New Jersey-2020-A3875-Introduced

An Act concerning road salt reserves and supplementing Title 27 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 General Fund a separate, non-lapsing, dedicated account to be known as the "New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve Fund." This fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer.

b. Moneys in the fund shall be appropriated annually to the Department of Transportation for the costs of purchasing, storing, and maintaining the New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve established pursuant section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

c. The fund shall accept any moneys that: (1) the Legislature may appropriate into the fund from time to time to establish and maintain the New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve established pursuant section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); and (2) any revenues received by the department from the sale of salt in the reserve to counties and municipalities.

2. a. There is hereby established in the Department of Transportation a "New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve."

b. The reserve shall consist of three road salt storage facilities, of which one shall be located in the northern portion of the State, one shall be located in the central part of the State, and one shall be located in the southern part of the State.

c. Each facility shall be accessible by municipal and county public works departments.

d. The Commissioner of Transportation, in consultation with the Director of the State Office of Emergency Management, shall determine the amount of salt to be purchased and stored each year.

e. Any road salt remaining in the reserve at the end of the year shall be stored for use in the following year.

3. a. The department shall make road salt from the New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve available for purchase to counties and municipalities in the State which have exhausted their own supply of road salt during a winter season.

b. The commissioner shall establish a process for counties and municipalities to purchase road salt from the reserve. This process shall include: (1) setting a price for the road salt based upon the department's actual expenses incurred in acquiring and maintaining the reserve; (2) verification that the county or municipality purchased and exhausted a supply of road salt in the current fiscal year; and (3) verification that the county or municipality was unable to reasonably acquire a replacement supply of road salt.

c. The reserve is to be held separately from any road salt supply acquired by the department for the department's own winter operations.

d. The department shall not access any quantities of road salt from the reserve for its own use.

4. The department may adopt such rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

5. This act shall take effect on July 1 next following the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Reserve (reserve) in the Department of Transportation (department) and New Jersey Strategic Road Salt Fund (fund) in the General Fund. The reserve will consist of three road salt storage facilities to be located in the northern, central, and southern portions of the State. The reserve will be a supply of road salt available for purchase by counties and municipalities that have exhausted their own supplies of road salt during the winter and are unable to reasonably access a replacement supply. The amount charged by the department for road salt from the reserve will be based on the department's actual costs to operate the reserve.

Monies from the fund shall annually be appropriated to the department for the cost of administering the reserve. The annual purchase of road salt for the reserve shall be determined by the Commissioner of Transportation in consultation with the Director of the State Office of Emergency management. Monies in the fund shall consist of legislative appropriations and revenues from the sale of road salt reserves to counties and municipalities.

The purpose of the reserve is to preserve public roadway safety by providing a safety net for local governments who must ration or eliminate salt spreading due to Statewide and regional shortages.