Bill Text: NJ A4991 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes rock quarry blasting liability and insurance requirements, dedicated and revolving compensation fund, and tax-based funding mechanism, to facilitate reimbursement of costs expended, by eligible individuals, in remediating certain blasting-related damages.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-10-24 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee [A4991 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4991-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CARMEN THERESA MORALES
District 34 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes rock quarry blasting liability and insurance requirements, dedicated and revolving compensation fund, and tax-based funding mechanism, to facilitate reimbursement of costs expended, by eligible individuals, in remediating certain blasting-related damages.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning rock quarry blasting and the remediation of certain damages resulting therefrom, and supplementing Title 21 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the "Blasting Damages Compensation Act."
2. The Legislature finds and declares that the safe and proper use of explosives in, and for purposes of, rock quarry excavation, is essential to the public health and welfare; that the use of explosive blasting methods in rock quarry excavation has previously caused, and has the ongoing potential to cause, significant damage to nearby residential buildings and associated structures, as well as natural resources, including residential water supplies, which are located off the quarry site, but which are within the boundaries of a blast impact zone; that the structural and other residential resource damages resulting from rock quarry blasting operations and activities can be difficult to remediate, exorbitantly expensive to address, and, when not properly addressed, can lead to structural instability, a significant reduction in residential property values, and personal injury to, or threats to the health and safety of, residents; that it is the residents of this State, rather than the owners and operators of rock quarries, who currently bear the costs and other burdens associated with ensuring the timely and proper repair, remediation, and restoration of residential property and resource damages and other related damages resulting from nearby rock quarry blasting operations and activities; and that it is, therefore, reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest, for the State to establish a system and appropriate mechanisms by which eligible owners and residents of residential property may seek and obtain adequate recompense for residential property damages and other related damages resulting from blasting operations and activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry.
3. As used in this act:
"Blast impact zone" or "impact zone" means the area of land surrounding, and off the site of, a rock quarry, including all of the residential buildings and associated structures, as well as all natural resources, situated thereupon, which land area is contained within the mathematically determined blast radius resulting, or expected to result, from the use of explosives in association with a rock quarry blasting operation or activity.
"Blasting" means the use of explosives and controlled explosive blasts to fragment or displace stone, slate, or rock embedded in the ground at a rock quarry.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
"Compensable damages" means damages to residential property, and other related damages, as identified in subsection b. of section 8 of this act, which have occurred in a blast impact zone as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry, and for which an eligible claimant may seek and obtain reimbursement and compensation, either through an insurance policy or self-insurance fund maintained pursuant to section 5 of this act, or through the fund established pursuant to section 8 of this act, or both, as appropriate.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
"Division" means the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
"Eligible claimant" means the owner, or any resident, of residential property located within a blast impact zone, who suffers compensable damages as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry, and who is eligible to seek and obtain reimbursement and compensation, either through an insurance policy or self-insurance fund maintained pursuant to section 5 of this act, or through the fund established pursuant to section 8 of this act, or both, as appropriate, for the eligible costs expended thereby in redressing such compensable damages.
"Eligible compensable damage costs" or "eligible costs" means those costs that are incurred by the owner, or by any resident, of residential property located in a blast impact zone, in order to promptly and properly address and mitigate residential property damages or other compensable damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry.
"Excavation" or "excavate" means the act of cutting, drilling, or blasting open cuts, shafts, tunnels, entries, winzes, raises, stopes, or any other working places or parts of a rock quarry.
"Explosives" means the same as that term is defined by section 2 of the "Explosives Act," P.L.1960, c.55 (C.21:1A-129).
"Fund" means the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund, established pursuant to section 8 of this act.
"Owner or operator" means and includes, in addition to the usual meanings thereof, every owner of record of any interest in land whereon a rock quarry is or has been located, and any person or corporation which owns a majority interest in any other corporation that is the owner or operator of a rock quarry.
"Residential property" means any building, structure, unit, or land area, or any combination thereof, which is zoned for residential use.
"Rock quarry" or "quarry" means a pit or other ground-based excavation site, usually open to the air, from which stone, slate, rock, or gravel is obtained through the use of cutting, drilling, or blasting excavation processes.
"Tax period" means each calendar month or other period, as may be prescribed by rule or regulation adopted by the director, on the basis of which the owner or operator of a rock quarry is required to report to the director pursuant to subsection b. of section 7 of this act.
