ASSEMBLY SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 3078

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 1, 2026

      The Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3078.

      As amended and reported, this bill requires that the Department of Environmental Protection (department) develop and publish on its Internet website a publicly-accessible, searchable, and readily updated dashboard to track real-time rainfall, river levels, sewer capacity, and flood patterns at the county and municipal level.

      The online dashboard created by the department is required to include, at a minimum, rainfall and precipitation levels, local river levels, total water level rise, storm and flood surge, drainage complaints, reported flood damage, current sewer and stormwater capacity, history of flooding, and any other features determined by the department to be necessary to establish a comprehensive dashboard system.  The dashboard is to be updated at least weekly during periods of active storms or flood risk.  The bill requires counties and municipalities to report to the department information the department determines necessary to operate the dashboard.

      Under the provisions of this bill, the department is required to annually review the dashboard, as well as reporting requirements imposed on counties and municipalities, take steps to standardize and consolidate reporting, and improve the utility of the reported data and the ability to share the data across certain systems.  The department’s review is to include identifying and eliminating duplicative reporting; assessing the need to establish or change standardized formats, requirements, protocols, and systems for data reporting; assessing State information technology needs to support technology-enabled and data-driven regulatory flood risk monitoring; anticipating potential uses for the enhanced technologies and systems; enabling systems to readily accept and analyze additional data metrics; identifying opportunities to centralize and modernize State flood and stormwater infrastructure, processes, and analytic capabilities; and identifying available federal funding to support flood data collection improvement.

      This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2026-2027 session pending technical review.  As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended this bill to: 

      (1)  standardize references to counties and municipalities throughout the bill; and

      (2)  make technical changes.