Bill Text: NJ S2467 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to provision of financial assistance to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners impacted by remnants of Hurricane Ida; appropriates $100 million.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-05 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S2467 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S2467-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator DOUGLAS J. STEINHARDT
District 23 (Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Relates to provision of financial assistance to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners impacted by remnants of Hurricane Ida; appropriates $100 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the provision of financial assistance to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"CDBG-DR qualified" means an individual or household that was qualified for or received Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds authorized by the United States Congress and administered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development related to damage to real or personal property resulting from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
"Completed application" means an application for assistance made pursuant to any process created at the direction of the Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation in the Department of Community Affairs that is designated as complete, in the discretion of the division.
"Department" means the Department of Community Affairs.
"Division" means the Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation in the Department of Community Affairs.
"Eligible property owner, renter, or vehicle owner" means an individual or household that is CDBG-DR qualified, except as otherwise specified in P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), whose primary residence on September 1, 2021 was in New Jersey and whose real or personal property was damaged as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida. For tenant renters, damages shall be established from FEMA or other evidence of at least one-foot of flood damage, or $100 worth of damage, as determined by the division. For owner-occupied real property, an eligible property owner shall establish damages through a document from homeowner's or flood insurance, FEMA, or a letter from a municipality. For a vehicle owner, the property owner shall establish damages, with insurance documentation sufficient to document significant damage to a vehicle.
"FEMA" means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Financial recovery or reclamation actions" means the recoupment of funds as resulting from either an over-disbursement of remnants of Hurricane Ida recovery funds administered by the Department of Community Affairs, or resulting from a duplication of benefits made use of by a remnants of Hurricane Ida survivor in order to repair damaged property.
"Remnants of Hurricane Ida" means the major storm that caused flooding in New Jersey on September 1 through 3 of 2021, for which notice of a Presidential declaration of a major disaster for New Jersey was issued on September 5, 2021.
"Remnants of Hurricane Ida survivor" means a New Jersey resident who is an eligible property owner, renter, or vehicle owner and who experienced significant loss as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida to the primary home they own, personal property in their residential rental property that served as their primary residence, or to a vehicle that was their primary form of transportation.
2. a. The Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation in the Department of Community Affairs shall oversee the disbursement of funds to eligible property owners, renters, or vehicle owners who are remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors. The division shall develop policies and procedures including, but not limited to:
(1) public advertising of benefits available pursuant to P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) through local media, social media, public events, and through community organizations;
(2) providing information and consultation services to eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors seeking benefits;
(3) establishing uniform application forms to be used by eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors;
(4) establishing reasonable timelines concerning the application process, including a period where:
(a) eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners may apply for awards under P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill);
(b) applications are reviewed by the division, including establishing a process where applicants who have filed incomplete or faulty applications are notified of the incompleteness or faultiness and given adequate time to correct the identified problems; and
(c) eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners are notified of the award of benefits;
(5) a method of prioritizing reimbursement claims in the event that the total value of requested benefits by eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners who applied is an amount greater than the amounts appropriated pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. The division shall award grants to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners for the following categories:
(1) rental assistance related to the remnants of Hurricane Ida for eligible property owners who were required by their circumstances to rent temporary housing while their primary residence was uninhabitable, and rental assistance, to be reimbursed from the date of a lease of a new primary residence, for eligible renters who were required by their circumstances to lease a more expensive residence because their primary residence was damaged and made uninhabitable by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
(2) reimbursement for funds spent by eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners to restore their residential property to a habitable condition;
(3) reimbursement for individuals and households that are not eligible for CDBG-DR funds due to their income levels or insurance status provided that the individual or household did not have a combined earned and investment income exceeding $1,000,000 the preceding calendar year;
(4) forgiveness or reimbursement for property owners, renters, and vehicle owners who received benefits under relief programs related to the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and subsequently had those benefits reduced or eliminated;
(5) completion of pending or ongoing projects to repair damage incurred as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida, such that potential financial recovery or reclamation actions will not be incurred for property owners, renters, and vehicle owners;
(6) reimbursement for property owners, renters, and vehicle owners for personal property FEMA assistance does not cover, provided that such amount does not exceed $50,000;
(7) funding to purchase or finance a vehicle, including vehicle payments, if the eligible property owner's or renter's vehicle was lost as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and reimbursement for repairs if the eligible property owner's or renter's vehicle was damaged as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida;
(8) reimbursement for exterior home items not covered by FEMA assistance, including lawn covering, stone, grass landscaping, or driveway repairs;
(9) gap funding for the cost of projects to mitigate potential future natural disaster impacts on an eligible property owner and renter's primary residence;
(10) forgiveness and relief from an already identified financial recovery or reclamation action; and
(11) any other special categories or cases as determined by the division.
3. The division shall issue a final report to the Governor, and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature no later than one year after all funds appropriated pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) are disbursed as grant awards, which shall include, but not limited to, information concerning: the total number of individuals who applied for an award pursuant to P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill); the number of awards which were disbursed to eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors; the average amount of the awards which were disbursed to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners; and any recommendations that the division deems appropriate and necessary concerning the disbursement of funding for eligible property owners.
4. There is appropriated from the General Fund the sum of $100,000,000 to the division to provide grant awards to eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors.
5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire upon submission of the report required pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
STATEMENT
This bill provides funding for the Division of Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (division) in the Department of Community Affairs (department) to disburse as awards to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Under the bill, an "eligible property owner" is defined as an individual or household that is qualified to receive Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds because their primary residence on September 1, 2021 was in New Jersey and whose real or personal property was damaged as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida. For tenant renters, damages are to be established from FEMA or other evidence of at least one-foot of flood damage, or $100 worth of damage, as determined by the division. For owner-occupied real property, an eligible property owner is required to establish damages through a document from homeowner's or flood insurance, FEMA, or a letter from a municipality. For a vehicle owner, the property owner is required to establish damages, with insurance documentation sufficient to document significant damage to a vehicle.
Under the bill, the division is required to develop policies and procedures including, but not limited to:
· public advertising of benefits available through local media, social media, public events, and through community organizations;
· providing information and consultation services to eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors seeking benefits;
· establishing uniform application forms to be used by eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors;
· establishing reasonable timelines concerning the application process, including a period where: (1) eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners may apply for awards; (2) applications are reviewed by the division, including establishing a process where applicants who have filed incomplete or faulty applications are notified of the incompleteness or faultiness and given adequate time to correct the identified problems; and (3) eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners are notified of the award of benefits;
· a method of prioritizing reimbursement claims in the event that the total value of requested benefits by eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners who applied is an amount greater than the appropriation authorized under the bill.
Under the bill, the division will award grants to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners for categories described in the bill.
The bill directs the division to issue a final report to the Governor and the Legislature no later than one year after all funds are disbursed as grant awards, which is required to include, but not be limited to, information concerning: the total number of individuals who applied for an award; the number of awards which were disbursed to eligible remnants of Hurricane Ida survivors; the average amount of the awards which were disbursed to eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners; and any recommendations that the division deems appropriate and necessary concerning the disbursement of funding for eligible property owners, renters, and vehicle owners.
The bill appropriates $100 million from the General Fund for eligible property owner, renter, and vehicle owner assistance.
