the public authority or county in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented; and (iii) a determination has been made by the public authority or county, by an ordinance or resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the public authority or county in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

"Stranded investment costs" means any cost incurred by a public authority or county for, or with respect to, stranded investments, regardless of whether the costs have actually been paid by the public authority or county prior to the date the public authority or county makes the determination, by an ordinance or resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the public authority or county in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

4. (New section) a. The provisions of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the purposes of every public authority shall include the acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of a solid waste management system for the purpose of collecting, disposing or recycling of solid waste, whether owned or operated by any person, the public authority, county or any other governmental unit, within or without the county, including the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs and establishment and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators for the purposes described in section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending in the Legislature as this bill).

b. The provisions of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the purposes of every county shall include the acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of a solid waste management system for the purpose of collecting, disposing or recycling of solid waste, whether owned or operated by any person, the county, public authority or any other governmental unit, within or without the county, including the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs and establishment and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators for the purposes described in section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending in the Legislature as this bill).

5. (New section) a. The provisions of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, every public authority shall have the following additional powers for the effectuation of its purposes:

(1) To establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs; and

(2) To establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of the system established pursuant to subsection (1) hereinabove for payment of stranded investment costs, or the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by a public authority or county for such purpose.

b. The provisions of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, every county shall have the following additional powers for the effectuation of its purposes:

(1) To establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs; and

6. (New section) a. Every public authority and county is hereby authorized to charge and collect rates, fees or other charges (hereinafter referred to as "solid waste charges") in connection with, or for the use or services of, or otherwise relating to, a solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by the public authority or county, including, but not limited to, any materials recovery facility, recycling center, resource recovery facility, transfer station or sanitary landfill facility. A public authority or county may charge and collect solid waste charges from any governmental unit included within the jurisdiction of the public authority or county, or any governmental unit which contracts for service with the public authority or county, or from any person utilizing the solid waste management system, or from any owner or occupant of any real property situated in a constituent municipality or in a municipality or county which contracts for service with the public authority or county. The solid waste charges may be charged to and collected from any governmental unit or person and the governmental unit or person shall be liable for and shall pay the solid waste charges to the public authority or county at the time when and place where the solid waste charges are due and payable.

b. In the event that the solid waste charges of a public authority or county with regard to any parcel of real property owned by any person, other than the State or an agency or subdivision thereof, shall not be paid as and when due, the unpaid balance thereof, and all interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien on the parcel. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee or other person except the lien of municipal taxes and shall be on a parity with and deemed equal to the lien on the parcel of the municipality wherein the parcel is situated for taxes thereon due in the same year and not paid as and when due. Whenever the solid waste charges, and any interest accrued thereon, shall have been fully paid to the public authority or county, the lien shall be promptly withdrawn or canceled by the public authority or county.

The collector or other officer of every municipality charged by law with the duty of enforcing municipal liens on real property shall enforce, in the same manner as with any other municipal lien on real property in the municipality, all solid waste charges and the lien thereof shown in any statement filed with the collector or officer by a public authority or county pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, and shall pay over to the public authority or county the sums or a pro rata share of the sums realized upon the enforcement or liquidation of any property acquired by the municipality by virtue of the enforcement action.

In the event that the solid waste charges of a public authority or county shall not be paid as and when due, notwithstanding any other remedies available to the public authority or county, the unpaid balance thereof, and any interest accrued thereon, together with attorney's fees and costs, may be recovered by the public authority or county in a civil action, and any lien on real property for the solid waste charges, and any interest accrued thereon, may be foreclosed or otherwise enforced by the public authority or county by action or suit in equity as for the foreclosure of a mortgage on the real property.

All rights and remedies provided in this subsection for the collection and enforcement of solid waste charges shall be cumulative and concurrent.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary and in addition to the powers provided in subsection b. of this section, every public authority and county is hereby authorized to establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs.

These rates, fees or other charges shall constitute "solid waste charges" as defined in subsection a. of this section and may be collected by a public authority or county in any manner reasonably established by the public authority or county, including without limitation, the collection of solid waste charges from:

(1) every solid waste generator included within the jurisdiction of the public authority or county, regardless of whether the solid waste is to be delivered to the solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by the public authority or county for disposal or recycling, through the implementation of a unit charge based upon the amount of solid waste generated;

(2) every constituent municipality which has previously utilized the solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by the public authority or county and has thereby received the benefit of the stranded investments, through the implementation of an assessment against the municipality based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the municipality from all sources of generation; or

(3) the county wherein the solid waste management system is located or from any other governmental unit which has contracted with the public authority or county for the utilization of the solid waste management system, through the implementation of an assessment against the county based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the county from all sources of generation.

Upon the establishment of a system to calculate, charge and collect solid waste charges for payment of stranded investment costs, but prior to the implementation thereof, the public authority or county shall hold a public hearing thereon at least 20 days after notice of the proposed implementation has been mailed to the clerk of each municipality located within the boundaries of the county wherein the solid waste management system is located, and after publication of the notice of the proposed implementation and the time and place of the public hearing in at least 2 newspapers of general circulation within the county.

7. (New section) a. Every solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by a public authority or county shall be subject to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), and to any rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto by the Department of Environmental Protection, in connection with the environmental aspects of all solid waste collection, disposal or recycling activities or operations of the solid waste management system.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented by P.L.1975, c.326, or P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) to the contrary, any public authority or county is authorized to establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) any system established pursuant to section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending in the Legislature as this bill) for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by a public authority or county for that purpose.

c. In furtherance of the provisions of this section, any public authority or county is authorized to exercise the enforcement powers conferred on local boards of health or county health departments pursuant to the provisions of the "County Environmental Health Act," P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) and section 9 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-9), and may exercise these powers directly in the manner provided by the aforementioned acts to local boards of health or county health departments.

8. Section 3 of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-3) is amended to read as follows:

3. As used in this act[, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context]:

(1) "Municipality" shall mean any city of any class, any borough, village, town, township, or any other municipality other than a county or a school district, and except when used in section 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 42 or 45 of [this act] P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-4 through 40:14B-6, 40:14B-11 through 40:14B-13, 40:14B-42 or 40:14B-45), any agency thereof or any two or more thereof acting jointly or any joint meeting or other agency of any two or more thereof;

(2) "County" shall mean any county of any class;

(3) "Governing body" shall mean, in the case of a county, the board of chosen freeholders, or in the case of those counties organized pursuant to the provisions of the "Optional County Charter Law" (P.L.1972, c.154; C.40:41A-1 et seq.), the board of chosen freeholders and the county executive, the county supervisor or the county manager, as appropriate, and, in the case of a municipality, the commission, council, board or body, by whatever name it may be known, having charge of the finances of the municipality;

(4) "Person" shall mean any person, association, corporation, nation, state or any agency or subdivision thereof, other than a county or municipality of the State or a municipal authority;

(5) "Municipal authority" shall mean a public body created or organized pursuant to section 4, 5 or 6 of [this act]P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-4, 40:14B-5 or 40:14B-6) and shall include a municipal utilities authority created by one or more municipalities and a county utilities authority created by a county;

(6) Subject to the exceptions provided in section 10, 11 or 12 of [this act] P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-10, 40:14B-11 or 40:14B-12), "district" shall mean the area within the territorial boundaries of the county, or of the municipality or municipalities, which created or joined in or caused the creation or organization of a municipal authority;

(7) "Local unit" shall mean the county, or any municipality, which created or joined in or caused the creation or organization of a municipal authority;

(8) "Water system" shall mean the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by a municipal authority or by any person to whom a municipal authority has extended credit for this purpose for the purposes of the municipal authority, including reservoirs, basins, dams, canals, aqueducts, standpipes, conduits, pipelines, mains, pumping stations, water distribution systems, compensating reservoirs, waterworks or sources of water supply, wells, purification or filtration plants or other plants and works, connections, rights of flowage or division, and other plants, structures, boats, conveyances, and other real and personal property, and rights therein, and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the accumulation, supply or distribution of water;

(9) "Sewerage system" shall mean the plants, structures, on-site wastewater systems and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed, maintained or operated by a municipal authority or by any person to whom a municipal authority has extended credit for this purpose for the purposes of the municipal authority, including sewers, conduits, pipelines, mains, pumping and ventilating stations, sewage treatment or disposal systems, plants and works, connections, outfalls, compensating reservoirs, and other plants, structures, boats, conveyances, and other real and personal property, and rights therein, and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for [the collection, treatment, purification or disposal in a sanitary manner of any sewage, liquid or solid wastes, night soil or industrial wastes] their use or operation;

(10) "Utility system" shall mean a water system, solid waste management system, sewerage system, or a hydroelectric system or any combination of such systems, acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by a municipal authority or by any person to whom a municipal authority has extended credit for this purpose;

(11) "Cost" shall mean, in addition to the usual connotations thereof, the cost of planning, acquisition or construction of all or any part of a utility system by or on behalf of a municipal authority and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements and franchises deemed by the municipal authority to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds, architectural, engineering and inspection costs and legal expenses, cost of financial, professional and other estimates and advice, organization, administrative, operating and other expenses of the municipal authority prior to and during such acquisition or construction, and all such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction and completion of [said] the utility system or part thereof and the placing of the same in operation or the disposition of the same, and also such provision or reserves for working capital, operating, maintenance or replacement expenses or for payment or security of principal of or interest on bonds during or after such acquisition or construction as the municipal authority may determine, and also reimbursements to the municipal authority or any county, municipality or other person of any moneys theretofore expended for the purposes of the municipal authority or to any county or municipality of any moneys theretofore expended for or in connection with a utility system, including water supply, solid waste facilities, water distribution, sanitation or hydroelectric facilities;

