Establishes grant program in DEP to provide financial assistance to municipalities for infrastructure and other physical upgrades to certain municipally owned sanitary landfill facilities closed before June 1987; appropriates $10 million.

S3574

SENATE, No. 3574

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� LINDA R. GREENSTEIN

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes grant program in DEP to provide financial
assistance to municipalities for infrastructure and other physical upgrades to
certain municipally owned sanitary landfill facilities closed before June 1987;
appropriates $10 million.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

establishing a grant program in Department of
Environmental Protection to finance upgrades to certain municipally owned
sanitary landfill facilities, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes,
and making an appropriation.

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

���� 1.��� As used in this act:

���� �Commissioner� means the
Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

���� �Department� means the
Department of Environmental Protection.

���� �Grant program� or �program�
means the �Municipal Landfill Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant
Program,� established pursuant to section 2 of this act.

���� �Improperly closed sanitary
landfill facility� or �improperly closed� means a sanitary landfill facility,
or a portion of a sanitary landfill facility, at which operations were
terminated prior to June 1, 1987 and for which performance is not complete with
respect to all activities associated with the design, installation, purchase,
or construction of structures or equipment, or with respect to the
implementation of other appropriate measures, as may be required by the
department, pursuant to law, for proper facility closure, including, but not
limited to, activities involving the placement or installation of earthen or
vegetative cover, methane gas vents, methane gas monitors, air pollution
control devices, and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems.

���� �Municipal landfill upgrading
and infrastructure costs� or �costs� means the financial costs incurred by a
municipality in association with its implementation and ongoing maintenance and
management of infrastructure improvements and other physical upgrades to a
municipally owned and improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.�

���� �Sanitary landfill facility�
means the same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1970, c.39
(C.13:1E-3).

���� 2.��� a.� The �Municipal
Landfill Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program� is established
in the Department of Environmental Protection to provide financial assistance
to pay municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs incurred by a municipality,
which costs are necessary to ensure that the municipality:�

���� (1)�� comports with the
department�s standards and regulations concerning the proper closure, capping,
and post-closure care of sanitary landfill facilities; and

���� (2)�� has the capacity to
effectively prevent, minimize, eliminate, or monitor pollution and other health
hazards resulting from a municipally owned and improperly closed sanitary
landfill facility.

���� b.��� Any municipality that
owns an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility shall be eligible to apply
for a grant under the program.�

���� c.���� An eligible
municipality seeking to obtain a program grant shall submit an application
therefor, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.� The grant
application shall include the following information:

���� (1)�� a certification stating
that the sanitary landfill facility, which is the subject of the grant
application, is owned by the municipality and was improperly closed prior to
June 1, 1987;

���� (2)�� a statement indicating
the total amount of funding that is being sought under the grant program;

���� (3)�� a list of other
financial resources, including federal financial assistance, that may be
available to finance the municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs;

���� (4)�� a description of the
specific project or projects for which grant funding is being sought,
including: the type of infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade
being proposed; the reason why such infrastructure improvement or other
physical upgrade is necessary; the environmental and health-related impacts
that are expected to result from the improvement or upgrade; the total
anticipated costs of the project, including the total anticipated expenses
associated with the municipality�s ongoing maintenance and management of
completed project components; the permits and approvals that will required for project
commencement; and the anticipated dates on which the project will be commenced
and completed; and

���� (5)�� any other information
required by the commissioner.

���� d.��� A grant awarded under
the program shall be used only to finance those municipal landfill upgrading
and infrastructure costs that are directly incurred and paid by the
municipality.� In any case where a federal agency is financing a portion of the
municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs, the total costs used to
determine the amount of the grant to be awarded under the program shall be
reduced by the amount of the federal contribution.

���� e.� Within 180 days after the
effective date of this act, the commissioner shall develop a project priority
system, which shall identify the ranking criteria and funding policies that
will be used by the department to prioritize projects for grant awards under
the program.� At a minimum, the project priority system shall provide for the
prioritization of those projects that will have the most significant impacts
with respect to enabling the ongoing municipal prevention, reduction,
elimination, or monitoring of pollution and other health hazards resulting from
an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.

���� f.� Each municipality
receiving a grant award under the program shall submit to the department, on an
annual or more frequent basis, as required by the commissioner, a grant fund
expenditures report that describes how the awarded grant funds are being used by
the municipality.� Each report shall be submitted in a form and manner
prescribed by the commissioner.

���� g.� The commissioner shall
annually submit a written report to the Governor, and, pursuant to section 2 of
P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, on the implementation and
effectiveness of the grant program.� The annual report shall, at a minimum:�

���� (1)�� identify the total
number and dollar amount of grant awards issued during the current reporting
period, the total number and dollar amount of grant awards issued, to date,
since the program was commenced, and the total number of funded projects that
have been completed;

���� (2)�� for those projects that
received a grant during the current reporting period, indicate the purpose for
which each grant was awarded, and describe the anticipated or actual
environmental and health-related impacts associated with the grant award;

���� (3)�� indicate the amount of
appropriated funds that remain available to finance future grant awards under
the program; and

���� (4)�� evaluate whether, and
the extent to which, the grant program has been successful in facilitating
municipal compliance with department standards and regulations governing the
proper closure, capping, and post-closure care of sanitary landfill facilities,
and whether, and the extent to which, grant-funded projects have succeeded in
enabling the more effective municipal prevention, minimization, elimination, or
monitoring of pollution and other health hazards resulting from these
facilities.

