SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1400

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 13, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 1400.

      As amended, this bill would require the owner or operator of a public water system to immediately notify, by telephone and electronic mail, the governing body of a municipality and the chief administrator of every school district, charter school, nonpublic school, and institution of higher education located within the municipality whenever the public water system incurs a violation requiring a Tier 2 Public Notice required pursuant to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.  The notification would provide the name of any contaminant that exceeds a drinking water quality standard, the maximum contaminant level or the action level, as appropriate, for the contaminant, the level of the contaminant found on each date, the dates when the tests were performed, the location of each sample tested and the location of each sample tested that exceeds a maximum contaminant level or action level.  The bill also requires the owner or operator of the public water system to provide information on suggested remedies that a customer may take to address the violation.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 1400 is identical to Senate Bill No. 984, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  add the chief administrator of institutions of higher education to the list of entities that an owner or operator of a public water system is required to notify pursuant to the bill; and

      (2)  stipulate that the owner or operator of a public water system is required to immediately notify the entities enumerated in the bill whenever the public water system incurs a violation requiring a Tier 2 Public Notice required pursuant to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that this bill would result in an indeterminate increase in State and local expenditures, as public community water systems are required to notify the governing body of a municipality and the chief administrator of every school district, charter school, nonpublic school, and institution of higher education located within the municipality whenever the public water system incurs a violation requiring a Tier 2 Public Notice pursuant to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.  The increase in costs would primarily result from administrative expenses associated with these notifications.

      The OLS notes that public water systems are already required to provide similar notifications under federal and State law. New Jersey requires that tier 1 acute violation public notice be reported to local authorities within one hour.  Tier 2 notices are required for all other violations that could result in adverse health effects.

      The exact costs imposed by this bill will vary depending on the quantity of drinking water standard violations annually.  For background, there are approximately 3,700 water systems in the State. In 2023, 106 violations were issued to 77 public water systems for failing to provide a public notification to its consumers after the incurrence of a violation.  In late 2023, the State Department of Environmental Protection began to enhance oversight of tier 2 public notification more consistently resulting in a higher number of violations issued.