(12) "Real property" shall mean lands both within or without the State, and improvements thereof or thereon, or any rights or interests therein;

(13) "Construct" and "construction" shall connote and include acts of construction, reconstruction, replacement, extension, improvement and betterment of a utility system;

(14) "Industrial wastes" shall mean liquid or other wastes resulting from any processes of industry, manufacture, trade or business or from the development of any natural resource, and shall include any chemical wastes or hazardous wastes;

(15) "Sewage" shall mean the water-carried wastes created in and carried, or to be carried, away from, or to be processed by on-site wastewater systems, residences, hotels, apartments, schools, hospitals, industrial establishments, or any other public or private building, together with such surface or ground water and industrial wastes and leachate as may be present;

(16) "On-site wastewater system" means any of several facilities, septic tanks or other devices, used to collect, treat, reclaim, or dispose of wastewater or sewage on or adjacent to the property on which the wastewater or sewage is produced, or to convey such wastewater or sewage from said property to such facilities as the authority may establish for its disposal;

(17) "Pollution" means the condition of water resulting from the introduction therein of substances of a kind and in quantities rendering it detrimental or immediately or potentially dangerous to the public health, or unfit for public or commercial use;

(18) "Bonds" shall mean bonds or other obligations issued pursuant to [this act] the provisions of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.);

(19) "Service charges" shall mean water service charges, solid waste [service] charges, sewer service charges, hydroelectric service charges or any combination of such charges, as said terms are defined in section 21 or 22 of [this act] P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-21 or 40:14B-22) or in section 7 of [this amendatory and supplementary act] P.L.1980, c.34 (C.40:14B-21.1);

(20) "Compensating reservoir" shall mean the structures, facilities and appurtenances for the impounding, transportation and release of water for the replenishment in periods of drought or at other necessary times of all or a part of waters in or bordering the State diverted into a utility system operated by a municipal authority;

(21) "Sewage authority" shall mean a public body created pursuant to the Sewerage Authorities Law (P.L.1946, c.138) or the acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto;

(22) "County sewer authority" shall mean a sanitary sewer district authority created pursuant to the act entitled "An act relating to the establishment of sewerage districts in first- and second-class counties, the creation of Sanitary Sewer District Authorities by the establishing of such districts, prescribing the powers and duties of any such authority and of other public bodies in connection with the construction of sewers and sewage disposal facilities in any such district, and providing the ways and means for paying the costs of construction and operation thereof," approved April 23, 1946 (P.L.1946, c.123), or the acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto;

(23) "Chemical waste" shall mean a material normally generated by or used in chemical, petrochemical, plastic, pharmaceutical, biochemical or microbiological manufacturing processes or petroleum refining processes, which has been selected for waste disposal and which is known to hydrolize, ionize or decompose, which is soluble, burns or oxidizes, or which may react with any of the waste materials which are introduced into the landfill, or which is buoyant on water, or which has a viscosity less than that of water or which produces a foul odor. Chemical waste may be either hazardous or nonhazardous;

(24) "Effluent" shall mean liquids which are treated in and discharged by sewage treatment plants;

(25) "Hazardous wastes" shall mean any waste or combination of waste which poses a present or potential threat to human health, living organisms or the environment. "Hazardous waste" shall include, but not be limited to, waste material that is toxic, corrosive, irritating, sensitizing, radioactive, biologically infectious, explosive or flammable;

(26) "Leachate" shall mean a liquid that has been in contact with solid waste and contains dissolved or suspended materials from that solid waste;

(27) ["Recycling"] "Resource recovery" shall mean the [separation,] collection, [processing or] separation, recycling and recovery of metals, glass, paper[, solid waste] and other materials for reuse; or the incineration of solid waste for energy production and [shall include resource recovery] the recovery of metals and other materials for reuse;

(28) "Sludge" shall mean any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, industrial or other sewage treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, or any other such waste having similar characteristics and effects; "sludge" shall not include effluent;

(29) "Solid waste" shall mean garbage, refuse, and other discarded materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations, and from domestic and community activities, and shall include all other waste materials including [sludge, chemical waste, hazardous wastes and] liquids, except for [liquids which are treated in public sewage treatment plants and except for] solid animal and vegetable wastes collected by swine producers licensed by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such wastes to swine on their own farms;

(30) "Solid waste management system" shall mean and include the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by [an] a municipal authority or by any person to whom a municipal authority has extended credit for this purpose pursuant to the provisions of [this act] P.L.1984, c.178, including transfer stations, incinerators, [recycling] resource recovery facilities, [including facilities for the generation, transmission and distribution of energy derived from the processing of solid waste,] sanitary landfill facilities or other property or plants for the collection, recycling or disposal of solid waste and all vehicles, equipment and other real and personal property and rights thereon and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, recycling, or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner; "solid waste management system" shall also include any contracts executed or to be executed by a municipal authority in order to provide for the collection, recycling, or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner;

(31) "Hydroelectric system" shall mean the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by an authority pursuant to the provisions of [this act] P.L.1980, c.34, including all that which is necessary or useful and convenient for the generation, transmission and sale of hydroelectric power at wholesale;

(32) "Hydroelectric power" shall mean the production of electric current by the energy of moving water;

(33) "Sale of hydroelectric power at wholesale" shall mean any sale of hydroelectric power to any person for purposes of resale of such power;

(34) "Recycling" shall mean any process by which materials which would otherwise become solid waste are collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products;

(35) "Stranded investments" means any: (1) facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed by a municipal authority for, or with respect to, the implementation of a solid waste management system; (2) contracts executed by a municipal authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste; or (3) programs undertaken and implemented by a municipal authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste, if the facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed, contracts executed or programs undertaken and implemented were: (i) commenced prior to May 1994; (ii) the obligations of the municipal authority relating thereto, including, without limitation, the obligation to make payments with respect thereto, continue beyond the date that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs are no longer utilized by, or on behalf of, the municipal authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented; and (iii) a determination has been made by the municipal authority, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the municipal authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented;

(36) "Stranded investment costs" means any cost incurred by a municipal authority for, or with respect to, stranded investments, regardless of whether the costs have actually been paid by the municipal authority prior to the date the municipal authority makes the determination, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the municipal authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

(cf: P.L.1984, c.178, s.1)

9. Section 19 of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-19) is amended to read as follows:

19. [(a)] a. The purposes of every municipal authority shall be (1) the provision and distribution of an adequate supply of water for the public and private uses of the local units, and their inhabitants, within the district, [and] (2) the relief of waters in or bordering the State from pollution arising from causes within the district and the relief of waters in, bordering or entering the district from pollution or threatened pollution, and the consequent improvement of conditions affecting the public health, (3) the provision of sewage collection and disposal service within or without the district,[and] (4) the provision of water supply and distribution service in such areas without the district as are permitted by the provisions of this act, [and] (5) the provision of solid waste services [and] or solid waste facilities within or without the district in a manner consistent with the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.) and in conformance with the district solid waste management plans adopted by the solid waste management districts created therein, [and] including the development and implementation of solid waste management systems, through the acquisition, construction and operation of solid waste facilities or through execution of contracts and implementation of solid waste collection, disposal or recycling programs, (6) the generation, transmission and sale of hydroelectric power at wholesale, and (7) the operation and maintenance of utility systems owned by other governments located within the district through contracts with [said] those governments.

b. Every solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by a municipal authority shall be subject to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), and to any rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto by the Department of Environmental Protection, in connection with the environmental aspects of all solid waste collection, disposal or recycling activities or operations of the solid waste management system.

Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented by P.L.1975, c.326, or P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) to the contrary, any municipal authority is authorized to establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) any system established pursuant to subsection e. of this section for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by a municipal authority for that purpose.

In furtherance of the provisions of this subsection, any municipal authority is authorized to exercise the enforcement powers conferred on local boards of health or county health departments pursuant to the provisions of the "County Environmental Health Act," P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) and section 9 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-9), and may exercise these powers directly in the manner provided by the aforementioned acts to local boards of health or county health departments.

[(b)] c. Every municipal authority is hereby authorized, subject to the limitations of [this act] P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.), to acquire, in its own name but for the local unit or units, by purchase, gift, condemnation or otherwise, lease as lessee, and, notwithstanding the provisions of any charter, ordinance or resolution of any county or municipality to the contrary, to construct, maintain, operate and use such reservoirs, basins, dams, canals, aqueducts, standpipes, conduits, pipelines, mains, pumping and ventilating stations, treatment, purification and filtration plants or works, trunk, intercepting and outlet sewers, water distribution systems, waterworks, sources of water supply and wells at such places within or without the district, such compensating reservoirs within a county in which any part of the district lies, and such other plants, structures, boats and conveyances, as in the judgment of the municipal authority will provide an effective and satisfactory method for promoting purposes of the municipal authority.

[(c)] d. Every municipal authority is hereby authorized and directed, when in its judgment its sewerage system or any part thereof will permit, to collect from any and all public systems within the district all sewage and treat and dispose of the same in such manner as to promote purposes of the municipal authority.

e. Every municipal authority is hereby authorized to: (1) establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs; and

(2) establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of the system established pursuant to (1) hereinabove for payment of stranded investment costs, or the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by a municipal authority for such purpose.

