SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4374

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 4, 2026

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 4374.

      As reported, this bill requires the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to, within three months of the bill’s effective date, enter into a memorandum of understanding with nonprofit organizations and utility companies that administer utility bill payment assistance programs that provide ongoing assistance to residential customers.  The memorandum of understanding is to require, on a timeline specified in the bill: 1) a nonprofit organization or utility company to provide DCA with a list of utility customers and the eligibility criteria for any utility bill payment assistance program that provides ongoing assistance administered by the nonprofit or utility company; 2) the DCA to, utilizing the information provided by the nonprofit or utility company and data concerning Universal Service Fund and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program data, identify households eligible for a utility bill payment assistance program that provides ongoing assistance administered by the nonprofit organization or utility company; and 3) the nonprofit organization or utility company to automatically enroll eligible households into utility bill payment assistance programs that provide ongoing assistance administered by the nonprofit or utility company.

      Under the bill, the DCA is required to report to the Governor, and to the Legislature, the name of any nonprofit organization that administers a utility bill payment assistance program in the State that declines, or fails, to enter into a memorandum of understanding pursuant to the bill.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill is not certified as requiring a fiscal note.