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S666 SEN Statement 3/16/26
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No.
666
STATE
OF NEW JERSEY
DATED:
�MARCH
16, 2026
����� The Senate Environment and Energy Committee reports
favorably Senate Bill No. 666.
�����
This
bill requires every producer of architectural paint sold in the State to
implement, or participate in, a Statewide architectural paint stewardship
program.
���� The
bill requires every architectural paint producer, or a representative
organization established on behalf of two or more such producers, to develop
and implement a plan for an architectural paint stewardship program designed to
minimize the involvement of, and eliminate costs to, the public sector in
association with the collection, transportation and processing of post-consumer
architectural paint by reducing its generation, promoting its reuse and
recycling, and negotiating and executing agreements for its collection,
transportation, reuse, recycling, burning for energy recovery, incineration,
and disposal using environmentally sound management practices that are
consistent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency�s Waste
Management Hierarchy (federal waste management hierarchy), a four-tiered
hierarchy that guides waste management by promoting source reduction,
recycling, energy recovery, and waste treatment and disposal, in that order.
���� The
bill requires any such plan to:
���� (1)
provide for convenient and available Statewide collection of post-consumer
architectural paint from urban, suburban, and rural areas of the State in a
manner that, at a minimum, ensures collection rates and a level of convenience
equal to or greater than that provided by other collection programs available
to consumers prior to the establishment of the architectural paint stewardship
program;
���� (2)
provide collection site locations Statewide that will accept post-consumer
architectural paint;
���� (3)
address, to the extent reasonably feasible and mutually agreeable, the
coordination of the architectural paint stewardship program with the existing
infrastructure of local governments and the existing household hazardous waste
collection infrastructure in the State, to the extent that there are no
additional costs to the local, county, or State government, for the collection,
transportation, or processing of post-consumer architectural paint;
���� (4)
describe how the program will follow a hierarchy that is consistent, to the
extent feasible, with the federal waste management hierarchy;
���� (5)
describe the educational materials and outreach efforts that would be used to
inform consumers about the architectural paint stewardship program and the
paint stewardship assessment including a notice provision stating that the
costs of program operation will be included in the purchase price of all
architectural paint sold in the State;
���� (6)
identify an appropriate amount for the paint stewardship assessment;
���� (7)
provide two lists respectively identifying each producer participating in the
architectural paint stewardship program, and the brands of architectural paint
included under the program; and
���� (8)
include a proposed budget that has been reviewed and certified by an
independent financial auditor, and which confirms that the paint stewardship
assessment included in the price of each unit of paint sold in the State will
cover and sustain, but not exceed, the costs of the architectural paint
stewardship program.
���� No
sooner than five years and no later than six years, after the effective date of
this act, all architectural paint stewardship plans would be required to be
amended to provide for the environmentally sound collection, transportation,
reuse, recycling and disposal of aerosol paint.
���� Under
the bill, a producer or representative organization is also required to
establish, as a funding mechanism for the program and the implementation of its
plan, and to include in the program plan, a paint stewardship assessment amount
that is uniformly included in the sale price of all brands of architectural
paint covered under the architectural paint stewardship program.� The bill
prohibits the assessment amount from exceeding the costs of implementing and
sustaining the architectural paint stewardship plan and the architectural paint
stewardship program.� Each producer is required to include the paint
stewardship assessment in the cost of each container of architectural paint
sold thereby to a retailer or distributor in the State, and each retailer or
distributor is then required to include the paint stewardship assessment in the
purchase price of the producer�s architectural paint.� If a producer is a
member of a representative organization, the producer is required to remit to
the representative organization the paint stewardship assessment received for
each container of architectural paint sold by the producer in the State.
