ASSEMBLY HOUSING COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5533

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 19, 2025

      The Assembly Housing Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5533.

      As amended, this bill establishes requirements for the receipt and purchase of scrap metals containing lithium-ion batteries or propulsion batteries.

      Under the bill, a person delivering or selling scrap metal to a scrap metal business is required to disclose, in writing, whether the scrap metal contains a lithium-ion battery or a propulsion battery before the scrap metal business receives or purchases the scrap metal.  The bill also requires a scrap metal business to inspect scrap metal before receipt or purchase to confirm that the scrap metal does not contain a lithium-ion battery or a propulsion battery if the disclosure made by the person delivering or selling the scrap metal indicates that the scrap metal does not contain a lithium-ion battery or a propulsion battery.

      Additionally, a scrap metal business is required to maintain, for at least five years and in a manner as may be prescribed by the Attorney General, a record of all lithium-ion battery and propulsion battery disclosures for scrap metal received or purchased by the scrap metal business and a record of the inspection of scrap metal received or purchased by the scrap metal business if the disclosure made by the person delivering or selling the scrap metal indicates the scrap metal does not contain a lithium-ion battery or a propulsion battery.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1) define “lithium-ion battery”;

      (2) clarify that a propulsion battery includes any battery that could pose an environmental danger, as determined by the Department of Environmental Protection;

      (3) require the disclosure of, and inspection for, the presence of a lithium-ion battery in scrap metal received or purchased by a scrap metal business; and

      (4) authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to take any anticipatory administrative action prior to the effective date of the bill.