ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5301

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 23, 2023

      The Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5301.

      This bill, as amended by the committee, would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to conduct, or cause to be conducted, a study concerning the feasibility of using of alternative drinking water supply sources when an exceedance of a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is discovered.  

      As part of the study, the DEP would consider the drinking water supply sources available to public community water systems in the State and identify alternative drinking water supplies that may be available for use by public community water systems to provide water to the customers of the system when an MCL exceedance for a PFAS substance is discovered.  In conducting the study, the DEP would solicit input from representatives of public community water systems, academic institutions, and environmental organizations with expertise, knowledge, or experience in issues related to the State’s water supplies, and may hold public hearings, at a time and place determined by the department, to receive input on the issue. 

      The bill would require the DEP to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report containing the findings and recommendations of the study, including any proposals for legislation or other appropriate legislative or regulatory action, within one year after the bill's enactment.  If the report is not prepared within the timeframe provided, the bill would require the DEP commissioner, or the commissioner's designee, to appear before appropriate legislative committees to explain why the report has not yet been prepared and the steps the DEP is taking to ensure that it is prepared.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amendments to the bill:

      (1)  provide that the report the DEP is to prepare, under the bill, is required to be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature within one year after the bill's enactment; and

      (2)  require, if the report is not submitted within one year, the DEP commissioner, or a designee, to appear before appropriate standing reference committees of the Legislature to explain why the report has not yet been prepared and the steps the DEP is taking to ensure that it is prepared.