(cf: P.L.1980, c.34, s.6)

10. Section 20 of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-20) is amended to read as follows:

20. Every municipal authority shall be a public body politic and corporate constituting a political subdivision of the State established as an instrumentality exercising public and essential governmental functions to provide for the public health and welfare and shall have perpetual succession and have the following powers:

(1) To adopt and have a common seal and to alter the same at pleasure;

(2) To sue and be sued;

(3) In the name of the municipal authority and on its behalf, to acquire, hold, use and dispose of its service charges and other revenues and other moneys;

(4) In the name of the municipal authority but for the local unit or units, to acquire, rent, hold, lease as lessor, use and dispose of other personal property for the purposes of the municipal authority;

(5) In the name of the municipal authority but for the local unit or units and subject to the limitations of this act, to acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation or otherwise, or lease as lessee, real property and easements therein, necessary or useful and convenient for the purposes of the municipal authority, and subject to mortgages, deeds of trust or other liens, or otherwise, and to hold, lease as lessor, and to use the same, and to dispose of property so acquired no longer necessary for the purposes of the municipal authority;

(6) To produce, develop, purchase, accumulate, distribute and sell water and water services, facilities and products within or without the district, provided that no water shall be sold at retail in any municipality without the district unless the governing body of [such] the municipality shall have adopted a resolution requesting the municipal authority to sell water at retail in [such] the municipality, and the [board of public utility commissioners] Board of Public Utilities shall have approved [such] the resolution as necessary and proper for the public convenience;

(7) To provide for and secure the payment of any bonds and the rights of the holders thereof, and to purchase, hold and dispose of any bonds;

(8) To accept gifts or grants of real or personal property, money, material, labor or supplies for the purposes of the municipal authority, and to make and perform such agreements and contracts as may be necessary or convenient in connection with the procuring, acceptance or disposition of such gifts or grants;

(9) To enter on any lands, waters or premises for the purpose of making surveys, borings, soundings and examinations for the purposes of the municipal authority, and whenever the operation of a septic tank or other component of an on-site wastewater system shall result in the creation of pollution or contamination source on private property such that under the provisions of R.S.26:3-49, a local board of health would have the authority to notify the owner and require said owner to abate the same, representatives of an authority shall have the power to enter, at all reasonable times, any premises on which [such] the pollution or contamination source shall exist, for the purpose of inspecting, rehabilitating, securing samples of any discharges, improving, repairing, replacing, or upgrading [such] the septic tank or other component of an on-site wastewater system;

(10) To establish an inspection program to be performed at least once every three years on all on-site wastewater systems installed within the district which inspection program shall contain the following minimum notice provisions: (i) not less than 30 days prior to the date of the inspection of any on-site wastewater system as described herein, the authority shall notify the owner and resident of the property that the inspection will occur; and (ii) not less than 60 days prior to the date of the performance of any work other than an inspection, the municipal authority shall provide notice to the owner and resident of the property in which the work will be performed. The notice to be provided to such owner and resident under this subsection shall include a description of the deficiency which necessitates the work and the proposed remedial action, and the proposed date for beginning and duration of the contemplated remedial action;

(11) To prepare and file in the office of the municipal authority records of all inspections, rehabilitation, maintenance, and work, performed with respect to on-site wastewater disposal systems;

(12) To make and enforce bylaws or rules and regulations for the management and regulation of its business and affairs and for the use, maintenance and operation of the utility system and any other of its properties, and to amend the same;

(13) To do and perform any acts and things authorized by [this act] the provisions of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.) under, through or by means of its own officers, agents and employees, or by contracts with any person;

(14) To enter into any and all contracts, execute any and all instruments, and do and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient or desirable for the purposes of the municipal authority or to carry out any power expressly given in [this act] the provisions of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.) subject to "Local Public Contracts Law," P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.); [and]

(15) To extend credit or make loans to any person for the planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, equipping, furnishing, and operating by that person of any part of a solid waste management system, sewage treatment system, wastewater treatment or collection system for the provision of services and facilities within or without the district, which in the case of a solid waste management system shall be in a manner consistent with the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c. 39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.) and in conformance with the district solid waste management plans adopted by the solid waste management districts created therein. The credits or loans may be secured by loan and security agreements, mortgages, leases and any other instruments, upon [such] the terms as the authority shall deem reasonable, including provision for the establishment and maintenance of reserve and insurance funds, and to require the inclusion in any mortgage, lease, contract, loan and security agreement or other instrument, provisions for the construction, use, operation and maintenance and financing of that part of the aforementioned systems as the municipal authority may deem necessary or desirable;

(16) To establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs; and

(17) To establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) the system established pursuant to (16) hereinabove for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any public facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by an authority for such purpose.

(cf: P.L.1984, c.178, s.2)

11. Section 15 of P.L.1977, c.384 (C.40:14B-22.1) is amended to read as follows:

15. a. Every municipal authority is hereby authorized to charge and collect rents, rates, fees or other charges (in this act sometimes referred to as "solid waste [service] charges") for the use or services of the solid waste management system. [Such] The solid waste [service] charges may be charged to and collected from any municipality or any person contracting for such use or services or from the owner or occupant, or both of them, of any real property from or on which originates or has originated any solid waste to be [treated] collected, disposed or recycled by the solid waste management system of the municipal authority, and the owner of any such real property shall be liable for and shall pay [such] the solid waste [service] charges to the municipal authority at the time when and place where [such] the solid waste [service] charges are due and payable.

In the event that the solid waste charges of a municipal authority with regard to any parcel of real property owned by any person, other than the State or an agency or subdivision thereof, shall not be paid as and when due, the unpaid balance thereof, and all interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien on the parcel. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee or other person except the lien of municipal taxes and shall be on a parity with and deemed equal to the lien on the parcel of the municipality wherein the parcel is situated for taxes thereon due in the same year and not paid as and when due. Whenever the solid waste charges, and any interest accrued thereon, shall have been fully paid to the municipal authority, the lien shall be promptly withdrawn or canceled by the municipal authority.

The collector or other officer of every municipality charged by law with the duty of enforcing municipal liens on real property shall enforce, in the same manner as with any other municipal lien on real property in the municipality, all solid waste charges and the lien thereof shown in any statement filed with the collector or officer by a municipal authority pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, and shall pay over to the municipal authority the sums or a pro rata share of the sums realized upon the enforcement or liquidation of any property acquired by the municipality by virtue of the enforcement action.

In the event that the solid waste charges of a municipal authority shall not be paid as and when due, notwithstanding any other remedies available to the municipal authority, the unpaid balance thereof, and any interest accrued thereon, together with attorney's fees and costs, may be recovered by the municipal authority in a civil action, and any lien on real property for the facility charges, and any interest accrued thereon, may be foreclosed or otherwise enforced by the municipal authority by action or suit in equity as for the foreclosure of a mortgage on the real property.

All rights and remedies provided in this subsection for the collection and enforcement of solid waste charges shall be cumulative and concurrent.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary and in addition to the powers provided in subsection a. of this section, every municipal authority is hereby authorized to establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs.

These rates, fees or other charges shall constitute "solid waste charges" as defined in subsection a. of this section and may be collected by a municipal authority in any manner reasonably established by the municipal authority, including without limitation, the collection of solid waste charges from:

(1) every solid waste generator included within the jurisdiction of the municipal authority, regardless of whether the solid waste is to be delivered to the solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by the municipal authority for disposal or recycling, through the implementation of a unit charge based upon the amount of solid waste generated;

(2) every constituent municipality which has previously utilized the municipal authority's solid waste management system and has thereby received the benefit of the stranded investments, through the implementation of an assessment against the municipality based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the municipality from all sources of generation; or

(3) the county wherein the solid waste management system is located or from any other governmental unit which has contracted with the municipal authority for the utilization of the solid waste management system, through the implementation of an assessment against the county based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the county from all sources of generation.

Upon the establishment of a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs, but prior to the implementation thereof, the municipal authority shall hold a public hearing thereon at least 20 days after notice of the proposed implementation has been mailed to the clerk of each municipality located within the boundaries of the county wherein the solid waste management system is located, and after publication of the notice of the proposed implementation and the time and place of the public hearing in at least 2 newspapers of general circulation within the county. [Such rents, rates, fees and]

c. The solid waste charges, being in the nature of use or service charges, shall as nearly as the municipal authority shall deem practicable and equitable be uniform throughout the county for the same type, class and amount of use or service of the solid waste management system, except as permitted by section 1 of P.L.1992, c.215 (C.40:14B-22.2), and may be based or computed on any factors determining the type, class and amount of use or service of the solid waste management system, and may give weight to the characteristics of the solid waste and any other special matter affecting the cost of [treatment and disposal of the same] solid waste collection, disposal or recycling.

(cf: P.L.1992, c.215, s.3)

12. Section 23 of P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-23) is amended to read as follows:

12. a. Every municipal authority shall prescribe and from time to time when necessary revise a schedule of all its service charges, which may provide a single rent, rate, fee or charge for any of its utility charges and which shall comply with the terms of any contract of the municipal authority and may be such that the revenues of the municipal authority will at all times be adequate to pay the expenses of operation and maintenance of the utility system, including reserves, insurance, extensions, and replacements, and to pay the principal of and interest on any bonds and to maintain such reserves or sinking funds therefor as may be required by the terms of any contract of the municipal authority or as may be deemed necessary or desirable by the municipal authority.

