SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3802

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 8, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3802.

      As amended, this bill would require that any plastic construction materials used by a State-funded construction project carried out by the State, a county, a municipality, or a public utility contain at least 10 percent postconsumer recycled content if purchased within two years of the bill's effective date, and at least 15 percent for plastic construction materials purchased thereafter.

     The bill would apply to construction materials that contain greater than 50 percent plastic, calculated by cost.  The bill defines "construction material" as an article, material, or supply that is brought to the site of a construction project for incorporation into the building or work, which meets applicable standards related to performance and is of a satisfactory quality.

     The bill would provide exemptions to the bill's postconsumer recycled content requirements if:  (1) the use of plastic construction material that contains the necessary recycled content would increase the overall cost of the State-funded project by 20 percent, or (2) construction materials, other than plastic materials that meet the post consumer recycled content in the bill’s provisions, do not exist for the intended application or are not available in sufficient quantities.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  include publicly owned utilities in the definition of “governmental entity”;

      (2)  stipulate that the exemption to the bill’s postconsumer recycled content requirements applies if the use of plastic construction material that contains the necessary recycled content would increase the overall cost of the State-funded project by 20 percent, rather than 25 percent;

      (3)  permit the use of construction materials that are not plastic that contains the necessary postconsumer recycled content if there are no comparable plastic construction materials that exist for the intended application or if the comparable plastic construction materials are not available in sufficient quantities; and

      (4)  make clarifying revisions.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services finds that requiring State-funded construction projects to incorporate plastic construction materials that contain postconsumer recycled content will result in an indeterminate annual State expenditure increase.

      Postconsumer recycled content has greater costs associated with its production, leading to higher costs for buyers.  The actual increase will depend on the number of construction projects subject to the requirement, the scope of each construction project, and the amount of plastic construction materials used in such projects.

      The bill provides exemptions to the postconsumer recycled content requirements if the overall cost of the project increases by at least 25 percent or if the materials needed for the construction project are not available.  Both exemptions may help to lower the State expenditure increases associated with the provisions of the bill.