"Taxpayer" means the owner or operator of a rock quarry, who is subject to the tax-related provisions of this act.
4. a. Every owner or operator of a rock quarry shall be jointly and severally liable for the proper operation of the quarry in this State, and for the payment of damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry, as provided by this act.
b. In order to provide enhanced public transparency in association with blasting operations and activities undertaken at rock quarries in the State, and in order to ensure and facilitate the timely and accurate identification and documentation of compensable damages proximately resulting therefrom, the owner or operator of each rock quarry that is being excavated, in this State, through the use of blasting techniques and methods, shall:
(1) provide for appropriate staff employed, or third-parties contracted, thereby to independently conduct separate pre-blasting and post-blasting residential property and natural resource blast impact assessments, both immediately before and immediately after each blasting operation or activity undertaken at the quarry, in order to monitor and document the condition of residential properties and natural resources located within the blast impact zone and identify damages, to such properties and resources, which have proximately resulted from each such blasting operation or activity;
(2) provide advanced public and municipal notice of each blasting operation or activity to be undertaken at the rock quarry, at least two weeks prior to the commencement thereof, through use of all of the following means and methods: (a) the prominent online posting of blasting notice on the department's Internet website; (b) the delivery, by certified mail or other verified means, of written blasting notice to the governing body of each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the relevant blast impact zone; (c) the prominent posting of relevant and readily identifiable blasting notice signs and signage, on residential streets and street corners and at other prominent or centralized locations in residential neighborhoods lying within the relevant blast impact zone; and (d) the publication of blasting notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation covering each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the blast impact zone;
(3) within 30 days after the conclusion of each post-blast impact assessment conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, deliver to each residential property address falling within the blast impact zone, by certified mail, a written blast impact and damage assessment notice that: (a) identifies the damages, if any, to such residential property and to any assessed natural resources in the blast impact zone, which have been identified through the course of the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection; and (b) sets forth the assessor's independent findings as to whether, and the extent to which, the damages identified pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph have proximately resulted from blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry;
(4) develop and submit, to the department, in a form and manner, and on an annual or other regular basis, as prescribed thereby, a written blast impact and insurance coverage report: describing the processes, procedures, and standards used, by relevant rock quarry employees or third-party contractors, in the performance of the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments required by paragraph (1) of this subsection; identifying and categorizing, by location, type, and severity, the residential property damages, natural resource damages, and other related damages, identified as a result of such blast impact assessments or otherwise, which are or may be deemed to be compensable pursuant to this act; and indicating whether, and the extent to which, eligible claimants may seek and obtain reimbursement, through an insurance policy or self-insurance fund maintained pursuant to section 5 of this act, for the eligible compensable damage costs incurred thereby as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry; and identifying the total number and dollar amount of insurance claims submitted and paid-out, during the reporting period, either pursuant to such insurance policy or through such self-insurance fund, as the case may be; and
(5) provide other public disclosures relevant to the blasting operations and activities being undertaken at the rock quarry and the blast impact assessments being undertaken pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, as directed by the department.
c. The commissioner shall post each blast impact and insurance coverage report, submitted pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection b. of this section, at a publicly accessible location on the department's Internet website, and shall provide an electronic means by which members of the public can search for and locate relevant blast impact and insurance coverage reports and other blasting-related information appearing on the website, by county or municipality.
d. The department shall conduct regular site and records inspections at each rock quarry where blasting operations or activities are undertaken in the State, in order to monitor and ensure ongoing compliance with the provisions of this section. Each rock quarry owner or operator, and all persons employed or contracted thereby, shall comply with the orders of the department in association with any site or records inspections conducted thereby, during reasonable business hours, pursuant to this subsection.
5. a. The Department of Banking and Insurance, acting in cooperation and consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, and with licensed insurance carriers operating in the State, shall provide for the development and issuance of, or the modification and reissuance, as appropriate, of new or existing insurance policies providing coverage sufficient to ensure that the owners and residents of residential properties located within a blast impact zone are able to recover, without threat of exorbitant insurance premium increases or policy cancellation, and that rock quarry owners or operators are obligated to pay, the eligible costs incurred by the property owner for the repair, restoration, or remediation of compensable damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry.
b. (1) The owner or operator of a rock quarry shall deposit, on a monthly basis, in an interest-bearing account with an accredited financial institution, an amount equal to $1.00 per ton of all rock and other material excavated from the quarry during the preceding month. In the event that any excavated material is measured by units other than tons, the amount to be deposited, pursuant to this subsection, shall be calculated using appropriate tonnage equivalents, as determined by the director.
