Bill Text: NJ A669 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides three years of partial funding to urban enterprise zone assistance fund for Hurricane Sandy relief.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-16 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee [A669 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A669-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman JASON O'DONNELL
District 31 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Provides three years of partial funding to urban enterprise zone assistance fund for Hurricane Sandy relief.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning the urban enterprise zone assistance fund and assistance for businesses recovering from damages related to Hurricane Sandy.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The State Treasurer shall establish a special subaccount within the accounts of each enterprise zone designated under section 29 of P.L.1983, c.303 (C.52:27H-88) for the purpose of Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The State Treasurer shall, for fiscal years 2013, 2014, and 2015 on or retroactive to July 1st of the respective fiscal year, credit to each subaccount an amount of the moneys deposited in the enterprise zone assistance fund equal to one half of the amount of revenues collected from the taxation of retail sales made in the enterprise zone in the preceding fiscal year.
2. Notwithstanding any provisions of P.L.1983, c.303 (C.52:27H-60 et seq.) to the contrary, funds placed within the subaccounts created pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall only be used for the following purposes: a. to provide grants for infrastructure repairs and improvements which are either directly related to damages caused by Hurricane Sandy or directly related to improvements that will create jobs within the enterprise zone in an area effected by Hurricane Sandy; and b. to provide low-interest or extended-term loans to qualified businesses that suffered losses as a result of Hurricane Sandy, and up to 7.5 percent of the funds within the subaccounts may be used for administrative costs directly related to the infrastructure project or loan program.
3. Any loans issued using funds placed within the subaccounts created pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall not exceed $50,000 per job retained or created by the qualified business, and the qualified municipality zone development corporation shall demonstrate that any loan issued shall either be made in conjunction with any applicable Federal Emergency Management Administration or United States Small Business Administration assistance program eligibility criteria, or in cases where a business is ineligible for such programs, the loan shall result in job restoration or new job creation within the enterprise zone.
4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire on July 1, 2015.
STATEMENT
This bill would immediately provide all urban enterprise zones (UEZs) with one-half of the sales tax collected in each UEZ in the prior year to be deposited into the urban enterprise zone assistance fund for three years, starting with this year and ending in fiscal year 2015. This amount is half of the full amount that a UEZ would receive, not any reduced amount based on the UEZ phase out schedules for UEZ municipalities established pursuant to the "New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zones Act," P.L.1983, c.303 (C.52:27H-60 et seq.).
These funds shall be used by UEZs for infrastructure repairs and improvements related to damages caused by Hurricane Sandy, job creation in areas effected by Hurricane Sandy, and for loans to qualified businesses that were directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The loans must be made in conjunction with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or United States Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, or in cases where a qualified business is not eligible for a FEMA or SBA program, the loan must result in job creation or restoration. A loan shall not be made for more than $50,000 per job created or restored, and no more than 7.5 percent of the funding shall be used for administrative costs related to the infrastructure or loan projects.
Except for these restrictions on the use of funds, these subaccounts are subject to all existing UEZ and urban enterprise zone assistance fund statutes, rules, and regulations. The bill takes effect immediately and expires on the first day of fiscal year 2016.
