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A4775
ASSEMBLY, No. 4775
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MARCH 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman� GREGORY P. MCGUCKIN
District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Scharfenberger
SYNOPSIS
���� Excludes passenger and freight rail projects from
purposes for which revenue from increase in petroleum products gross receipts
tax revenue may be used.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning passenger and freight rail projects and amending P.L.1984, c.73.
����
Be It Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New
Jersey:
���� 1.��� Section 21 of P.L.1984,
c.73 (C.27:1B-21) is amended to read as follows:
���� 21.� a.� There is hereby
established a separate fund entitled "Special Transportation Fund."
This fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer and may be held in
depositories as may be selected by the treasurer and invested and reinvested as
other funds in the custody of the treasurer, in the manner provided by law.�
The commissioner may from time to time (but not more frequently than monthly)
certify to the authority an amount necessary to fund payments made, or
anticipated to be made by or on behalf of the department, from appropriations
established for or made to the department from revenues or other funds of the
authority.� The commissioner's certification shall be deemed conclusive for
purposes of the act. The authority shall, within 15 days of receipt of the
certificate, transfer from available funds of the authority to the treasurer
for deposit in the Special Transportation Fund the amount certified by the
commissioner, provided that all funds transferred shall only be expended by the
department by project pursuant to appropriations made from time to time by the
Legislature for the purposes of the act.
���� b.��� The department shall not
expend any money except as appropriated by law. Commencing with appropriations
for the fiscal years beginning on July 1, 1988, the department shall not expend
any funds, other than for permitted maintenance, except as are appropriated by
specific projects identified by a description of the projects, the county or
counties within which they are located, and amounts to be expended on each
project, in the annual appropriations act. Funds expended for permitted
maintenance may be appropriated as one item of appropriation and subject to
allocation at the commissioner's discretion.
���� c.���� No funds appropriated,
authorized, or expended pursuant to this act shall be used to finance the
resurfacing of highways by department personnel, where that resurfacing would
require the use of more than 100,000 tons of bituminous concrete for that purpose
in any calendar year, except that the commissioner may waive this provision
when the commissioner determines the existence of emergency conditions
requiring the use of department personnel for the resurfacing of highways,
after the department has effectively reached the 100,000 ton limit.
���� d.��� In order to provide the
department with flexibility in administering the specific appropriations by
project identified in the annual appropriations act, the commissioner may
transfer a part of any item to any other item subject to the approval of the
Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting and of the Joint Budget
Oversight Committee or its successor.� Upon approval of the director and the
committee, the transfer shall take effect.
���� e.���� Any federal funds which
become available to the State for transportation projects which have not been
appropriated to the department in the annual appropriations act, shall be
deemed appropriated to the department and may, subject to approval by the Joint
Budget Oversight Committee and the State Treasurer, be expended for any purpose
for which such funds are qualified.
���� f.���� There shall be no
appropriations from the revenues and other funds of the authority for regular
and routine maintenance of public highways and components thereof, or
operational activities of the department unrelated to the implementation of,
and indirect costs associated with, the capital program.� The commissioner
shall include in his annual budget request sufficient funding to effectuate the
purposes of P.L.2000, c.73 (C.27:1B-21.14 et al.).
���� g.��� To the extent that
salaries or overhead of the department or the New Jersey Transit Corporation
are charged to transportation projects, each agency shall keep adequate and
truthful personnel records, and time charts to adequately justify each such
charge, and shall make those records available to the external auditor to the
authority.
���� h.��� The commissioner shall
annually, on or before January 1 of each fiscal year, report to the Governor
and the Legislature how much money was expended in the previous fiscal year for
salaries and overhead of the department and the New Jersey Transit Corporation.�
However, the amount expended from the revenues and other funds of the authority
for salaries and overhead of the department and the New Jersey Transit
Corporation for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006 through the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 2015 shall not exceed 13 percent of the total funds
appropriated from the revenues and other nonfederal funds of the authority for
those fiscal years, and shall not exceed $208,000,000 for the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 2016 and each fiscal year thereafter.
���� i.���� No revenues or other
funds of the authority shall be expended for emergency response operations, the
review of applications for access permits under the State highway access
management code and membership fees or other fees connected with membership in
TRANSCOM, the Transportation Operations Coordinating Committee.
���� j.���� Every project in which
revenues or other funds of the authority are expended shall be included on a
website created by the authority whose exclusive purpose shall be reporting on
the status of State and federal projects and serving as a singular location for
State and federal public documentation concerning those projects.� The website
shall document the status of each project, presented in tabular form outlining
the budgeted amount, the amount spent and committed, and the amount necessary
to complete each project. The website shall include a chart which compares the
planned and actual quarterly and cumulative expenditures for each project.� The
website shall chronicle actions which have a bearing on the progress of
projects, including, but not limited to, awards for legal, insurance, and
engineering services, environmental review, public involvement and outreach,
property acquisitions, and construction contracts. The website shall also
include a description of any action by an external regulatory agency such as
the Department of Environmental Protection, or any other party, which occurred
during the reporting period that affected the cost or timely completion of any
project in any manner. Information concerning each project shall be included
and updated, at minimum, once per month.
���� k.���
[
There shall be
a minimum appropriation from the revenues and other funds of the authority of
$25,000,000 each fiscal year, commencing with the fiscal year beginning July 1,
2016 for the design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, land
acquisition, and environmental mitigation of freight rail projects that include
the following factors: are significant to port commerce connectivity; eliminate
rail freight missing links to port facilities; upgrade freight rail trackage to
a 286,000 pound load carrying capacity; or support a safe, efficient, and
effective rail freight system consistent with the commissioner's rail freight
authority pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1986, c.56 (C.27:1A-5.1). The amount
appropriated pursuant to this subsection shall be inclusive of all amounts
annually appropriated for the New Jersey Rail Freight Assistance Program.
]
(Deleted
by amendment, P.L.��� , c. ���) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
����
l.���� Revenues derived
from the increase in the rate of taxation of petroleum products gross receipts,
imposed pursuant to P.L.2016, c.57, shall not be used to fund a transportation
project relating to passenger rail service or freight rail service
.
(cf: P.L.2019, c.196, s.5)
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill amends existing law
to exclude passenger and freight rail projects from being funded by the
petroleum products gross receipts tax increase enacted on October 14, 2016.