(2) The interest-bearing account established pursuant to this section shall constitute an escrow account for blasting-related insurance claims coverage, and the moneys deposited therein shall be dedicated and used, by the owner or operator of the rock quarry, only for the purposes of:
(a) purchasing, maintaining, and complying with the terms of, a general liability insurance policy, offered by a licensed insurance carrier, which policy includes coverage for eligible costs expended by the policyholder in association with the repair, restoration, or remediation of compensable damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities; or
(b) as authorized or directed by the department, establishing and maintaining a self-insurance fund, to be administered by the rock quarry owner or operator, or a designee thereof, which self-insurance fund shall be sufficient to ensure the rock quarry's ability to satisfy all known and anticipated compensable damage insurance claims obligations associated with blasting operations and activities undertaken at the quarry.
6. a. Any owner or operator of a rock quarry who fails to comply with the provisions of section 4 or subsection b. of section 5 of this act, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000 for the first offense, not less than $300 nor more than $10,000 for the second offense, and not less than $500 nor more than $20,000 for the third or subsequent offense, to be collected, by the department, in a summary proceeding commenced pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10).
b. In any case where a penalty is imposed, pursuant to this section, for an offense involving a violation of the requirements of subsection b. of section 5 of this act, or for an offense involving a violation of section 4 of this act which has resulted from the rock quarry owner or operator's refusal to obey an order of the commissioner, each day during which the violation continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense, except, in the latter such case, during any period of time when an appeal from the relevant order of the commissioner is pending.
c. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, all owners and operators of a rock quarry shall be deemed to be jointly and severally liable for the payment of any penalty that is imposed against any single such owner or operator, pursuant to this subsection.
(2) Any offense committed, under this section, by a rock quarry employee or third-party contractor, while acting within the scope of such person's employment or contracted authority, shall be deemed to constitute an offense committed by the owner or operator of the rock quarry, for which all such owners and operators are jointly and severally liable, as provided by this section.
d. The commissioner shall be authorized to compromise and settle any claim for a penalty, under this section, for an amount that is deemed to be appropriate and equitable under all of the circumstances.
e. Any penalties imposed and collected, pursuant to this subsection, shall be deposited into the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund, established pursuant to section 8 of this act, for the fund's dedicated use and purposes.
7. a. A tax shall be levied, upon the owner or operator of each rock quarry in the State, as provided by this section. The tax shall be levied on all rock and other materials excavated from the quarry, at the rate of $0.15 per cubic yard of solids, and at a rate of $0.002 per gallon of liquids. In the event that any excavated materials are measured, upon excavation, by other than cubic yards or gallons, the tax shall be levied on the equivalents thereof, as determined by the director.
b. (1) On or before the 20th day of the month following the close of each tax period, the owner or operator of a rock quarry in the State shall render a return to the director, under oath, on such forms as may be prescribed thereby, indicating the total number of cubic yards of rock and other solid materials, and the total number of gallons of liquid materials, excavated from the quarry during the tax period, and shall pay the full amount of the tax due.
(2) Every rock quarry owner or operator who is subject to the tax established pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall register with the director, on forms prescribed thereby, within 20 days after the date on which rock or other material is first excavated from the quarry following the effective date of this act.
c. If a tax return required by this section is not filed, or if such return, when filed, is incorrect or insufficient in the opinion of the director, the amount of the tax due shall be determined, by the director, using such information as may be available. Notice of the director's determination shall be given to the taxpayer who is liable for the payment of the tax, and such determination shall finally and irrevocably fix the tax to be paid thereby, unless such taxpayer, within 30 days after receiving notice thereof, applies to the director for a hearing, or the director, on the director's own motion, elects to redetermine the tax. After a hearing held pursuant to this subsection, the director shall give notice of the director's determination to the taxpayer against whom the tax is assessed.
d. Any taxpayer who fails to file a tax return, or who fails to pay any tax when due, as provided by this section, shall be subject to penalties and interest, as provided by the State Tax Uniform Procedure Law, R.S.54:48-1 et seq. If the division determines that the failure to comply with any provision of this section was excusable under the circumstances, the director may waive such part, or all, of the relevant penalties paid, pursuant to this subsection, as the director deems appropriate under the circumstances.
e. In addition to the other powers granted to the director in this section, the director shall be authorized and empowered to:
(1) prescribe and distribute all necessary forms required for the implementation of this section; and
(2) delegate to any officer or employee of the division, and authorize such officer or employee to exercise, such powers and duties as the director may deem necessary to efficiently carry out the provisions of this section.
f. The tax imposed by this section shall be governed, in all respects, by the provisions of the State Tax Uniform Procedure Law, R.S.54:48-1 et seq., except to the extent that a specific provision of this section is in conflict with that law, in which case, the specific provision of this section shall be applicable.