[Said] b. The schedule shall thus be prescribed and from time to time revised by the municipal authority after public hearing thereon which shall be held by the municipal authority at least 20 days after notice of the proposed adjustment is mailed to the clerk of each municipality serviced by the authority and publication of notice of the proposed adjustment of the service charges and of the time and place of the public hearing in at least two newspapers of general circulation in the area serviced by the authority. The municipal authority shall provide evidence at the hearing showing that the proposed adjustment of the service charges is necessary and reasonable, and shall provide the opportunity for cross-examination of persons offering such evidence, and a transcript of the hearing shall be made and a copy thereof shall be available upon request to any interested party at a reasonable fee. The municipal authority shall likewise fix and determine the time or times when and the place or places where such service charges shall be due and payable and may require that such service charges shall be paid in advance for periods of not more than one year. A copy of such schedule of service charges in effect shall at all times be kept on file at the principal office of the municipal authority and shall at all reasonable times be open to public inspection.

c. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this section shall not apply to the solid waste charges established and collected pursuant to subsection b. of section 15 of P.L.1977, c.384 (C.40:14B-22.1). The solid waste charges established and collected pursuant to subsection b. of section 15 of P.L.1977, c.384 (C.40:14B-22.1) shall, to the extent applicable, comply with the terms and conditions of any agreement, contract or instrument executed by the municipal authority with any county, municipality, other governmental unit or person responsible for the payment of stranded investment costs, as determined by the municipal authority pursuant to subsection b. of section 15 of P.L.1977, c.183 (C.40:14B-22.1).

(cf: P.L.1960, c.183, s.15)

13. Section 2 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-45) is amended to read as follows:

2. As used in this act[, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context]:

(a) "Authority" shall mean a public body created pursuant to [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(b) "Bond resolution" shall have the meaning ascribed thereto in section 17 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-60);

(c) "Bonds" shall mean bonds, notes or other obligations issued pursuant to [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(d) "Construct" and "construction" shall connote and include acts of clearance, demolition, construction, development or redevelopment, reconstruction, replacement, extension, improvement and betterment; (e) "Cost" shall mean, in addition to the usual connotations thereof, the cost of planning, acquisition or construction of all or any part of any public facility or facilities of an authority and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements and franchises deemed by the authority to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds, architectural, engineering and inspection costs and legal expenses, cost of financial, professional and other estimates and advice, organization, administrative, operating and other expenses of the authority prior to and during such acquisition or construction, and all such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction and completion of such public facility or facilities or part thereof and the placing of the same fully in operation or the disposition of the same, and also such provision or reserves for working capital, operating, maintenance or replacement expenses or for payment or security of principal of or interest on bonds during or after such acquisition or construction as the authority may determine, and also reimbursements to the authority or any governmental unit or person of any moneys theretofore expended for the purposes of the authority;

(f) The term "county" shall mean any county of any class of the State and shall include, without limitation, the terms "the county" and "beneficiary county" defined in this [act] section, and the term "the county" shall mean the county which created an authority pursuant to [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(g) "Development project" shall mean any lands, structures, or property or facilities acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed by an authority for the purposes of the authority described in subsection (e) of section 11 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-54);

(h) "Facility charges" shall have the meaning ascribed to said term in section 14 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-57);

(i) "Facility revenues" shall have the meaning ascribed to said term in subsection (e) of section 20 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-63);

(j) "Governing body" shall mean, in the case of a county, the board of chosen freeholders, or in the case of a county operating under article 3 or 5 of the "Optional County Charter Law" (P.L.1972, c.154; C.40:41A-1 et seq.) as defined thereunder, and, in the case of a municipality, the commission, council, board or body, by whatever name it may be known, having charge of the finances of the municipality;

(k) "Governmental unit" shall mean the United States of America or the State or any county or municipality or any subdivision, department, agency, or instrumentality heretofore or hereafter created, designated or established by or for the United States of America or the State or any county or municipality;

(l) "Local bond law" shall mean chapter 2 of Title 40A, Municipalities and Counties, of the New Jersey Statutes (N.J.S.) as amended and supplemented;

(m) "Municipality" shall mean any city, borough, village, town, or township of the State but not a county or a school district;

(n) "Person" shall mean any person, partnership, association, corporation or entity other than a nation, state, county or municipality or any subdivision, department, agency or instrumentality thereof;

(o) "Project" shall have the meaning ascribed to said term in section 17 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-60);

(p) "Public facility" shall mean any lands, structures, franchises, equipment, or other property or facilities acquired, constructed, owned, financed, or leased by the authority or any other governmental unit or person to accomplish any of the purposes of an authority authorized by section 11 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-54);

(q) "Real property" shall mean lands within or without the State, above or below water, and improvements thereof or thereon, or any riparian or other rights or interests therein;

(r) "[Garbage and solid waste disposal] Solid waste management system" shall mean the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by a county improvement authority for the benefit or use by any governmental unit or person, including transfer stations, incinerators, resource recovery facilities, sanitary landfill facilities or other plants for the [treatment and] disposal of [garbage,] solid waste [and refuse matter] and all other real and personal property and rights therein and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection [and treatment], recycling or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner [of garbage, solid waste and refuse matter (but not including sewage)];

(s) "[Garbage, solid] Solid waste [or refuse matter]" shall mean garbage, refuse and other discarded materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations, and from domestic and community activities, and shall include all other waste materials including [sludge, chemical waste, hazardous wastes and] liquids, [except for liquids which are treated in public sewage treatment plants and] except for solid animal and vegetable wastes collected by swine producers licensed by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such wastes to swine on their own farms;

(t) "Blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area" may include an area determined heretofore by the municipality to be blighted in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1949, c.187, repealed by P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40:55-21.1 et seq.) and, in addition, areas which are determined by the municipality, pursuant to the same procedures as provided in said law, to be blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating because of structures or improvements which are dilapidated or characterized by disrepair, lack of ventilation or light or sanitary facilities, faulty arrangement, location, or design, or other unhealthful or unsafe conditions;

(u) "Redevelopment" may include planning, replanning, conservation, rehabilitation, clearance, development and redevelopment; and the construction and rehabilitation and provision for construction and rehabilitation of residential, commercial, industrial, public or other structures and the grant or dedication or rededication of spaces as may be appropriate or necessary in the interest of the general welfare for streets, parks, playgrounds, or other public purposes including recreational and other facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto, in accordance with a redevelopment plan approved by the governing body of a municipality;

(v) "Redevelopment plan" shall mean a plan as it exists from time to time for the redevelopment of all or any part of a redevelopment area, which plan shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition and removal of structures, redevelopment, improvements, conservation or rehabilitation as may be proposed to be carried out in the area of the project, zoning and planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, building requirements, the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements and provision for relocation of any residents and occupants to be displaced in a manner which has been or is likely to be approved by the Department of Community Affairs pursuant to the "Relocation Assistance Law of 1967," P.L.1967, c.79 (C.52:31B-1 et seq.) and the "Relocation Assistance Act," P.L.1971, c.362 (C.20:4-1 et seq.) and rules and regulations pursuant thereto;

(w) "Redevelopment project" shall mean any undertakings and activities for the elimination, and for the prevention of the development or spread, of blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating areas and may involve any work or undertaking pursuant to a redevelopment plan; such undertaking may include: (1) acquisition of real property and demolition, removal or rehabilitation of buildings and improvements thereon; (2) carrying out plans for a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements; and (3) installation, construction or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds or other improvements necessary for carrying out the objectives of the redevelopment project;

(x) "Redeveloper" shall mean any person or governmental unit that shall enter into or propose to enter into a contract with an authority for the redevelopment of an area or any part thereof under the provisions of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(y) "Redevelopment area" shall mean an area of a municipality which the governing body thereof finds is a blighted area or an area in need of rehabilitation whose redevelopment is necessary to effectuate the public purposes declared in [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.). A redevelopment area may include lands, buildings, or improvements which of themselves are not detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare, but whose inclusion is found necessary, with or without change in their condition, for the effective redevelopment of the area of which they are a part;

(z) ["Sludge" shall mean any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, industrial or other sewage treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, or any other such waste having similar characteristics and effects, but shall not include effluent; and] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. )(pending in the Legislature as this bill)

(aa) "Beneficiary county" shall mean any county that has not created an authority pursuant to [this act]the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(bb) "Stranded investments" means any: (1) facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed by an authority for, or with respect to, the implementation of a solid waste management system; (2) contracts executed by an authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste; or (3) programs undertaken and implemented by an authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste, if the facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed, contracts executed or programs undertaken and implemented were: (i) commenced prior to May 1994; (ii) the obligations of the authority relating thereto, including, without limitation, the obligation to make payments with respect thereto, continue beyond the date that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs are no longer utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented; and (iii) a determination has been made by the authority, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented; and

(cc) "Stranded investment costs" means any cost incurred by an authority for, or with respect to, stranded investments, regardless of whether the costs have actually been paid by the authority prior to the date the authority makes the determination, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

(cf: P.L.1994, c.76, s.1)

