ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 104

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED NOVEMBER 14, 1996

 

 

By Assemblyman O'TOOLE

 

 

A Concurrent Resolution concerning legislative review of regulations pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and invalidating certain regulations of the Department of Environmental Protection.

 

    Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

 

    1. Pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, the Legislature may review any rule or regulation of an administrative agency to determine if the rule or regulation is consistent with the intent of the Legislature.

 

    2. The "Spill Compensation and Control Act," P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11 et seq.) requires owners or operators of major facilities where hazardous substances are stored to prepare and submit to the Department of Environmental Protection discharge prevention, control, and countermeasure (DPCC) plans, one component of which is the preparation of drainage and land use maps and maps identifying environmentally sensitive areas. In regulations adopted in 1991 at N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d) the Department of Environmental Protection required that such maps be submitted in paper form. In amendments to N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d), proposed at 27 N.J.R.2337 and adopted at 28 N.J.R.2858, the Department of Environmental Protection required that the maps be resubmitted in both paper and digital form, an additional requirement that is inconsistent with Legislative intent.

 

    3. By the passage of Senate Concurrent No. 15 of 1996, filed by the Secretary of State on May 31, 1996, the Legislature determined that the amendment to N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d) proposed at 27 N.J.R.2337 requiring that DPCC maps be resubmitted in both paper and digital form was not consistent with Legislative intent. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 15 of 1996 further determined that, pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, if the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection did not amend or withdraw the regulation within 30 days of passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 15, the Legislature was authorized under the Constitution to invalidate the regulation in whole or in part.

 

    4. The Legislature finds that the 30 day period given to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection in Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 15 of 1996 has expired and that the Commissioner of Environmental Protection has failed to withdraw the proposed regulation or to amend it in a manner that is consistent with the intent of the Legislature. The Legislature recognizes that in its adoption at 28 N.J.R.2858 of the amendment proposed at 27 N.J.R.2337 to N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d), the Department of Environmental Protection did provide in N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.6(d) that the digital mapping requirement shall be met "only when there is a change in the information required to be depicted." The Legislature finds that this adopted amendment remains inconsistent with the intent of the Legislature because N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.6(d) still requires that maps be submitted in both paper and digital form.

 

    5. The Legislature, by the passage of this Concurrent Resolution, is therefore exercising its Constitutional powers pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey to invalidate, in part, the regulations of the Department of Environmental Protection that were adopted at 28 N.J.R.2858 and codified at N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d). The regulations codified at N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d) are invalidated to the extent they were amended by 28 N.J.R. 2858. Upon their invalidation pursuant to this Concurrent Resolution the regulations codified at N.J.A.C.7:1E-10(d) shall read as follows:

 

(d) All maps required by N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.3(b)4, 5 and 6 shall be submitted in hard copy form, including two paper copies and, if mylar basemaps are used, two mylar copies. Such hard copies may be accompanied by a submission of the mapped information in digital form, at the option of the person required to submit the map.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This concurrent resolution embodies the finding of the Legislature that the amendment to N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d), proposed at 27 N.J.R.2337 and adopted at 28 N.J.R.2858, by the Department of Environmental Protection requiring that maps submitted as part of a DPCC plan pursuant to the "Spill Compensation and Control Act," P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58: 10-23.11 et seq.), be submitted in both paper and digital form is inconsistent with legislative intent.

    In Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 15 of 1996, which was passed by the Legislature and filed by the Secretary of State on May 31, 1996, the Legislature determined that this regulation, in its proposed form, was inconsistent with legislative intent. Under the Constitution the Department of Environmental Protection is given 30 days following the passage of such a resoultion to withdraw or amend the regulation. The Department has not withdrawn the regulation, or amended it to adequately address the inconsistency with legislative intent, and the Legislature is by the resoltuion exercising its constitutional authority to invalidate in part the regulation. Upon passage of this Concurrent Resolution, the amendment to N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10(d) adopted at 28 N.J.R.2858 will be invalidated and N.J.A.C.7:1E-4.10 (d) will read exactly as it had before the amendment.

 

 

                             

Invalidates regulations of the DEP that require the submission of digital maps pursuant to the DPCC program.