8. a. The Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund is established as a nonlapsing, revolving fund in the Department of Environmental Protection. The fund shall be administered by the department, and shall be credited with:
(1) all tax revenues and penalties collected by the division pursuant to section 7 of this act;
(2) all penalties collected by the department pursuant to section 6 of this act;
(3) all interest received on moneys in the fund; and
(4) any other moneys appropriated, donated, or otherwise made available, to the department, for the purposes of this act.
b. The moneys deposited into the fund shall be annually appropriated to the department for distribution to eligible claimants to reimburse the following blasting-related damages and costs, to the extent that such damages and costs are not otherwise covered by, and are not eligible for reimbursement under, an insurance policy maintained, or a self-insurance fund established, pursuant to section 5 of this act:
(1) the costs incurred by a residential property owner in association with the repair, restoration, replacement, or remediation of residential buildings, structures, units, or lands, owned thereby and located in a blast impact zone, which have been damaged or destroyed as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry;
(2) the costs incurred by a residential property owner in association with the restoration, replacement, or remediation, to the extent necessary and possible, of any natural resource, including, but not limited to, any potable water supply, which is located on, or which serves, one or more residential buildings, structures, units, or lands owned thereby and located in a blast impact zone, and which natural resource has been damaged or destroyed as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry;
(3) the medical expenses incurred and income lost by the owner or resident of residential property in a blast impact zone, for personal injuries suffered thereby, either directly, as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry, or indirectly, as a proximate result of residential property or natural resources damages proximately caused by blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry; and
(4) the costs incurred by the owner or resident of residential property located in a blast impact zone in order to undertake any action, or to design, construct, install, operate, or maintain any device, which is deemed by the department to be necessary to clean up, remedy, mitigate, monitor, or analyze any threat to the health, safety, or welfare of State residents, which is or may be associated with blasting operations and activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry.
c. In order to obtain reimbursement from the fund for eligible damages and costs, a residential property owner or resident shall submit an application therefor to the department, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner, within one year after the date on which the claimant discovers the damages for which compensation is due.
d. The total amount of compensation awarded from the fund to each eligible claimant shall be reduced by the total amount of eligible compensable damage costs, as reported by the claimant, for which reimbursement is authorized, or has already been provided, under an insurance policy maintained, or a self-insurance fund established, pursuant to section 5 of this act, less any sum that is owed or has been paid by the claimant, as a deductible, in association with such insurance claims or coverage.
e. Whenever the total amount of compensation to be awarded in any year, to all eligible claimants who have timely submitted applications therefor pursuant to subsection c. of this section, exceeds the remaining balance of moneys in the fund, the individual compensation awards issued pursuant to this section shall be paid out on a pro rata basis, and each eligible claimant, as determined by the department, shall be allocated a pro rata share of moneys currently available in, and newly received by, the fund, in each fiscal year, until the total amount of proven and otherwise uncompensated damages has been paid to all such eligible claimants. The department may also establish, by rule or regulation, a priority-based claims payment system that prioritizes the payment of compensable damage claims based on extreme hardship or the existence of an extreme existing or imminent hazard, as deemed by the department to be appropriate.
f. The commissioner shall develop and institute a streamlined and accessible process to promote and facilitate timeliness and accuracy in association with the reporting of compensable damage claims, the submission of applications for reimbursement from the fund, and the issuance of appropriate compensable damage awards from the fund, pursuant to this section. The process developed pursuant to this subsection shall, at a minimum, provide for the use of mediation, arbitration, and other appropriate, non-adversarial means and methods to facilitate and ensure the extrajudicial resolution of disputes arising in association with relevant compensable damage assessments, proximate cause determinations, claims eligibility and award amount determinations, and other relevant determinations which are necessary to ensure and facilitate the timely, accurate, and proper reporting and processing of compensable damage claims pursuant to this section.
