SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 955
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 6, 1996
The Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 955.
The bill authorizes the Department of the Treasury to establish a State-sponsored affinity card program. It requires the State Treasurer, within six months after the date of enactment of the act, to determine which financial institutions could participate as an issuer of affinity cards and to send to them a request for proposal (RFP) regarding a New Jersey affinity card program. If the State Treasurer determines, based on responses to the State Treasurer's RFP, that it is feasible for the State to sponsor an affinity card, the State Treasurer is authorized to enter into a contract with a financial institution to be the issuer of the State-sponsored affinity card and to negotiate the most favorable rate for the State's fees. The bill also requires that fees raised by the State through its participation in a State-sponsored card program are to be deposited with the State Treasurer for use by the State to acquire lands for recreation and conservation purposes under the State Green Acres program in the Department of Environmental Protection.
The committee amendments are technical in nature.