ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[Third Reprint]

SENATE, No. 1776

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 9, 1997

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1776 (3R).

      Senate Bill No. 1776 (3R) provides 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 corporation business tax revenue dedicated by the New Jersey Constitution for water quality.

      The bill establishes the "Watershed Management Fund" as a nonlapsing, revolving fund in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for deposit of the dedicated and appropriated monies. The bill requires that the DEP use the fund 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 and stream segments;

      (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 development and adoption of pollution prevention best management practices to control point and nonpoint sources of pollution;

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

      (9) the development and 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 with that program; and

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

      The bill allows expenditures for the above purposes only to the extent that such purposes constitute activities in addition to those undertaken by DEP in Fiscal Year 1997. The bill also provides that use of the monies in the fund for Fiscal Year 1997 will be limited to watershed management and planning activities by the DEP; for Fiscal Year 1998, up to 35 percent of the monies may be used for loans and grants to watershed management groups and the remainder of the monies shall be used to support the DEP's watershed management and planning activities; and for Fiscal Year 1999 and thereafter, up to 50 percent of the monies may be used for loans and grants to watershed management groups and the remainder of the monies shall be used to support the DEP's watershed management and planning activities.

      This bill is identical to A-2662/2564 (Acs).

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The bill appropriates $4.9 million to the Department of Environmental Protection from Constitutionally dedicated tax revenues to implement a watershed-based approach to water quality management and pollution control.

      The New Jersey Constitution, as amended by the voters in November 1996, dedicates a minimum of 2/3 of one percent, or $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 pollution monitoring, watershed-based water resource planning and management, and nonpoint source pollution prevention projects.