g. Moneys in the fund shall be disbursed, by the department, for the following dedicated purposes and no others:
(1) the payment, to eligible claimants, of appropriate compensation for compensable damages proximately resulting from rock quarry blasting operations and activities, as provided by this section; and
(2) administrative costs incurred by the department in administering the fund and in otherwise implementing the provisions of this act.
h. The department shall annually prepare and submit, to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, a written report:
(1) evaluating the status and ongoing sufficiency of available moneys in the fund;
(2) describing the compensable damage claims submitted through the fund, and the types and location of compensable damages for which compensation from the fund has been awarded, both during the annual reporting period and over the full span of time elapsing since the enactment of this act;
(3) identifying the total number, and the minimum, maximum, median, and average dollar amount, of individual compensation awards issued, as well as the total amount of moneys disbursed, from the fund during the annual reporting period and over the full span of time elapsing since the enactment of this act; and
(4) including any other information that is deemed, by the commissioner, to be relevant.
9. The State Treasurer and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, in consultation with one another, as appropriate, shall each adopt 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 implement the provisions of this act.
10. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would establish explosive blasting-related liability and insurance requirements for the owners and operators of rock quarries, as well as a dedicated, revolving fund and tax-based funding mechanism, to enable residential property owners and residents to seek and obtain appropriate compensation for residential property damages and other related damages (defined as "compensable damages" under the bill), which have proximately resulted from blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry.
In order to provide enhanced public transparency in association with rock quarry blasting operations and activities undertaken in the State, and in order to ensure and facilitate the timely and accurate identification and documentation of compensable damages proximately resulting therefrom, the bill would require the owner or operator of each rock quarry, which is being excavated in this State through the use of blasting techniques and methods, to:
1) provide for appropriate staff employed, or third-parties contracted, thereby to independently conduct separate pre-blasting and post-blasting residential property and natural resource blast impact assessments, both immediately before and immediately after each blasting operation or activity undertaken at the quarry, in order to monitor and document the condition of residential properties and natural resources located within the blast impact zone and identify damages, to such properties and resources, which have proximately resulted from each such blasting operation or activity;
2) provide advanced public and municipal notice of each blasting operation or activity to be undertaken at the rock quarry, at least two weeks prior to the commencement thereof, through use of all of the following means and methods: the prominent online posting of blasting notice on the department's Internet website; the delivery, by certified mail or other verified means, of written blasting notice to the governing body of each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the relevant blast impact zone; the prominent posting of relevant and readily identifiable blasting notice signs and signage, on residential streets and street corners and at other prominent or centralized locations in residential neighborhoods lying within the relevant blast impact zone; and the publication of blasting notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation covering each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the blast impact zone;
3) within 30 days after the conclusion of each post-blast impact assessment conducted under the bill, deliver to each residential property address falling within the blast impact zone, by certified mail, a written blast impact and damage assessment notice that identifies the damages, if any, to such residential property and to any assessed natural resources in the blast impact zone, which have been identified during the course of the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments conducted pursuant to the bill, and which sets forth the assessor's independent findings as to whether, and the extent to which, such damages have proximately resulted from blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry;
4) develop and submit, to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in a form and manner, and on an annual or other regular basis, as prescribed thereby, a written blast impact and insurance coverage report: describing the processes, procedures, and standards used, by relevant rock quarry employees or third-party contractors, in conducting the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments required by the bill; identifying and categorizing, by location, type, and severity, the residential property damages, natural resource damages, and other related damages, discovered through such blast impact assessments or otherwise, which are or may be deemed to be compensable under the bill; indicating whether, and the extent to which eligible claimants may seek and obtain reimbursement, through an insurance policy or a self-insurance fund maintained by the rock quarry owner or operator, in accordance with the bill's provisions, for the eligible compensable damage costs incurred by such claimants as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry; and identifying the total number and dollar amount of insurance claims submitted and paid-out, during the reporting period, under the terms of such insurance policy, or through such self-insurance fund; and
5) provide other public disclosures relevant to the blasting operations and activities being undertaken at the rock quarry and the blast impact assessments being undertaken pursuant to the bill, as directed by the DEP.