���� The
bill requires an architectural paint stewardship program plan to be submitted
to the DEP for approval prior to its implementation by a paint producer or
representative organization.� The bill authorizes the DEP to approve or
disapprove of a proposed plan.� If the DEP disapproves of a plan, the bill
provides a procedure for subsequent plan revision by the producer or
representative organization, and DEP review of the revised plan.� If the DEP is
dissatisfied with a revised plan, the bill authorizes the DEP, in the interests
of expediency, to propose any modifications or substitutions to the plan�s
provisions it deems necessary.� The bill requires notice to the DEP if there
are any changes to the location or number of collection sites, the identity of
the processors that manage the post-consumer architectural paint, or the
transporters of the post-consumer architectural paint collected by the
program.� An amendment to the plan is required if there is any change to the
amount of the paint stewardship assessment or the goals of the architectural
paint stewardship program.� The bill directs the DEP to charge and collect from
each producer or representative organization that submits a plan pursuant to
the bill an annual administrative fee, not to exceed the DEP�s costs in
administering the provisions of the bill.
���� The
bill requires a producer or representative organization to implement the
program described in a proposed plan within 90 days after its approval or
modification by the DEP.� The producer or representative organization is
further required to submit an annual report to the DEP, which describes or
includes, among other things:� the pounds of post-architectural paint collected
in the State; the methods used to collect, transport, reduce, reuse, recycle,
and process post-consumer architectural paint; a list of all producers
participating in the program; the estimated volume collected at each collection
site; a list of the processors of post-consumer architectural paint and the
disposition method used by each processor; an evaluation of the effectiveness
of the program and any steps necessary to improve the program; samples of the
educational materials provided to consumers of architectural paint; and a
certification to the validity of the information contained in the report.
���� The
bill prohibits a producer, distributor, or retailer of architectural paint from
selling architectural paint, or offering it for sale, in the State unless the
producer of the paint, or a representative organization of which the producer
is a member, is engaged in the implementation of, or has fully implemented, an
architectural paint stewardship program plan or revised plan approved by the
DEP commissioner.� A distributor or retailer is deemed to be in compliance with
this sales prohibition if, on the date architectural paint is ordered thereby,
the producer of the paint and the brand name of the paint are each identified
on the DEP�s Internet website as being included in an architectural paint
stewardship program plan.
���� The
bill provides that any producer, distributor, or retailer who fails to comply
with the bill�s sales prohibition is subject to a written warning for a first
offense, and a penalty of $500 for each subsequent offense. The bill
authorizes the DEP to institute a civil action for injunctive relief to prevent
a continuing violation of this sales prohibition.� However, in order to allow
time for the submission, approval, or modification of the plans required by the
bill, the sales prohibition and penalty provision do not take effect until the
first day of the 18th month following enactment of the bill into law.
���� The
bill also provides that when the DEP determines that any producer, distributor,
or retailer is in violation of the bill�s provisions, the DEP may assess a
civil administrative penalty of not more than $500 for each violation, not to
exceed a maximum penalty of $10,000 during a calendar year, and each day of
violation would constitute an additional, separate, and distinct violation.� A
civil administrative penalty would not be levied until a violator has been
notified by certified mail or personal service of the following:� the statutory
or regulatory basis of the violation; the specific act or omission that
constituted the violation; the amount of the civil administrative penalty to be
imposed; the right of the violator to contest, through a hearing, any matter
contained in the notice; and the procedures for requesting a hearing on any
contested matter.� The bill also provides that the DEP may post on its Internet
website a list of producers, distributors, and retailers that are in violation
of this act.
���� Finally,
the bill specifies that a producer or the representative organization
participating in a post-consumer paint stewardship program will not be liable
for any claim of a violation of antitrust, restraint of trade, unfair trade
practice, or other anticompetitive conduct arising from conduct undertaken in
accordance with the program, including, without limitation, the types or
quantities of paint being managed consistent with the federal waste management
hierarchy.� This protection against antitrust liability is, however, not
applicable to:� (1) any agreement establishing or affecting the price of
architectural paint, except an agreement to establish a paint stewardship
assessment, as authorized by the bill; or (2) any agreement restricting the
output or production of architectural paint or the geographic area or customers
to which paint will be sold.
����� This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the
2026-2027 session pending technical review.� As reported, the bill includes the
changes required by technical review, which has been performed.