SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 684

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  JANUARY 12, 2023

 

      The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 684 (1R).

      This bill requires that one Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) agency operates in certain populous counties and that all HPP agencies remain open during public health emergencies.  Under the bill, "populous county" means any county with a population of 350,000 or more, according to the most recent federal decennial census.

      The bill specifically requires the Department of Community Affairs to provide funding to ensure that one agency is established in populous counties to help manage and implement the HPP within that populous county.

      Under the bill, if federal funding intended to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not available to satisfy the full amount of establishing this agency within a populous county, then the Commissioner of Community Affairs is permitted to notify the State Treasurer and the Joint Budget Oversight Committee of the Legislature of the deficiency and to request that the Legislature appropriate a portion of the remainder from the General Fund, or other available State funding sources.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 684 (1R) is identical to Senate Bill No. 3274, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to reduce the number of required HPP agencies operating in populous counties from two to one.  The committee also amended the bill to specify that if federal funding intended to address the impact of COVID-19 will not satisfy the full amount of establishing the HPP agency, the Commissioner of Community Affairs may notify the State Treasurer and Joint Budget Oversight Committee of the deficiency and to request that the Legislature appropriate a portion of the remainder from the General Fund, or other available State funding sources.