LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE

ASSEMBLY, No. 5130

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

 

DATED: FEBRUARY 3, 2025

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis:

Requires enforcing agency to conduct inspection of construction in specified time window.

Type of Impact:

Annual State expenditure increase; potential annual local expenditure increase.

Agencies Affected:

Department of Community Affairs; local governments.

 

 

Office of Legislative Services Estimate

Annual Fiscal Impact

 

 

State Expenditure Increase

Indeterminate

 

Potential Local Expenditure Increase

Indeterminate

 

 

 

 

·       The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that the bill would result in an indeterminate amount of upfront costs for the Department of Community Affairs to develop a system on its website where certain construction inspection violations can be reported.  The magnitude of these costs would depend on operational decisions made by the department, including whether the system is developed in house or by a third party. 

·       The department will also incur an indeterminate amount of annual costs to investigate reported violations of the notification and inspection requirements of the bill.  The size of these annual costs would depend on the number of alleged violations that are investigated in a given year, and the OLS lacks the informational basis to estimate how numerous such complaints will be and what workload and staffing changes might be necessary to investigate the violations. 

·       Municipal enforcing agencies could incur additional annual costs under the bill to the extent that they need to hire additional personnel or make administrative changes to their current inspection processes to ensure that inspections are conducted on time and that all required notifications are sent out in accordance with the provisions of the bill.  The OLS cannot predict what changes local governments, if any, would have to make to arrive at an estimate for any potential cost increase.

 

BILL DESCRIPTION

 

     Imposes notification requirements and sets timeframe for completion of inspections:  This bill establishes certain notification requirements that municipal enforcing agencies, which enforce the State Uniform Construction Code, are to follow when scheduling construction inspections and requires those enforcing agencies to conduct these inspections within a specified timeframe.  The bill requires an enforcing agency to provide written notification to the person in charge of a construction project specifying a two and one half hour timeframe during which the inspection will take place.  This written notification is to be sent within 24 hours of an enforcing agency receiving a request for an inspection, and not later than 24 hours prior to the start of the timeframe.  The bill requires each enforcing agency to establish a process for ensuring that it performs inspections within the timeframe and that it provides proper notice in the event an inspection cannot be performed.

     Establishes formal complaint process:  A complaint against an enforcing agency and inspector may be brought if the enforcing agency fails to perform the inspection within the specified timeframe, fails to provide the required notifications, and for other delinquencies.

     Requires development of a violation reporting system and attaches repercussions for municipal enforcing agency noncompliance:  The Department of Community Affairs is to establish a system on its website where violations can be reported.  After confirming one or more such violations, the department is to take corrective actions against the municipal enforcing agency.  Under the bill, these corrective actions may include the department using its current statutory authority to replace the municipal enforcing agency for a specific project or, for habitual violations, to dissolve it and take over the responsibilities of the municipal enforcing agency.

 

 

FISCAL ANALYSIS

 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

 

      None received.

 

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES

 

     The OLS finds that the bill would result in an indeterminate amount of upfront costs for the Department of Community Affairs to develop a system on its website where certain construction inspection violations can be reported.  The magnitude of these costs would depend on operational decisions made by the department, including whether the system is developed in house or by a third party.  The department will also incur an indeterminate amount of annual costs to investigate reported violations of the notification and inspection requirements of the bill.  The size of these annual costs would depend on the number of alleged violations that are investigated in a given year, and the OLS lacks the informational basis to estimate how numerous such complaints will be and what workload and staffing changes might be necessary to investigate the violations.  In the event that that the department dissolves an enforcing agency and takes over its responsibilities due to habitual violations of the bill’s provisions, enforcement costs and any associated revenues would shift from the affected local government to the department.

     Municipal enforcing agencies could incur additional annual costs under the bill to the extent they need to hire additional personnel or make administrative changes to their current inspection processes to ensure that inspections are conducted on time and that all required notifications are sent out in accordance with the provisions of the bill.  The OLS cannot predict what changes local governments, if any, would have to make to arrive at an estimate for any cost increase.

 

 

Section:

Local Government

Analyst:

Grace Ahlin

Assistant Fiscal Analyst

Approved:

Thomas Koenig

Legislative Budget and Finance Officer

 

 

This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).