(TRENTON) – To adjust aspects of the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank (NJIB) Fiscal Year 2022 funding for environmental infrastructure projects, Assembly Democrats sponsor three companion measures to modify, amend, and approve an updated Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Plan.
The New Jersey Infrastructure Bank (NJIB) has worked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) since 1985 to provide low-cost loans for the construction of environmental infrastructure projects. Some of these projects include enhancing and protecting ground and surface water, ensuring the safety of drinking water supplies, and making sustainable economic development possible.
The first bill (S-4078/A-5974), sponsored by Assembly members Linda Carter (D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union), Sterley Stanley (D-Middlesex), and Annette Chaparro (D-Hudson), would modify the list of projects eligible to receive loans for environmental infrastructure projects and modify the trust loan amounts for certain projects. Furthermore, the measure would authorize the NJIB to expend up to $1.62 billion to provide loans to project sponsors for a total of 182 eligible environmental infrastructure projects. The measure passed Thursday by the full Assembly 76-0 and the Senate 36-0.
A second complementary measure would amend the list of environmental infrastructure projects approved for long-term funding and make various changes to the funding program. The bill (A-5975), sponsored by Assembly members Clinton Calabrese (D-Bergen, Passaic), Cleopatra Tucker (D-Essex), and Pedro Mejia (D-Bergen, Hudson), would include new projects and allow funds appropriated to the Department of Environmental Protection to be used for combined sewer overflow or stormwater management projects. The measure was passed Thursday by the full Assembly 77-0 and the Senate 35-0.
Every year, the NJIB creates a financial plan with the NJDEP and is required to be approved by the Legislature, which provides loans for the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program. Assembly Democrats Gabriela Mosquera (D-Camden, Gloucester), James Kennedy (D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union), and Shanique Speight (D-Essex) sponsor the concurrent resolution (ACR-220) that would approve the Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Plan of the NJIB. The resolution was passed Thursday by the full Assembly 76-0 and the Senate 36-0.
Upon Assembly approval, the sponsors issued the following joint statement:
“The two bills and resolution are essential for the development of New Jersey’s environmental management and the continued growth of safe infrastructure. The New Jersey Infrastructure Financing Program and NJIB have been instrumental in progressing our infrastructure projects and have allowed us to make great strides to better safeguard our State from environmental concerns. With this new adjusted FY2022 Financial Plan, we are confident in our ability to produce safer drinking water in New Jersey and protect our State’s resources.”