Bill Text: NJ A5657 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows municipalities to establish loan programs to fund replacement of lead service lines.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-06-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [A5657 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A5657-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman P. CHRISTOPHER TULLY
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman LISA SWAIN
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman VINCENT MAZZEO
District 2 (Atlantic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Johnson
SYNOPSIS
Allows municipalities to establish loan programs to fund replacement of lead service lines.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act allowing municipalities to establish loan programs to fund the replacement of lead service lines, supplementing P.L.1991, c.456 (C.58:12A-22.2 et al.), and amending N.J.S.40A:2-22.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. Any municipality may by ordinance establish a program to provide loans to eligible property owners for the replacement of lead service lines with lead-free service lines.
b. An ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall:
(1) require an application for a loan be made on forms prescribed by the municipality, and be accompanied with a certification of lead contamination from the water supply system, a contractor certified by the Department of Environmental Protection, or from a municipal or regional health agency certified pursuant to section 15 of P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-33);
(2) provide that a loan be for a term equal to the period of time required for the replacement of all lead service lines of the water supply system within the municipality, but at least three years, unless the loan recipient requests a shorter loan term;
(3) allow a loan recipient to repay the loan in installments on their monthly water bills;
(4) provide that a loan have an interest rate of zero for the first three years of the loan, and thereafter an interest rate sufficient to cover program costs, including the costs of any bonds issued pursuant to subsection c. of this section; and
(5) comply with the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to subsection d. of this section.
c. A municipality may issue bonds to finance a program established under an ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection a. of this section in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5. of subsection f. of N.J.S.40A:2-22.
d. On or before the first day of the thirteenth month next following the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Departments of Community Affairs and the Treasury, and the Board of Public Utilities, shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the provisions of this section.
e. As used in this section, "eligible property owner" means an owner of a one- or two-family residential property located within the municipality, which owner meets creditworthiness standards established by the municipality, and which property has: (1) a source of potable water that violates a standard for lead established by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1991, c.456 (C.58:12A-22.4); and (2) a water service line connecting a water system to the property that is constructed with lead.
2. N.J.S.40A:2-22 is amended to read as follows:
40A:2-22. The governing body of the local unit shall determine the period of usefulness of any purpose according to its reasonable life computed from the date of the bonds, which period shall not be greater than the following:
a. Buildings and structures.
1. Bridges, including retaining walls and approaches, or permanent structures of brick, stone, concrete or metal, or similar durable construction, 30 years.
2. Buildings, including the original furnishings and equipment therefor:
Class A: A building, of which all walls, floors, partitions, stairs and roof are wholly of incombustible material, except the window frames, doors, top flooring and wooden handrails on the stairs, 40 years;
Class B: A building, the outer walls of which are wholly of incombustible material, except the window frames and doors, 30 years;
Class C: A building which does not meet the requirements of Class A or Class B, 20 years.
3. Buildings or structures acquired substantially reconstructed or additions thereto, one-half the period fixed in this subsection for such buildings or structures.
4. Additional furnishings, five years.
b. Marine improvements.
1. Harbor improvements, docks or marine terminals, 40 years.
2. Dikes, bulkheads, jetties or similar devices of stone, concrete or metal, 15 years; of wood or partly of wood, 10 years.
c. Additional equipment and machinery.
1. Additional or replacement equipment and machinery, 15 years.
2. Voting machines, 15 years.
3. Information technology and telecommunications equipment, 7 years, except that for items with a unit cost of less than $5,000, 5 years.
d. Real property.
1. Acquisition for any public purpose of lands or riparian rights, or both, and the original dredging, grading, draining or planting thereof, 40 years.
2. Improvement of airport, cemetery, golf course, park, playground, 15 years.
3. Stadia of concrete or other incombustible materials, 20 years.
e. Streets or thoroughfares.
1. Elimination of grade crossings, 35 years.
2. Streets or roads:
Class A: Rigid pavement. A pavement of not less than eight inches of cement concrete or a six-inch cement concrete base with not less than three-inch bituminous concrete surface course, or equivalent wearing surface, 20 years.