14. Section 11 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-54) is amended to read as follows:

11. The purposes of every authority shall be (a) provision within the county or any beneficiary county of public facilities for use by the State, the county or any beneficiary county, or any municipality in any such county, or any two or more or any subdivisions, departments, agencies or instrumentalities of any of the foregoing for any of their respective governmental purposes, including the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs and establishment and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators for the purposes described in (1) and (2) of subsection (u) of section 12 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-55), (b) provision within the county or any beneficiary county of public facilities for use as convention halls, or the rehabilitation, improvement or enlargement of any convention hall, including appropriate and desirable appurtenances located within the convention hall or near, adjacent to or over it within boundaries determined at the discretion of the authority, including but not limited to office facilities, commercial facilities, community service facilities, parking facilities, hotel facilities and other facilities for the accommodation and entertainment of tourists and visitors, (c) provision within the county or any beneficiary county of structures, franchises, equipment and facilities for operation of public transportation or for terminal purposes, including development and improvement of port terminal structures, facilities and equipment for public use in counties in, along or through which a navigable river flows, (d) provision within the county or any beneficiary county of structures or other facilities used or operated by the authority or any governmental unit in connection with, or relative to development and improvement of, aviation for military or civilian purposes, including research in connection therewith, and including structures or other facilities for the accommodation of passengers, (e) provision within the county or any beneficiary county of a public facility for a combination of governmental and nongovernmental uses; provided that not more than 50% of the usable space in any such facility shall be made available for nongovernmental use under a lease or other agreement by or with the authority, (f) acquisition of any real property within the county or any beneficiary county, with or without the improvements thereof or thereon or personal property appurtenant or incidental thereto, from the United States of America or any department, agency or instrumentality heretofore or hereafter created, designated or established by or for it, and the clearance, development or redevelopment, improvement, use or disposition of the acquired lands and premises in accordance with the provisions and for the purposes stated in this act, including the construction, reconstruction, demolition, rehabilitation, conversion, repair or alteration of improvements on or to said lands and premises, and structures and facilities incidental to the foregoing as may be necessary, convenient or desirable, (g) acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of [garbage and solid waste disposal] solid waste management systems for the purpose of collecting [and], disposing or recycling of [garbage,]solid waste [or refuse matter], whether owned or operated by any person, the authority or any other governmental unit, within or without the county or any beneficiary county, including the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs and establishment and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators for the purposes described in (1) and (2) of subsection (u) of section 12 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-55), (h) the improvement, furtherance and promotion of the tourist industries and recreational attractiveness of the county or any beneficiary county through the planning, acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance and operation of facilities for the recreation and entertainment of the public, which facilities may include, without being limited to, a center for the performing and visual arts, (i) provision of loans and other financial assistance and technical assistance for the construction, reconstruction, demolition, rehabilitation, conversion, repair or alteration of buildings or facilities designed to provide decent, safe and sanitary dwelling units for persons of low and moderate income in need of housing, including the acquisition of land, equipment or other real or personal properties which the authority determines to be necessary, convenient or desirable appurtenances, all in accordance with the provisions of this act, as amended and supplemented, (j) planning, initiating and carrying out redevelopment projects for the elimination, and for the prevention of the development or spread of blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas and the disposition, for uses in accordance with the objectives of the redevelopment project, of any property or part thereof acquired in the area of such project, (k) any combination or combinations of the foregoing or following, and (l) subject to the prior approval of the Local Finance Board, the planning, design, acquisition, construction, improvement, renovation, installation, maintenance and operation of facilities or any other type of real or personal property within the county or any beneficiary county for a corporation or other person organized for any one or more of the purposes described in subsection a. of N.J.S.15A:2-1 except those facilities or any other type of real or personal property which can be financed pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1972, c.29 (C.26:2I-1 et seq.) as amended.

(cf: P.L.1994, c.110, s.1)

15. Section 12 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-55) is amended to read as follows:

12. Every authority shall be a public body politic and corporate constituting a political subdivision of the State established as an instrumentality exercising public and essential governmental functions to provide for the public convenience, benefit and welfare and shall have perpetual succession and, for the effectuation of its purposes, have the following additional powers:

(a) To adopt and have a common seal and to alter the same at pleasure;

(b) To sue and be sued;

(d) To acquire, rent, hold, use and dispose of other personal property for the purposes of the authority;

(e) Subject to the provisions of section 26 of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-69), to acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation or otherwise, or lease as lessee, real property and easements or interests therein necessary or useful and convenient for the purposes of the authority, whether subject to mortgages, deeds of trust or other liens or otherwise, and to hold and to use the same, and to dispose of property so acquired no longer necessary for the purposes of the authority; provided that the authority may dispose of such property at any time to any governmental unit or person if the authority shall receive a leasehold interest in the property for such term as the authority deems appropriate to fulfill its purposes;

(f) Subject to the provisions of section 13 of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-56), to lease to any governmental unit or person, all or any part of any public facility for such consideration and for such period or periods of time and upon such other terms and conditions as it may fix and agree upon;

(g) To enter into agreements to lease, as lessee, public facilities for such term and under such conditions as the authority may deem necessary and desirable to fulfill its purposes, and to agree, pursuant thereto, to be unconditionally obligated to make payments for the term of the lease, without set-off or counterclaim, whether or not the public facility is completed, operating or operable, and notwithstanding the destruction of, damage to, or suspension, interruption, interference, reduction or curtailment of the availability or output of the public facility to which the agreement applies;

(h) To extend credit or make loans to any governmental unit or person for the planning, design, acquisition, construction, equipping and furnishing of a public facility, upon the terms and conditions that the loans be secured by loan and security agreements, mortgages, leases and other instruments, the payments on which shall be sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on any bonds issued for the purpose by the authority, and upon such other terms and conditions as the authority shall deem reasonable;

(i) Subject to the provisions of section 13 of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-56), to make agreements of any kind with any governmental unit or person for the use or operation of all or any part of any public facility for such consideration and for such period or periods of time and upon such other terms and conditions as it may fix and agree upon;

(j) To borrow money and issue negotiable bonds or notes or other obligations and provide for and secure the payment of any bonds and the rights of the holders thereof, and to purchase, hold and dispose of any bonds;

(k) To apply for and to accept gifts or grants of real or personal property, money, material, labor or supplies for the purposes of the authority from any governmental unit or person, and to make and perform agreements and contracts and to do any and all things necessary or useful and convenient in connection with the procuring, acceptance or disposition of such gifts or grants;

(l) To determine the location, type and character of any public facility and all other matters in connection with all or any part of any public facility which it is authorized to own, construct, establish, effectuate or control;

(m) To make and enforce bylaws or rules and regulations for the management and regulation of its business and affairs and for the use, maintenance and operation of any public facility, and to amend the same;

(n) To do and perform any acts and things authorized by [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.) under, through or by means of its own officers, agents and employees, or by contract with any governmental unit or person;

(o) To acquire, purchase, construct, lease, operate, maintain and undertake any project and to fix and collect facility charges for the use thereof;

(p) To mortgage, pledge or assign or otherwise encumber all or any portion of its revenues and other income, real and personal property, projects and facilities for the purpose of securing its bonds, notes and other obligations or otherwise in furtherance of the purpose of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.);

(q) To extend credit or make loans to redevelopers for the planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, equipping and furnishing any redevelopment project or redevelopment work;

(r) To conduct examinations and investigations, hear testimony and take proof, under oath at public or private hearings of any material matter, require the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers and issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are out of the State, unable to attend, or excused from attendance;

(s) To authorize a committee designated by it consisting of one or more members, or counsel, or any officer or employee to conduct any such investigation or examination, in which case such committee, counsel, officer or employee shall have power to administer oaths, take affidavits and issue [subpenas] subpoenas or commissions; [and]

(t) To establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs;

(u) To establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) the system established pursuant to subsection (t) hereinabove for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any public facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by an authority for such purpose; and

(v) To enter into any and all agreements or contracts, execute any and all instruments, and do and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient or desirable for the purposes of the authority or to carry out any power expressly given in [this act] the provisions of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.) subject to P.L.1971, c.198, "Local Public Contracts Law" (C.40A:11-1 et seq.).

(cf: P.L.1982, c.113, s.8)

16. Section 13 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-56) is amended to read as follows:

13. (1) Whenever an authority after investigation and study shall plan to undertake any public facility or facilities (other than a development project or redevelopment project) for the purposes of the authority, the authority shall make to the governing body of the county and if the public facility or facilities (including a development project or redevelopment project) benefit any beneficiary county, to the governing body of any such beneficiary county a detailed report dealing with the proposed public facility or facilities. Notwithstanding any other provision of [this act] P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.), the authority shall not construct or acquire such public facility or facilities (other than a development project or redevelopment project within the county which created the authority), or make any lease or other agreement relating to use by any governmental unit or person of all or any part of any such public facility or facilities for a term in excess of five years, until there has been filed with the authority a copy of a resolution adopted by the governing body of the county and, if applicable, by any beneficiary county, certified by its clerk, describing such public facility or facilities in terms sufficient for reasonable identification and consenting to the construction or acquisition thereof by the authority or the making of such leases or other agreements.

(2) Unless otherwise required by any agreement of the authority with holders of its bonds, no authority shall sell any part of a development project or make any lease or other agreement relating to use by any governmental unit or person of said part for a term in excess of five years (A) Until the Commissioner of Community Affairs (hereinafter called the "commissioner") has approved a plan (hereinafter called, with respect to such part, the "development plan") prepared by the authority which provides an outline for the development of said part sufficient, in the opinion of the commissioner: (i) to indicate its relationship to appropriate land uses in the area and proper traffic, public transportation, public utility, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements, (ii) to indicate proposed land uses and building requirements and restrictions in said part, and (iii) to provide reasonable assurance that said part will not be in danger of becoming a blighted area and will be developed in a manner reasonably designed in the public interest to encourage industrial, commercial, residential or other proper uses thereof or restore or increase employment opportunities for residents of the State; or (B) Unless such sale, lease or other agreement, in the opinion of the authority, is necessary or desirable in order to effectuate and carry out the said development plan.

(3) Every authority shall have power, subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, to sell or otherwise dispose of all or any part of any development project or to lease the same to any governmental unit or person or make agreement of any kind with any governmental unit or person for the use or operation thereof, for such consideration and for such period or periods of time and upon such other terms and conditions as it may fix and agree upon. In the exercise of such power, the authority may make any land or structure in the development project available for use by private enterprise or governmental units in accordance with the development plan at its use value, being the value (whether expressed in terms of rental or capital price) at which the authority determines such land or structure should be made available in order that it may be developed or used for the purpose or purposes specified in such plan. In order to assure that land or other property included in the development project is developed or used in accordance with the development plan, the authority, upon the sale, lease or other disposition of such land or property, shall obligate purchasers, lessees or other users: (A) to use the land or property for the purpose designated in such plan, (B) to begin the building or installation of their improvements or other property (if any), and to complete the same, within such periods of time as the authority may fix as reasonable, and (C) to comply with such other conditions as are necessary or desirable to carry out the purposes stated in this act. Any such obligations imposed on a purchaser of land shall be covenants and conditions running with the land where the authority so stipulates.

