SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 1228

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  JANUARY 19, 2023

 

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1228 (1R).

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill allows general aviation airports in the State to carry over grant money from the Airport Safety Fund and the Department of Transportation’s (department) Airport Improvement Program into future fiscal years at the sole discretion of the Commissioner of Transportation.  In order to do so, the airport is required to have applied for municipal and county approval.  The airport is also required to submit a schedule of the expected expenditure of the funds to the department and use the money for a purpose authorized under the grant agreement or applicable State law.  However, the carry over authorized pursuant to the bill cannot be incompatible with federal aid and assistance overseen by the department.

 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to provide that the Commissioner of Transportation has the sole discretion to decide whether an airport may carry over grant money from the Airport Safety Fund and the department’s Airport Improvement Program into future fiscal years.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services estimates that the Department of Transportation may experience an annual revenue loss by allowing certain airports, at the department’s discretion, to carry forward unused grant monies instead of requiring those monies to be returned to the department as rescinded funds.  These funds, if rescinded, would be available to the department for any departmental purpose. As a practical matter, these funds would likely be reallocated to airports through the department’s Airport Improvement Program in a subsequent fiscal year.