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S1560
SENATE, No. 1560
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator CARMEN F. AMATO, JR.
District 9 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires decommissioned nuclear power facility to pay
annual community service payment in lieu of property taxes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
requiring decommissioned nuclear energy facility
to make community service payments and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 54 of
the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� The Legislature finds and
declares:
���� a.� The decommissioning of a
nuclear power plant in which spent nuclear fuel has not been removed will have
the effect of removing the power plant from the property tax rolls of the
municipality in which it is located, because the presence of that radioactive
material makes the facility unusable, so it has no value for property tax
purposes;
���� b.� As the United States
government has not determined where or how spent nuclear fuel should be
disposed of, the spent nuclear fuel will remain in a decommissioned facility
for the foreseeable future;
���� c.� The loss of any large
property tax ratable generally has an negative impact on the property tax levy,
which funds local government entities and school districts, but a
decommissioned nuclear power plant containing spent nuclear fuel that cannot be
removed from the facility, and therefore cannot be redeveloped, creates a
unique, long-term negative impact on the property tax levy, and must be
addressed by the Legislature; and
���� d.� Fundamental fairness
toward all other property taxpayers in the municipality requires the owner of a
decommissioned nuclear power plant to continue to financially support the
municipality and the school district serving the children of municipal residents
through the payment of a community service payment in lieu of property taxes,
until such time as the spent nuclear fuel can be safely removed and the
property returned to the municipal property tax rolls.
���� 2.� a.� The owner of a
decommissioned nuclear power plant in which spent nuclear fuel has not been
removed, and which has no assessed value for property tax purposes, shall, no
later than August 1 of each year, make a community service payment in lieu of
property taxes to the municipality in which the decommissioned plant is
located.� The first community service payment shall be due August 1 of the year
following the last full tax year in which the plant was operational, and a
payment shall be due every August 1 thereafter, as long as the spent nuclear
fuel remains inside of the decommissioned plant.� In the case of a plant that
was decommissioned more than one year prior to the enactment of
P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill), the first community service
payment shall be due on August 1 immediately following the enactment of P.L.���
, c.��� (C.�������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill),
���� b.� The amount of the first
annual payment shall be equal to the amount of property taxes for municipal and
school district purposes paid by the owner of the decommissioned nuclear power
plant in the last full tax year immediately prior to the plant�s decommissioning.
Thereafter, in each year, the payment shall increase by 2 percent over the
payment made in the previous year.
���� c.� The owner shall make the
annual community service payment to the municipality in which the
decommissioned plant is located.� The municipality shall retain the portion of
the payment representing the municipal purposes property taxes, and shall
forward to the school district the portion of the payment representing the
school district purposes property taxes, within five business days of receiving
the payment.
���� d.� Once the spent nuclear
fuel has been removed from the decommissioned plant, the decommissioned plant
shall again be subject to taxation as real property, and the assessor shall
value the property pursuant to the requirements of Title 54 of the Revised
Statutes.
���� 3.� The Director of the
Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury, pursuant to the
�Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall
adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the provisions of this act within 90
days of its enactment.
���� 4.� This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would require the
owner of a decommissioned nuclear power plant in which spent nuclear fuel has
not been removed, no later than August 1 of each year, to make a community
service payment in lieu of property taxes to the municipality in which the
plant is located.� The first community service payment would be due August 1 of
the year following the last full tax year in which the plant was operational,
and a payment would then be due every August 1 thereafter, as long as the spent
nuclear fuel remains inside of the plant.� In the case of a plant that was
decommissioned more than one year prior to the enactment of the bill, the first
community service payment would be due on August 1 immediately following the
enactment of the bill,
���� The amount of the first annual
payment would be equal to the amount of property taxes for municipal and school
district purposes paid by the owner of the decommissioned nuclear power plant
in the last full tax year immediately prior to the plant�s decommissioning.
Thereafter, in each year, the required payment would increase by 2 percent over
the payment made in the previous year.
���� The owner would make the
annual community service payment to the municipality, which would retain its
share of the payment.� The municipality would then forward to the school
district the portion of the payment representing the school district purposes property
taxes, within five business days of receiving the payment.
���� The bill would require that
once the spent nuclear fuel has been removed from the plant, the plant would
again be subject to taxation as real property.