SENATE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1776

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 10, 1997

      The Senate Environment Committee favorably reports Senate Bill No. 1776 with committee amendments.

      This bill would provide the statutory direction for the State to adopt and implement a watershed-based approach to water quality management and pollution control, to be funded by the monies dedicated pursuant to Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 6, subparagraph (a) of the New Jersey Constitution. This portion of the constitutional amendment approved by the voters in November, 1996, dedicated a minimum of 2/3 of one percent, or a minimum of $5,000,000, whichever is less, of the revenues annually generated by the Corporation Business Tax for the purposes of water quality point and nonpoint source monitoring, watershed based water resource planning and management and nonpoint source pollution prevention projects.

      The bill would establish in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a "Watershed Management Fund," to which the annually dedicated and appropriated monies would be credited. The bill requires that monies in this fund be used by the DEP only for:

      (1) the development and adoption of a priority list of environmentally threatened waterbodies;

      (2) the monitoring and assessment of all State waters;

      (3) the delineation of watershed management areas;

      (4) the identification of potential causes of the degradation of waterbodies on the priority list;

      (5) the development of total maximum daily loads and water quality-based effluent limitations for targeted waterbodies;

      (6) the development and presentation of data on the DEP's Geographic Information System (GIS);

      (7) the adoption of best management practices to prevent pollution and to control point and nonpoint sources of pollution;

      (8) the characterization of land use and land cover in each watershed;

      (9) the adoption of a watershed management plan;

      (10) the development and planning by the DEP of a watershed management program and the integration of its regulations; and

      (11) the development and implementation of a local watershed protection grant program.

      The bill also provides direction for the expenditure of dedicated monies, such that expenditures in the first three years would be limited to watershed management and planning by the DEP. Commencing three years after the date of enactment, DEP programs would receive half of the dedicated monies and the other half would be used for grants to local watershed management groups.

      The bill appropriates $2.5 million to the DEP in FY 1997, which represents half of the maximum annual amount that is dedicated pursuant to the constitutional amendment.

      The committee amendments addressed concerns of the Pinelands Commission that they should be included in any watershed planning activities. Additionally, the committee made several technical and clarifying amendments.