SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 2246

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  FEBRUARY 16, 2023

      The Senate Environment and Energy Committee favorably reports a Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 2246.

      This committee substitute makes a one-time supplemental appropriation of $17 million for Fiscal Year 2023 to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from the General Fund.  The bill directs the DEP to establish a program to use these funds for grants to assist qualified entities to pay certain costs associated with the management and maintenance of lakes for recreation and conservation purposes.

      The bill requires the DEP to develop criteria for the evaluation and ranking of applications to provide priority to projects submitted by qualified entities responsible for a lake with public access; and projects to improve water quality and increase recreational access and use of lakes, including projects to control nutrient levels in lakes in order to prevent future harmful algal blooms.  The bill provides that a grant issued pursuant to the bill may be used for stormwater and nonpoint source pollution management activities, if the DEP determines that those activities would directly enhance, improve, or protect the use of a lake for recreation and conservation purposes.

      The bill defines “qualified entity” to mean:  the Greenwood Lake Commission; the Lake Hopatcong Commission; a local government unit; an entity established pursuant to law or an entity established pursuant to ordinance by the municipalities surrounding a publicly-accessible lake for the management of the lake, including, but not limited to, the Deal Lake Commission or the Lake Topanemus Park Commission; or a nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal taxation pursuant to 26 U.S.C. s.501 (c)(3) and whose mission is the management or maintenance of a publicly-accessible lake.