Directs Department of Agriculture to advertise and promote State aquaculture products through Jersey Fresh Program; establishes annual $25,000 appropriation.

A1519

ASSEMBLY, No. 1519

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE

District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblyman ROY FREIMAN

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Assemblyman WILLIAM W. SPEARMAN

District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Sauickie, Assemblywoman McCoy, Assemblyman
Karabinchak, Assemblywoman Fantasia, Assemblyman Inganamort, Assemblywoman
Haider, Assemblymen Rumpf, Myhre and Guardian

SYNOPSIS

���� Directs Department of Agriculture to advertise and
promote State aquaculture products through Jersey Fresh Program; establishes
annual $25,000 appropriation.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the promotion of aquaculture products
through the Jersey Fresh Program, supplementing Title 4 of the Revised
Statutes, and making an appropriation.

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

����� 1.�� a.
The department, as part of the Jersey Fresh Program, shall advertise and
promote aquaculture products, the quality of which complies with standards
adopted by the department and is verified thereby through the use of an
appropriate quality grading system.� The department shall develop and implement
an appropriate quality grading system specific to the grading of aquaculture
products, as distinguished from wild-caught seafood products, which system
shall be consistent with, and similar to, the quality grading system that is
used, by the department, to grade the quality of other agricultural commodities
for the purposes of the Jersey Fresh Program.

����� b.�� In
addition to any monies appropriated or allocated to the Jersey Fresh Program,
in each fiscal year following the effective date of this act, there shall be
annually appropriated, from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture, $25,000
for the sole purpose of facilitating the department�s advertisement and
promotion of aquaculture products, under the Jersey Fresh Program, as provided
by subsection a. of this section.

����� c.�� As
used in this section:

����� ��Aquaculture
product� means fish or shellfish that is produced in the State, or in State
waters, through means of aquaculture, as defined by section 3 of the �New
Jersey Aquaculture Development Act,� P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3).

����� �Department�
means the Department of Agriculture.

����� �Jersey
Fresh Program� means the agricultural commodity marketing and quality grading
program established by the department pursuant to R.S.4:10-6, P.L.1971, c.308
(C.4:10-43 et seq.), and the rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

���� 2.� This act shall take effect
immediately.

STATEMENT

����� This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to
advertise and promote aquaculture products as part of the Jersey Fresh
Program.� The Jersey Fresh Program is the marketing and quality grading program
that is currently used, by the department, to advertise and promote the
availability of fruit and vegetable agricultural commodities that have been
produced in the State and graded for quality.� This bill would expand the
Jersey Fresh Program to additionally include marketing for fish and shellfish
that are produced in the State, or in State waters, through means of
aquaculture, and the quality of which complies with standards adopted by the
department and is verified thereby through the use of an appropriate quality
grading system.� The bill would require the department to develop and implement
a quality grading system that is specific to the grading of aquaculture
products, as distinguished from wild-caught seafood products, which system is
to be consistent with, and similar to, the quality grading system that is used,
by the department, to grade the quality of other agricultural commodities for
the purposes of the Jersey Fresh Program.�

����� The bill provides for an annual appropriation of $25,000
to be made in each fiscal year after the bill�s effective date, in order to
facilitate the ongoing marketing and promotion of aquaculture products under
the Jersey Fresh Program.� The monies made available under the bill would be in
addition to any other monies that may be appropriated or allocated to the
Jersey Fresh Program.