SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1221

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 13, 1996

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No.1221.

      Senate Bill No.1221 appropriates the sum of $5 million to the New Jersey Wastewater Treatment Trust from the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund" established pursuant to the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," (P.L.1992, c.88) and any net earnings received from the investment or deposit of moneys in the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund."

      The "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, allocated $50 million for the financing of wastewater treatment system projects, in order to bring such systems into full compliance, to provide adequate wastewater treatment in areas where large numbers of septic systems have malfunctioned or become obsolete, or to connect an obsolete or malfunctioning wastewater treatment system to another wastewater treatment system. Of the $50 million, $5 million was allocated to the Trust to be used for reserve and guarantee funding to secure debt issued by the Trust or by local governments in connection with the financing of wastewater treatment system projects.

      As reported, this bill is identical to Assembly Bill No.46 of 1996 (Gregg).

FISCAL IMPACT

      This bill appropriates the $5 million and the net interest earnings from the "1992 Wastewater Treatment Trust Fund" to the Trust for the purpose of establishing a reserve fund as required by the 1992 bond act.