(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this section shall not apply to the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs as authorized pursuant to (a) and (g) of section 11 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-54).

(cf: P.L.1994, c.76, s.5)

17. Section 14 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-57) is amended to read as follows:

14. a. Every authority is hereby authorized to charge and collect tolls, rents, rates, fares, fees or other charges (in this act sometimes referred to as "facility charges") in connection with, or for the use or services of, or otherwise relating to, any public facility or other property owned, leased or controlled by the authority. If the public facility is a solid waste management system [of solid waste disposal], including, but not limited to, a resource recovery facility, recycling [plant] center or transfer station owned, leased or controlled by the authority, the authority may charge and collect in connection with that solid waste management system from any governmental unit included within the jurisdiction of the authority or any governmental unit which contracts for service with that authority, or from any person utilizing the solid waste management system, or from any owner or occupant of any real property situated in a constituent municipality or in a municipality which contracts for service with that authority. [Such] The facility charges may be charged to and collected from any governmental unit or person and [such] the governmental unit or person shall be liable for and shall pay [such] the facility charges to the authority at the time when and place where [such] the facility charges are due and payable.

In the event that the facility charges of an authority with regard to any parcel of real property owned by any person, other than the State or an agency or subdivision thereof, shall not be paid as and when due, the unpaid balance thereof, and all interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien on the parcel. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee or other person except the lien of municipal taxes and shall be on a parity with and deemed equal to the lien on the parcel of the municipality wherein the parcel is situated for taxes thereon due in the same year and not paid as and when due. Whenever the facility charges, and any interest accrued thereon, shall have been fully paid to the authority, the lien shall be promptly withdrawn or canceled by the authority.

The collector or other officer of every municipality charged by law with the duty of enforcing municipal liens on real property shall enforce, in the same manner as with any other municipal lien on real property in the municipality, all facility charges and the lien thereof shown in any statement filed with the collector or officer by an authority pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, and shall pay over to the authority the sums or a pro rata share of the sums realized upon the enforcement or liquidation of any property acquired by the municipality by virtue of the enforcement action.

In the event that the facility charges of an authority shall not be paid as and when due, notwithstanding any other remedies available to the authority, the unpaid balance thereof, and any interest accrued thereon, together with attorney's fees and costs, may be recovered by the authority in a civil action, and any lien on real property for the facility charges, and any interest accrued thereon, may be foreclosed or otherwise enforced by the authority by action or suit in equity as for the foreclosure of a mortgage on the real property.

All rights and remedies provided in this subsection for the collection and enforcement of facility charges shall be cumulative and concurrent.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary and in addition to the powers provided in subsection a. of this section, every authority is hereby authorized to establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs.

These rates, fees or other charges shall constitute "facility charges" as defined in subsection a. of this section and may be collected by an authority in any manner reasonably established by the authority, including without limitation, the collection of facility charges from:

(1) every solid waste generator included within the jurisdiction of the authority, regardless of whether the solid waste is to be delivered to the solid waste management system owned, leased or controlled by the authority for disposal or recycling, through the implementation of a unit charge based upon the amount of solid waste generated;

(2) every constituent municipality which has previously utilized the authority's solid waste management system and has thereby received the benefit of the stranded investments, through the implementation of an assessment against the municipality based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the municipality from all sources of generation; or

(3) the county wherein the solid waste management system is located or from any other governmental unit which has contracted with the authority for the utilization of the solid waste management system, through the implementation of an assessment against the county based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the county from all sources of generation.

Upon the establishment of a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs, but prior to the implementation thereof, the authority shall hold a public hearing thereon at least 20 days after notice of the proposed implementation has been mailed to the clerk of each municipality located within the boundaries of the county wherein the solid waste management system is located, and after publication of the notice of the proposed implementation and the time and place of the public hearing in at least 2 newspapers of general circulation within the county.

(cf: P.L.1988, c.140, s.1)

18. Section 15 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-58) is amended to read as follows:

15. a. The facility charges fixed, charged and collected by an authority with respect to any public facility shall comply with the terms of any lease or other agreement of the authority with regard to [such] the public facility, and the facility charges fixed, charged and collected by an authority may be so adjusted that the revenues of the authority will at all times be adequate to pay all expenses of the authority, including the expenses of operation and maintenance of any public facility or other property owned or controlled by the authority, including insurance, improvements, replacements, reconstruction and any other required payments, and to pay the principal of and interest on any bonds, and to maintain such reserves or sinking funds for any of the foregoing purposes as may be required by the terms of any lease or other agreement of the authority or as may be deemed necessary or convenient and desirable by the authority.

b. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this section shall not apply to the facility charges established and collected pursuant to subsection b. of section 14 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-57). The facility charges established and collected pursuant to subsection b. of section 14 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-57) shall, to the extent applicable, comply with the terms and conditions of any agreement, contract or instrument executed by the authority with any county, municipality, other governmental unit or person responsible for the payment of stranded investment costs, as determined by the authority pursuant to subsection b. of section 14 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-57).

(cf: P.L.1960, c.183, s.15)

19. Section 3 of P.L.1973, c.330 (C.40:37A-100) is amended to read as follows:

3. a. Any solid waste [disposal] management system owned or operated by a county improvement authority shall be subject to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act [(1970)]" (P.L.1970, c.39, C.13:1E-1 et seq.), and to any rules and regulations adopted [thereunder] pursuant thereto by the State Department of Environmental Protection, in connection with the environmental aspects of the solid waste collection, disposal or recycling operations of the solid waste management system.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented by P.L.1975, c.326, or P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) to the contrary, any county improvement authority is authorized to establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) any system established pursuant to subsection (t) of section 12 of P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-55) for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any public facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by a county improvement authority for such purpose.

c. In furtherance of the provisions of this section, any county improvement authority is authorized to exercise the enforcement powers conferred on local boards of health or county health departments pursuant to the provisions of the "County Environmental Health Act," P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) and section 9 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-9), and may exercise these powers directly in the manner provided by the aforementioned acts to local boards of health or county health departments.

(cf: P.L.1973, c.330, s.3)

20. Section 6 of P.L.1973 c.330 (C.40:37A-103) is amended to read as follows:

6. Any solid waste facilities owned or operated by a county improvement authority pursuant to the provisions of [this amendatory and supplementary act,] P.L.1973, c.330 (C.40:37A-100 et seq.) shall be deemed a public utility and shall be subject to such rules and regulations as may be adopted by the Board of Public Utilities in accordance with the provisions of the "Solid Waste Utility Control Act" (P.L.1970, c.40, C.48:13A-1 et seq.), in connection with the economic aspects of the solid waste disposal operations of the solid waste management system. The county improvement authority's application to operate any solid waste facility shall be considered at a public hearing to be conducted by the Board of Public Utilities.

(cf: P.L.1991, c.381, s.46)

21. Section 3 of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-3) is amended to read as follows:

3. [In] As used in this act[, unless the context otherwise clearly requires, the terms used herein shall have the meanings ascribed to them as follows]:

"Act" means [this] the "New Jersey Pollution Control Financing Law," P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.).

"Authority" means a pollution control financing authority created pursuant to this act.

"Bonds" means any notes, bonds and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations of any agency.

"County" means any county of any class.

"Governing body" means the board of chosen freeholders.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation, public utility, association, trust, estate, or any other legal entity, or their legal representative, agent or assigns.

"Pollution" means any form of environmental pollution deriving from the operation of public utility, industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, commercial, office or research facilities, or deriving from the disposal of solid waste generated at residences, hotels, apartments or any other public or private buildings, including, but not limited to, water pollution, air pollution, pollution caused by solid waste disposal, thermal pollution, radiation contamination, or noise pollution as determined by the various standards prescribed by this State or the Federal Government and including, but not limited to, anything which is considered as pollution or environmental damage pursuant to the laws, rules and regulations administered by the Department of Environmental Protection as established by P.L.1970, c.33 (C.13:1D-1 et seq.), and any amendments and supplements thereto.

"Pollution control facilities" means any structures, facilities, systems, fixtures, lands and rights in lands, improvements, appurtenances, machinery, equipment or any combination thereof designed and utilized for the purpose of resource recovery and in connection with a solid waste management system, or for the purpose of reducing, abating or preventing pollution, deriving from the operation of public utility, industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, commercial, office or research facilities; and provided that the State Department of Environmental Protection and the governing body of the county certify that any such facility does not conflict with, overlap or duplicate any other planned or existing pollution control facilities undertaken or planned by another public agency or authority.

"Project costs" as applied to pollution control facilities financed under the provisions of this act means the sum total of all reasonable or necessary costs incident to the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement and extension of such pollution control facilities including, but not limited to, the cost of studies and surveys; plans, specifications, architectural and engineering services; organization, marketing or other special services; legal financing, acquisition, demolition, construction, equipment and site development of new and rehabilitated buildings; rehabilitation, reconstruction, repair or remodeling of existing buildings, fixtures, machinery and equipment; insurance premiums; and all other necessary and incidental expenses including an initial bond and interest reserve together with interest on bonds issued to finance such pollution control facilities to a date 6 months subsequent to the estimated date of completion and such other reserves as may be required by resolution of an agency.

"Resource recovery" means the collection, separation, recycling and recovery of metals, glass, paper and other materials for reuse; or the incineration of solid waste for energy production.

"Solid waste management system" means the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by an authority for the benefit or use by any governmental unit or person, including transfer stations, incinerators, resource recovery facilities, sanitary landfill facilities or other plants for the disposal of solid waste and all other real and personal property and rights therein and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, recycling or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner. "Solid waste management system" also means any contracts executed or to be executed by an authority in order to provide for the collection, recycling, or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner.

