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.