Each blast impact and insurance coverage report, submitted under the bill, would be posted at a publicly accessible location on the DEP's Internet website, and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection would be required to provide an electronic means by which members of the public can search for and locate relevant blast impact and insurance coverage reports and other blasting-related information appearing on the website, by county or municipality.
The bill would provide for the Department of Banking and Insurance, working in cooperation and consultation with the DEP and licensed insurance carriers operating in the State, to provide for the development and initial issuance, or for the modification and reissuance, as appropriate, of new or existing insurance policies providing coverage sufficient to enable eligible claimants to recover, without threat of exorbitant insurance premium increases or policy cancellation, and to require rock quarry owners or operators to pay, the costs incurred by such claimants for residential property damages and other compensable damages, as set forth in the bill, proximately resulting from rock quarry blasting operations or activities. The bill would require the owner or operator of a rock quarry to deposit, on a monthly basis, in an interest-bearing account with an accredited financial institution, an amount equal to $1.00 per ton (or the equivalent, as determined by the Division of Taxation) of all rock and other material excavated from the quarry during the preceding month. Such interest-bearing account would be deemed to constitute an escrow account for blasting-related insurance claims coverage, and the moneys deposited therein are to be dedicated and used only in order to enable the rock quarry owner or operator: 1) to purchase, from a licensed insurance carrier, general liability insurance that includes coverage for damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities; or 2) as authorized or directed by the DEP, to establish and maintain a self-insurance fund sufficient to ensure the rock quarry's ability to satisfy its known and anticipated compensable damage insurance claims obligations in association with blasting operations and activities undertaken at the quarry.
The bill would additionally provide for the Director of the Division of Taxation, in the Department of the Treasury, to levy a tax, to be paid by the owner or operator of each rock quarry, on all rock and other materials excavated from each rock quarry. The bill would require a quarry owner or operator to file a tax return, at the close of each tax period, indicating the total amount of materials excavated from the quarry during the tax period, and paying the full amount of the tax due. Every owner or operator of a rock quarry in the State would be required to register with the director, for such purposes, within 20 days after the date on which rock or other material is first excavated from the quarry following the bill's effective date. Any taxpayer who fails to file a tax return, or who fails to pay the requisite tax, when due, as provided by the bill, would be subject to appropriate tax penalties and interest, as provided by the State Tax Uniform Procedure Law, R.S.54:48-1 et seq.
Any rock quarry owner or operator who fails to comply with the public transparency or insurance coverage requirements, established by the bill, would be subject to a penalty of $100 to $5,000 for the first offense, $300 to $10,000 for the second offense, and $500 to $20,000 for the third or subsequent offense, which penalty is to be collected, by the DEP, in a summary proceeding, and deposited into the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund - a nonlapsing revolving fund to be established under the bill and administered by the DEP - for the fund's dedicated use and purposes. The bill would further specify that every owner and operator of a rock quarry is to be deemed jointly and severally liable for the payment of any penalty that is imposed, under the bill, against any single such owner or operator; and that any offense committed by a rock quarry employee or third-party contractor will be deemed to constitute an offense committed by the quarry owner or operator, for which all such owners and operators are jointly and severally liable.
Under the bill's provisions, all moneys in the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund are to be dedicated and used for the reimbursement of eligible and uninsured costs incurred by eligible claimants in association with the repair, restoration, or remediation of residential property damages or other compensable damages, as set forth in the bill, which have proximately resulted from rock quarry blasting operations or activities. Any person seeking reimbursement from the fund would be required to submit an application therefor within one year after the discovery of damages for which compensation is due. The commissioner would further be required to develop and institute a streamlined and accessible process to promote and facilitate timeliness and accuracy in association with the reporting of compensable damage claims, the submission of applications for reimbursement from the fund, and the issuance of appropriate compensable damage awards from the fund. This process would be required to provide, at a minimum, for the use of mediation, arbitration, and other appropriate non-adversarial means and methods to facilitate and ensure the extrajudicial resolution of disputes arising in association with compensable damage claims submitted through the fund.
In any case where the total amount of compensation to be awarded from the fund, in any year, exceeds the remaining balance of moneys in the fund, the bill would provide for individual compensation awards to be awarded on a pro-rated basis until paid in full. The bill would further require each individual compensation award to be reduced by the total amount of compensable damages, as reported by the claimant, for which reimbursement is already authorized by, or has been provided under, an insurance policy or a self-insurance fund maintained under the bill, less any amount of money that is owed or paid by the claimant for insurance deductible purposes.