"Stranded investments" means any: (1) facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed by an authority for, or with respect to, the implementation of a solid waste management system; (2) contracts executed by an authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste; or (3) programs undertaken and implemented by an authority for, or with respect to, the provision of services relating to the collection, disposal or recycling of solid waste, if the facilities, equipment or materials utilized or consumed, contracts executed or programs undertaken and implemented were: (i) commenced prior to May 1994; (ii) the obligations of the authority relating thereto, including, without limitation, the obligation to make payments with respect thereto, continue beyond the date that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs are no longer utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented; and (iii) a determination has been made by the authority, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

"Stranded investment costs" means any cost incurred by an authority for, or with respect to, stranded investments, regardless of whether the costs have actually been paid by the authority prior to the date the authority makes the determination, by a resolution adopted therefor, that the facilities, equipment or materials, contracts or programs will no longer be utilized by, or on behalf of, the authority in the manner contemplated at the time the facilities, equipment or materials were acquired or constructed, the contracts were executed or the programs were implemented.

(cf: P.L.1983, c.298, s. 4)

22. Section 4 of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-4) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. (1) Any county may create an authority under the provisions of this act which shall be a public body corporate and politic and a political subdivision of the State for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, repairing, altering, improving, extending, owning, leasing, financing, selling, maintaining, operating and disposing of pollution control facilities within such county; provided that, with respect to any pollution control facility which is not engaged in resource recovery, the Department of Environmental Protection certifies that the proposed undertaking of the authority is the proper method of solving the problem under consideration; and provided further that, with respect to any pollution control facility which is engaged in resource recovery, the solid waste management system, including the resource recovery facility, conforms to the Statewide solid waste management plan and the applicable district solid waste management plan and has an approved registration statement and engineering design pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-5).

(2) The purposes of every authority shall include the acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of a solid waste management system for the purpose of collecting, disposing or recycling of solid waste, whether owned or operated by any person, the authority or any other governmental unit, within or without the county, including the establishment and implementation of a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs and establishment and implementation of a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators for the purposes described in subsection r. or subsection s. of section 5 of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-5).

b. The authority shall be created by resolution and shall be known as the " Pollution Control Financing Authority of ," inserting all or any significant part of the name of the county creating the authority. The authority shall constitute an agency and instrumentality of the county creating it.

c. An authority shall consist of five members appointed by resolution of the governing body of the county which created such authority.

Members shall serve for terms of 5 years, provided that the members first appointed shall be designated by the resolution of appointment to serve for terms expiring on the first days of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth Februarys next ensuing after such appointment. Each member shall hold office for the term of his appointment and until his successor shall have been appointed and qualified. Any vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment but for the unexpired term only.

d. The governing body of any county which has created an authority may dissolve the authority by resolution on condition that the authority has no debts or obligations outstanding or that provision has been made for the retirement of such debts or obligations. Upon any such dissolution, all property, funds and assets of the authority shall be vested in the county which created the authority.

e. A certified copy of each resolution creating or dissolving an authority and each resolution appointing members thereto shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. A copy of any such certified resolution, certified by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, shall be conclusive evidence of the due and proper creation or dissolution of the authority or the due and proper appointment of the member or members named therein.

f. The powers of an authority shall be vested in the members thereof from time to time and three members shall constitute a quorum. Action may be taken and motions and resolutions adopted by an agency at any meeting thereof by the affirmative vote of at least three members of the authority.

No vacancy in the membership of an authority shall impair the right of a quorum of the members thereof to exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the authority.

g. At the first meeting of any authority and thereafter on or after February 1 in each year, the members shall elect from among their number a chairman and vice chairman who shall hold office until February 1 next ensuing and until their respective successors have been appointed and qualified. Every authority also may appoint, without regard to the provisions of Title [11 of the Revised] 11A of the New Jersey Statutes, a secretary, treasurer and such other officers, agents and employees as it may require.

h. The members of an authority shall serve without compensation, but the authority shall reimburse its members for actual expenses necessarily incurred in the discharge of their official duties.

i. No member, officer or employee of an authority, nor member of their family, shall have or acquire any interest, direct or indirect in any pollution control facilities undertaken or planned by the authority or in any contract or proposed contract for materials or services to be furnished to or used by the authority, but neither the holding of any office or employment in the government of any county or municipality or under any law of the State shall be deemed a disqualification for membership in or employment by an authority, except as may be specifically provided by law, and members of the governing body of a county may be appointed by such governing body and may serve as members of the authority. A member may be removed only by the governing body by which he was appointed for inefficiency or neglect of duty or misconduct in office or conviction of a crime, and after he shall have been given a copy of the charges against him and, not sooner than 10 days thereafter, had the opportunity in person or by counsel to be heard thereon by such governing body.

(cf: P.L1983, c.298, s.5)

23. Section 5 of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-5) is amended to read as follows:

5. The authority shall have the following powers together with all powers incidental thereto or necessary for the performance thereof:

a. To have perpetual succession as a public body corporate and politic;

b. to adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;

c. to sue and to be sued;

d. to have and to use a corporate seal and to alter the same at pleasure;

e. to maintain an office at such place or places within the county as it may designate;

f. to acquire after a public notice has been given at least 20 days prior thereto in a newspaper of general circulation in the area served by the authority, in the name of the authority by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper any land and other property which it may determine is reasonably necessary for any of its pollution control facilities;

g. to determine, with the approval of the State Department of Environmental Protection, the location and manner of construction of pollution control facilities to be financed under the provisions of this act, and to acquire, construct, reconstruct, repair, alter, improve, extend, own, lease, finance, sell, maintain and dispose of the same and to enter into contracts for any and all of such purposes, and to designate persons as its employees and agents to accomplish the same;

h. to lease to a person or persons any or all of the pollution control facilities upon such terms, conditions and guarantees as the authority shall deem proper, and to charge and collect rent and fees therefor and to terminate any such lease upon the failure of the lessee to comply with any of the obligations thereof; and to include in any such lease, if desired, provisions that the lessee or lessees thereof, and any guarantor of such lease, shall have upon the termination of the lease term options to renew the term of the lease for such period or periods and at such rent as shall be determined by the authority or to purchase any or all of the pollution control facilities for a nominal amount or otherwise or that upon payment of all of the indebtedness incurred by the authority for the financing of such pollution control facilities of the authority may convey any or all of the pollution control facilities to the lessee or lessees thereof;

i. to sell to a person or persons any or all of the pollution control facilities upon such terms and conditions as the authority shall deem proper including the right to receive for such sale the note or notes of the person or persons purchasing the facility;

j. to acquire, hold, pledge, mortgage and dispose of real and personal property in the exercise of its powers and performance of its duties under this act;

k. to invest and reinvest bond proceeds pending application to the purposes for which such bonds were issued and other funds under its control, subject only to the provisions of any bond resolution, lease or other agreement entered into by such authority;

l. to issue bonds in such principal amounts as, in the opinion of such authority, shall be necessary to provide sufficient funds to carry out the purpose of this act, including the planning, financing, acquisition, construction and other project costs of pollution control facilities, the payment of interest on the bonds of the authority, the provision for working capital and all other expenditures of the agency incident to and necessary or convenient for carrying out its purposes and powers and to refund the same, all as provided for in this act;

m. to employ engineers, architects, attorneys, accountants, construction and financial experts, superintendents, managers and such other employees and agents, without regard to the provisions of Title [11 of the Revised] 11A of the New Jersey Statutes, as may be necessary in its judgment and to fix their compensation;

n. to receive and accept from any public agency loans or grants for or in aid of the construction of pollution control facilities and any portion thereof, or for equipping the same, and to receive and accept grants, gifts or other contributions from any source;

o. to refund, after public notice has been given, outstanding obligations incurred by any agency or any person to finance the cost of pollution control facilities, including obligations incurred for pollution control facilities undertaken and completed after the enactment of this act when the authority finds that such financing is in the public interest;

p. to extend credit or make loans to any person in order to pay or provide for the payment of any project costs of a pollution control facility; [and]

q. to do all things necessary and convenient to carry out the purposes of this act

r. to establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect moneys for payment of stranded investment costs; and

s. to establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of the system established pursuant to subsection r. hereinabove for payment of stranded investment costs, or the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by an authority for such purpose.

(cf: P.L.1983, c.298, s.6)

24. (New section) a. Every authority created pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.) is hereby authorized to charge and collect rates, fees or other charges (hereinafter referred to as "solid waste charges") in connection with, or for the use or services of, or otherwise relating to, a solid waste management system owned, sold, leased or controlled by the authority, including, but not limited to, any materials recovery facility, recycling center, resource recovery facility, transfer station or sanitary landfill facility. An authority may charge and collect solid waste charges from any governmental unit included within the jurisdiction of the authority, or any governmental unit which contracts for service with the authority, or from any person utilizing the solid waste management system, or from any owner or occupant of any real property situated in a municipality or county which contracts for service with the authority. The solid waste charges may be charged to and collected from any governmental unit or person and the governmental unit or person shall be liable for and shall pay the solid waste charges to the authority at the time when and place where the solid waste charges are due and payable.

b. In the event that the solid waste charges of an authority with regard to any parcel of real property owned by any person, other than the State or an agency or subdivision thereof, shall not be paid as and when due, the unpaid balance thereof, and all interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien on the parcel. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee or other person except the lien of municipal taxes and shall be on a parity with and deemed equal to the lien on the parcel of the municipality wherein the parcel is situated for taxes thereon due in the same year and not paid as and when due. Whenever the solid waste charges, and any interest accrued thereon, shall have been fully paid to the authority, the lien shall be promptly withdrawn or canceled by the authority.