���� 3.��� a.� The commissioner
shall 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.�

���� b.� The rules and regulations
shall identify, at a minimum:�

���� (1)�� the procedures to be
used by municipalities when submitting grant applications;

���� (2)�� the standards to be used
by the department when evaluating grant applications and when awarding program
grants in accordance with the priority system developed pursuant to subsection
e. of section 2 of this act;

���� (3)�� any limitations,
restrictions, or other requirements concerning the use of grant funds awarded
under the program; and

���� (4)�� the requisite content of
the grant fund expenditures reports that are to be submitted by grant
recipients, pursuant to subsection f. of section 2 of this act, and the
requisite timeframes for submission of the reports.

���� 4.��� There is appropriated,
from the General Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection, the sum of
$10,000,000 for the purposes of financing grants to municipalities, as provided
by this act.

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill would establish, in
the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a �Municipal Landfill
Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program.�� The program would
provide financial assistance to pay municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure
costs � i.e., those financial costs that are incurred by a municipality in
association with its implementation and ongoing maintenance and management of
infrastructure improvements and other physical upgrades to a municipally owned
and improperly closed sanitary landfill facility � which costs are necessary to
ensure that the municipality: (1) comports with the DEP�s standards and
regulations concerning the proper closure, capping, and post-closure care of
sanitary landfill facilities, which were initially adopted on June 1, 1987; and
(2) has the capacity to effectively prevent, minimize, eliminate, or monitor
pollution and other health hazards resulting from the improperly closed
sanitary landfill facility.�

���� A municipality that owns an
improperly closed sanitary landfill facility would be eligible to apply for a
grant under the program.� The bill defines an �improperly closed sanitary
landfill facility� to mean a sanitary landfill facility, or a portion of a
sanitary landfill facility, at which operations were terminated prior to June
1, 1987 and for which performance is not complete with respect to all
activities associated with the design, installation, purchase, or construction
of structures or equipment, or with respect to the implementation of other
appropriate measures, as may be required by the DEP, pursuant to law, for
proper facility closure, including, but not limited to, activities involving
the placement or installation of earthen or vegetative cover, methane gas
vents, methane gas monitors, air pollution control devices, and leachate
monitoring wells or collection systems.

���� In addition to any other
information that may be required by the DEP commissioner, an application for a
program grant submitted by an eligible municipality under the bill would need
to include: (1) a certification stating that the sanitary landfill facility,
which is the subject of the grant application, is owned by the municipality and
was improperly closed prior to June 1, 1987; (2) a statement indicating the
total amount of grant funding that is being sought pursuant to the bill; (3) a
list of any other financial resources, including federal financial assistance,
that may be available to finance the municipal landfill upgrading and
infrastructure costs; and (4) a description of the specific project or projects
for which grant funding is being sought.� The project description is to
identify:� the type of infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade
being proposed; the reason why the infrastructure improvement or other physical
upgrade is necessary; the environmental impacts that are expected to result
from the improvement or upgrade; the total anticipated costs of the project,
including the total anticipated expenses associated with the municipality�s
ongoing maintenance and management of completed project components; the permits
and approvals that will be required for project commencement; and the
anticipated dates on which the project will be commenced and completed.

���� A grant awarded under the
program may be used to finance only those municipal landfill upgrading and
infrastructure costs that are directly incurred by a municipality.� In any case
where a federal agency is financing a portion of the municipal landfill upgrading
and infrastructure costs, the total costs used in determining the amount of the
grant to be awarded under the grant program would be reduced by the amount of
the federal contribution.

���� The bill requires the DEP
commissioner, within 180 days after the bill�s effective date, to develop a
project priority system that identifies the ranking criteria and funding
policies to be used by the DEP when prioritizing projects for grant awards under
the program.� At a minimum, the project priority system is to provide for the
prioritization of those projects that will have the most significant impacts
with respect to enabling the ongoing municipal prevention, reduction,
elimination, or monitoring of pollution and other health hazards resulting from
an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.

���� Each municipality receiving a
grant award under the program would be required to regularly submit to the DEP,
a grant fund expenditures report that describes how the awarded grant funds are
being used by the municipality.� The commissioner would be required to adopt
rules and regulations that, among other things, specify the requisite content
of these expenditure reports.� The bill also requires the DEP commissioner to
annually submit, to the Governor and the Legislature, a written report on the
implementation and effectiveness of the grant program, which is to include,
among other things, an accounting of the appropriated funds that remain
available for future project grants.�

���� The bill would appropriate $10
million from the General Fund to the DEP for the purposes of financing grants
under the program.