Flexible pavement. A pavement not less than 10 inches in depth consisting of five-inch macadam base, three-inch modified penetration macadam and three-inch bituminous concrete surface course or other pavements of equivalent strength, in accordance with the findings of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) Road Test, 20 years.
Class B: Mixed surface-treated road. An eight-inch surface of gravel, stone or other selected material under partial control mixed with cement or lime and fly ash, six inches in compacted thickness with bituminous surface treatment and cover, 10 years.
Bituminous penetration road. A five-inch gravel or stone base course and a three-inch course bound with a bituminous or equivalent binder, 10 years.
Class C: Mixed bituminous road. An eight-inch surface of gravel, stone, or other selected material under partial control mixed with bituminous material one inch or more in compacted thickness, five years.
Penetration macadam road. A road of sand, gravel or water-bound macadam, or surfacing with penetration macadam, five years.
3. Sidewalks, curbs and gutters of stone, concrete or brick, 10 years.
The period of usefulness in this subsection shall apply to construction and reconstruction of streets and thoroughfares.
f. Utilities and municipal systems.
1. Sewerage system, whether sanitary or storm water, water supply or distribution system, 40 years.
2. Electric light, power or gas systems, garbage, refuse or ashes incinerator or disposal plant, 25 years.
3. Communication and signal systems, 10 years.
4. House connections to publicly-owned gas, water or sewerage systems from the service main in the street to the curb or property lines where not part of original installation, five years.
5. House connections to publicly-owned water systems, from the distribution main onto privately-owned real property and into the privately-owned structure, for the purpose of replacing lead-contaminated house connections, so long as the project is undertaken through a loan program established by a municipality pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), or is (a) undertaken as an environmental infrastructure project, as defined under section 3 of P.L.1985, c.334 (C.58:11B-3), and (b) funded either by loans from the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank, created pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1985, c.334 (C.58:11B-4), or by loans issued through the Department of Environmental Protection, 30 years.
g. Vehicles and apparatus.
1. Fire engines, apparatus and equipment, when purchased new, but not fire equipment purchased separately, 10 years.
2. Automotive vehicles, including original apparatus and equipment (other than passenger cars and station wagons), when purchased new, five years.
3. Major repairs, reconditioning or overhaul of fire engines and apparatus, ambulances, rescue vehicles, and similar public safety vehicles (other than passenger cars and station wagons) which may reasonably be expected to extend for at least five years the period of usefulness thereof, five years.
h. The closure of a sanitary landfill facility utilized, owned or operated by a county or municipality, 15 years; provided that the closure has been approved by the Board of Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection. For the purposes of this subsection "closure" means all activities associated with the design, purchase or construction of all measures required by the Department of Environmental Protection, pursuant to law, in order to prevent, minimize or monitor pollution or health hazards resulting from sanitary landfill facilities subsequent to the termination of operations at any portion thereof, including, but not necessarily limited to, the costs of the placement of earthen or vegetative cover, and the installation of methane gas vents or monitors and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems at the site of any sanitary landfill facility.
i. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2007, c.62.)
j. The prefunding of a claims account for environmental liability claims by an environmental impairment liability insurance pool pursuant to P.L.1993, c.269 (C.40A:10-38.1 et al.), 20 years.
(cf: P.L.2018, c.114, s.4)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would allow municipalities to establish loan programs to help homeowners replace lead service lines. The bill would apply to every municipality in the State, including those that own their own water supply system or that are serviced by a private or other public system. This bill would help homeowners abate the health hazards presented by lead service lines.
Loans under a municipal program would be available to owners of one- and two-family residential properties with a source of potable water that violates lead standards and a water service line that is constructed with lead. The owners would have to meet creditworthiness standards established by the municipality.
Loans would have a term equal to the period of time required for the replacement of all lead service lines of the water supply system within the municipality, but would have to have be for at least three years unless the loan recipient requests a shorter loan term. Loans may be repaid in installments on the monthly water bills of loan recipients. The loans would be interest-free for the first three years.
The bill would also permit municipalities to issue 30-year bonds to fund the loan program.
The bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Departments of Community Affairs and the Treasury, and the Board of Public Utilities, to adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of the bill by the first day of the sixth month next following its effective date. A municipal loan program would have to comply with these rules and regulations.
