SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 210

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 9, 1996

      The Senate State Government Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate, No. 210.

      This bill establishes a special Pinelands license plate, with proceeds dedicated to the preservation of this ecologically sensitive wilderness area. The plate would bear words and an emblem designed by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles in consultation with the Pinelands Commission. Motor vehicle owners and lessees would be able to obtain the plate for an initial fee of $50 and an annual $10 renewal fee. These fees would be in addition to the registration fees otherwise prescribed by law.

      The additional fees would be deposited in the "Pinelands Preservation Fund," created by the bill, and used exclusively for license plate costs, approved Pinelands acquisition projects in accordance with applicable State and federal laws relating to the protection of the Pinelands National Reserve, and to pay for the costs of surveys and appraisals and other necessary costs incurred by the Department of Environmental Protection to acquire lands in the Pinelands National Reserve that have limited practical use because of their location and that are held by landowners who both own less than 50 acres in the reserve and have exhausted existing remedies to secure relief.

      This bill was prefiled for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

 COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amended the bill to: 1) include the cost of renewing, making computer programming changes in connection with and publicizing the Pinelands license plate in the annual certification of the average cost thereof; 2) provide that the annual certification of the average cost per license plate shall be approved by the Joint

Budget Oversight Committee, or its successor; and 3) require the Pinelands Commission and the director to develop and enter into an interagency memorandum of agreement on procedures to be followed to carry out their respective responsibilities under the bill.