Bill Text: NJ A1738 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Establishes Capture, Control, and Conserve Reward Rebate Program in DEP to encourage property owners to implement certain techniques to conserve water or control stormwater runoff.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-19 - Reported out of Assembly Comm. with Amendments, 2nd Reading [A1738 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2014-A1738-Introduced.html

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ASSEMBLY, No. 1738

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

216th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2014 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  TIMOTHY J. EUSTACE

District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblyman  BENJIE E. WIMBERLY

District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblyman  REED GUSCIORA

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes Capture, Control, and Conserve Reward Rebate Program in DEP to encourage property owners to implement certain techniques to conserve water or control stormwater runoff.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

  

An Act concerning water conservation and stormwater runoff and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  There is established in the Department of Environmental Protection the Capture, Control, and Conserve Reward Rebate Program.  The purpose of the program shall be to encourage property owners to implement various approved techniques to help conserve water and control the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff from their individual properties.

     b.    The department shall issue a reward rebate to any property owner who implements an eligible water capture, control, or conserve technique on the person's property, and submits a complete application for the reward rebate.  The amount of the reward rebate shall not exceed $2,500 per property for residential property or $10,000 per property for commercial, multi-family, or institutional property.  The department may base the amount of an individual reward rebate, at least in part, upon the amount of impervious cover on the property and the projected effectiveness of the selected water capture, control, or conserve technique or techniques in countering negative environmental effects caused by the impervious cover.  Eligible water capture, control, or conserve techniques shall include the following:

     (1) rain gardens;

     (2) conservation landscaping;

     (3) tree canopies;

     (4) permeable paving surfaces;

     (5) green roofs;

     (6) rain barrels and cisterns;

     (7) dry wells; and

     (8) any other technique determined to be eligible by the department.

     c.     The Department of Environmental Protection shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of this act.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill would establish in the Department of Environmental Protection the Capture, Control, and Conserve Reward Rebate Program.  The purpose of the program would be to encourage property owners to implement various approved techniques to help conserve water and control the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff from their individual properties.

     The department would issue a reward rebate to any property owner who (1) implements an eligible water capture, control, or conserve technique on the person's property, and (2) submits a complete application for the reward rebate.  The amount of the reward rebate could not exceed $2,500 per property for residential property or $10,000 per property for commercial, multi-family, or institutional property.  The department would be authorized to base the amount of an individual reward rebate, at least in part, upon the amount of impervious cover on the property and the projected effectiveness of the selected water capture, control, or conserve technique in countering negative environmental effects caused by the impervious cover.  Eligible water capture, control, or conserve techniques would include the following:

     (1) rain gardens;

     (2) conservation landscaping;

     (3) tree canopies;

     (4) permeable paving surfaces;

     (5) green roofs;

     (6) rain barrels and cisterns;

     (7) dry wells; and

     (8) any other technique determined to be eligible by the department.

     The program established by this bill is based in part upon a program that has been successfully implemented in Montgomery County, Maryland, called the RainScapes Program.