The collector or other officer of every municipality charged by law with the duty of enforcing municipal liens on real property shall enforce, in the same manner as with any other municipal lien on real property in the municipality, all solid waste charges and the lien thereof shown in any statement filed with the collector or officer by an authority pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, and shall pay over to the authority the sums or a pro rata share of the sums realized upon the enforcement or liquidation of any property acquired by the municipality by virtue of the enforcement action.

In the event that the solid waste charges of an authority shall not be paid as and when due, notwithstanding any other remedies available to the authority, the unpaid balance thereof, and any interest accrued thereon, together with attorney's fees and costs, may be recovered by the authority in a civil action, and any lien on real property for the solid waste charges, and any interest accrued thereon, may be foreclosed or otherwise enforced by the authority by action or suit in equity as for the foreclosure of a mortgage on the real property.

All rights and remedies provided in this subsection for the collection and enforcement of solid waste charges shall be cumulative and concurrent.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary and in addition to the powers provided in subsection b. of this section, every authority created pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.) is hereby authorized to establish and implement a system to calculate, charge and collect rates, fees or other charges for payment of stranded investment costs.

These rates, fees or other charges shall constitute "solid waste charges" as defined in subsection a. of this section and may be collected by an authority in any manner reasonably established by the authority, including without limitation, the collection of solid waste charges from:

(1) every solid waste generator included within the jurisdiction of the authority, regardless of whether the solid waste is to be delivered to the solid waste management system established by the authority for disposal or recycling, through the implementation of a unit charge based upon the amount of solid waste generated;

(2) every municipality which has previously utilized the solid waste management system established by the authority and has thereby received the benefit of the stranded investments, through the implementation of an assessment against the municipality based upon the aggregate amount of solid waste generated within the boundaries of the municipality from all sources of generation; or

Upon the establishment of a system to calculate, charge and collect solid waste charges for payment of stranded investment costs, but prior to the implementation thereof, the authority shall hold a public hearing thereon at least 20 days after notice of the proposed implementation has been mailed to the clerk of each municipality located within the boundaries of the county wherein the solid waste management system is located, and after publication of the notice of the proposed implementation and the time and place of the public hearing in at least 2 newspapers of general circulation within the county.

25. (New section) a. Every solid waste management system established by an authority created pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.) shall be subject to the provisions of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), and to any rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto by the Department of Environmental Protection, in connection with the environmental aspects of all solid waste collection, disposal or recycling activities or operations of the solid waste management system.

b. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented by P.L.1975, c.326, or P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) to the contrary, any authority is authorized to establish and implement a program for the inspection of solid waste and a program to enforce or prosecute violations or violators of (1) any system established pursuant to section 24 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending in the Legislature as this bill) for payment of stranded investment costs; or (2) the provisions of any agreements, contracts or instruments executed in connection with the implementation of a solid waste management system or use of any solid waste facility acquired, constructed or contracted for by an authority for that purpose.

c. In furtherance of the provisions of this section, any authority is authorized to exercise the enforcement powers conferred on local boards of health or county health departments pursuant to the provisions of the "County Environmental Health Act," P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) and section 9 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-9), and may exercise these powers directly in the manner provided by the aforementioned acts to local boards of health or county health departments.

26. Section 3 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-3) is amended to read as follows:

3. [For purposes of] As used in this act[, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning]:

a. "Solid waste" means garbage, refuse, and other discarded materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations, and from domestic and community activities, and shall include all other waste materials including liquids, except for solid animal and vegetable wastes collected by swine producers licensed by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such wastes to swine on their own farms.

b. "Solid waste collection" means the activity related to pick-up and transportation of solid waste from its source or location to a transfer station or other authorized solid waste facility.

c. "Disposal" means the storage, treatment, utilization, processing, resource recovery of, or the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid or hazardous waste into or on any land or water, so that the solid or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.

d. "Solid waste management" includes all activities related to the collection and disposal of solid waste by any person engaging in such process.

e. "Council" means the Advisory Council on Solid Waste Management.

f. "Department" means the State Department of Environmental Protection.

g. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection in the State Department of Environmental Protection.

h. "Solid waste facilities" mean and include the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated or to be acquired, constructed or operated by any person pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), P.L.1970, c.40 (C.48:13A-1 et seq.) or any other act, including transfer stations, incinerators, resource recovery facilities, sanitary landfill facilities or other plants for the disposal of solid waste, and all vehicles, equipment and other real and personal property and rights therein and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner.

i. "Public authority" means any [solid waste management authority created pursuant to the "solid waste management authorities law," P.L.1968, c.249 (C.40:66A-32 et seq.);] municipal or county utilities authority created pursuant to the "municipal and county utilities authorities law," P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.); [incinerator authority created pursuant to the "incinerator authorities law," P.L.1948, c.348 (C.40:66A-1 et seq.);] county improvement authority created pursuant to the "county improvement authorities law," P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.), or any other public body corporate and politic created for solid waste management purposes in any county [or municipality], pursuant to the provisions of any law. j. "Hackensack Meadowlands District" means the area within the jurisdiction of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission created pursuant to the provisions of the "Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act," P.L.1968, c.404 (C.13:17-1 et seq.).

k. "Hackensack Commission" means the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission created pursuant to the provisions of the "Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act," P.L.1968, c.404 (C.13:17-1 et seq.).

l. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1990, c.113.)

m. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1990, c.113.)

n. "Public sewage treatment plant" means any structure or structures required to be approved by the department pursuant to P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-1 et seq.) or P.L.1977, c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.), by means of which domestic wastes are subjected to any artificial process in order to remove or so alter constituents as to render the waste less offensive or dangerous to the public health, comfort or property of any of the inhabitants of this State, before the discharge of the plant effluent into any of the waters of this State; this definition includes plants for the treatment of industrial wastes, as well as a combination of domestic and industrial wastes.

o. "Resource recovery" means the collection, separation, recycling and recovery of metals, glass, paper and other materials for reuse; or the incineration of solid waste for energy production and the recovery of metals and other materials for reuse.

p. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1990, c.113.)

q. "Sanitary landfill facility" means a solid waste facility at which solid waste is deposited on or in the land as fill for the purpose of permanent disposal or storage for a period exceeding six months, except that it shall not include any waste facility approved for disposal of hazardous waste.

r. "Transfer station" means a solid waste facility at which solid waste is transferred from a solid waste collection vehicle to a licensed solid waste haulage vehicle, including a rail car, for transportation to an offsite sanitary landfill facility, resource recovery facility, or other destination for disposal, except that a "transfer station" shall not include any solid waste facility at which solid waste is received for onsite transfer, and processing or disposal utilizing facility-owned or operated equipment and vehicles operated therefor.

s. "Resource recovery facility" means a solid waste facility constructed and operated for the incineration of solid waste for energy production and the recovery of metals and other materials for reuse, or a mechanized composting facility, or any other facility constructed or operated for the collection, separation, recycling, and recovery of metals, glass, paper, and other recyclable materials for reuse or for energy production.

(cf: P.L.1990, c.113, s.4)

27. The following are repealed:

Section 4 of P.L.1973 c.330 (C.40:37A-101);

Section 5 of P.L.1973 c.330 (C.40:37A-102);

Section 7 of P.L.1973 c.330 (C.40:37A-104);

Section 8 of P.L.1973 c.330 (C.40:37A-105).

28. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would authorize public authorities and counties to consider the costs incurred in developing and operating designated solid waste facilities, which have been devalued as a result of the Carbone decision, as "stranded investment costs," and empower them to charge and collect fees from the facility's users to recover these costs.

A "public authority" refers to any (1) municipal or county utilities authority created pursuant to the "municipal and county utilities authorities law," P.L.1957, c.183 (C.40:14B-1 et seq.); (2) county improvement authority created pursuant to the "county improvement authorities law," P.L.1960, c.183 (C.40:37A-44 et seq.); or (3) pollution control financing authority created pursuant to the "New Jersey Pollution Control Financing Law," P.L.1973, c.376 (C.40:37C-1 et seq.).

On May 16, 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its first-ever waste flow control case, Carbone v. Town of Clarkstown, held that, without unambiguous congressional authorization, a state or local government's regulation of where haulers must transport solid waste for processing or disposal is a violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. If Carbone is reaffirmed by a New Jersey-related case, the legal authority of counties and public authorities to control the flow of solid waste to their State-designated solid waste facilities would be invalidated. Consequently, all operating solid waste incinerators, landfills and transfer stations in New Jersey would lose the guaranteed waste flows that ensure the economic viability of these facilities, and the counties and public authorities that financed them through bonded indebtedness would face financial disaster. Collectively, these local governments have invested more than $1 billion underwritten by 20 - 40 year revenue bonds.

In response to this potential invalidation of waste flow control, this bill would authorize public authorities and counties that have previously developed and implemented solid waste management systems, through the acquisition, construction and operation of solid waste facilities - solid waste incinerators, landfills, transfer stations and so forth - or through execution of contracts and implementation of solid waste collection, disposal or recycling programs, to establish and implement a system for the collection of fees or charges from all public and private users of these systems to recover the stranded investment costs incurred by the public authority or county.

In addition, the bill would authorize public authorities and counties to exercise sole jurisdiction to undertake enforcement actions to assure compliance with the system established to recover the stranded investment costs, and to assure that all solid waste generated by the (voluntary) public and private users of a solid waste management system is delivered to the designated solid waste facilities.

To these ends, the bill would grant public authorities and counties the same enforcement powers conferred upon local boards of health, county health departments and counties under the provisions of the "County Environmental Health Act," P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-21 et seq.) and the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.).

"Solid Waste Management System Cost Recovery Act."