SENATE, No. 912

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MARCH 7, 1996

By Senators EWING and CAFIERO

An Act concerning concerning the waiver of enforcing agency fees in certain circumstances and amending P.L.1975, c.217.

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

    1. Section 1 of P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-126e) is amended to read as follows:

    1. Notwithstanding the provisions of the "State Uniform Construction Code Act," P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-119 et seq.), or any rules, regulations or standards adopted pursuant thereto, to the contrary, the governing body of any municipality which has appointed an enforcing agency pursuant to the provisions of section 8 of P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-126) may, by ordinance, provide that no person shall be charged a construction permit surcharge fee or enforcing agency fee for any construction, reconstruction, alteration or improvement designed and undertaken solely to promote accessibility by [the handicapped] disabled persons to an existing public or private structure or any of the facilities contained therein.

    A disabled person shall not be required to pay any municipal fee or charge, including fees related to site plan review, in order to secure a construction permit for any construction, reconstruction, alteration or improvement which promotes accessibility to his own living unit.

    For the purposes of this section, "[handicapped] disabled person" means a person who has the total and permanent inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment, including blindness, and shall include, but not be limited to, any resident of this State who is disabled pursuant to the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.§416), or the federal Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C.§231 et seq.), or is rated as having a 60% disability or higher pursuant to any federal law administered by the United States Veterans' Act. For purposes of this paragraph "blindness" means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.

(cf: P.L.1989, c.223, s.1)

    2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment.

STATEMENT

    This bill would require municipalities which enforce the State Uniform Construction Code to waive construction permit and site plan review fees for disabled persons seeking to make alterations or improvements intended to promote accessibility to their own living units. "Disabled" is defined in the bill to mean a person who has the total and permanent inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment, including blindness, and includes, but is not limited to, any resident of this State who is disabled pursuant to the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.§416), or the federal Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C.§231 et seq.), or is rated as having a 60% disability or higher pursuant to any federal law administered by the United States Veterans' Act.

    In many cases the labor and materials for renovations, such as ramps or modified entryways, are donated; however, municipalities may still require costly building permits to undertake such renovations. These costs may undermine the ability of the disabled to proceed with the needed modifications.

Waives construction permit fees for certain residential renovations by disabled persons.