ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5534

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 8, 2025

      The Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5534.

      This bill requires a business that has been awarded an economic development subsidy by a State public body and is found to be in violation of the State’s environmental laws to forfeit a portion of the economic development subsidy provided to the business or provide a payment to the State. 

      The bill provides that if the Commissioner of Environmental Protection (commissioner) determines that a recipient business is responsible for an environmental incident, the business is required to forfeit the economic development subsidy or provide a payment to the State equal to the greater of: (1) 20 percent of the economic development subsidies awarded to the business recipient for the tax year in which a determination is made under the bill; or (2) the total costs to address the environmental incident.  Under the bill, these costs include, but are not limited to, costs of environmental remediation necessary to contain and remediate the impact of the incident, housing relocation costs for impacted residents, the installation of air filtration and fire suppression systems within impacted buildings or structures, and the costs of psychological or mental health counseling for impacted residents.

      The bill directs the commissioner, in consultation with the State Treasurer and the chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), and any other State officials the commissioner deems appropriate, to determine the amount of costs necessary to address the environmental incident.  The bill requires the commissioner to provide written notice to the recipient business of the amount of the economic development subsidies to be forfeited or the payment to be made to the State.  The bill directs the State Treasurer, in consultation with the chief executive officer of the EDA, to provide a written notice to the recipient business certifying the amount of economic development subsidies to be forfeited or payment to be made to the State.  A recipient business may choose to either forfeit economic development subsidies or make a payment to the State.

      The bill requires any payments received by the State to be deposited into the Environmental Incident Recovery Fund established by the bill and appropriated to provide reimbursement payments to residents of communities impacted by an environmental incident for costs incurred to address the environmental incident.  The bill provides that if a recipient business fails to forfeit its economic subsidy or provide a payment to the State, the recipient business is required to forfeit all economic development subsidies awarded to the recipient business and its affiliates until the requirements of the bill are satisfied.  The bill also requires future economic development subsidy agreements entered into by the authority to include a provision specifying that a recipient business is subject to the provisions of the bill.