Determines that DEP rules and regulations known as " New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change - Resilient Environment and Landscapes" are inconsistent with legislative intent.

SCR136

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 136

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED JUNE 1, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.

District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)

SYNOPSIS

���� Determines that DEP rules and regulations known as
"New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change � Resilient Environment and
Landscapes" are inconsistent with legislative intent.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

A
Concurrent Resolution
concerning
legislative review of Department of Environmental Protection rules and
regulations pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution
of the State of New Jersey.

Whereas,

Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey provides that the Legislature may review any rule or regulation of an
administrative agency to determine if the rule or regulation is consistent with
the intent of the Legislature and, upon a finding that the rule or regulation
is not consistent with legislative intent, may transmit such finding to the
Governor and the head of the agency; and

Whereas,

In the August 5, 2024 New Jersey Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), the Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed a set of rules and regulations, known
as "New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change � Resilient Environment
and Landscapes" (NJPACT � REAL), which would make sweeping changes to
various DEP rules and programs in response to climate change, including
drastically increasing the size of the Flood Hazard Area under the "Flood
Hazard Area Control Act," P.L.1962, c.19 (C.58:16A-50 et seq.); and

Whereas,

The rules and regulations, if implemented, would have significant impacts on
ordinary New Jerseyans, particularly those in coastal regions of the State, by
increasing property taxes, the cost of living, and the costs of building and
renovating homes and businesses; and

Whereas,

Under the State Constitution, the duties and powers of the Executive Branch are
limited to executing those laws that are enacted by the Legislature and the
Governor; and

Whereas,

The Legislature recognizes this principle by including, within its laws, an
explicit authorization for an Executive Department to adopt rules and
regulations to implement the law; and

Whereas,

However, in this case, the Legislature did not merely neglect to include such
an authorization, it enacted no law; and

Whereas,

Instead, the DEP proposed the NJPACT � REAL rules and regulations, which
constitute a major climate change law, unilaterally, likely with the
well-intended aim of combating the negative effects of climate change, but
forgetting that the DEP does not represent the people of New Jersey and thus
that it oversteps its constitutional authority by proposing entirely new laws,
and ignoring the fact that inaction can also be an expression of the
Legislature's will; and

Whereas,

The DEP claims, in its rule proposal, that approximately 50 existing laws
provide it with the statutory authority to advance the NJPACT � REAL rules and
regulations; and

Whereas,

However, there are several issues with this claim: first, several of the laws,
including P.L.1951, c.80 (C.58:10-35.1 et seq.) and the "Radiation
Protection Act," P.L.1958, c.116 (C.26:2D-1) et seq., have not been
amended for at least 40 years, meaning that the Legislature could not possibly
have intended them to authorize the DEP to combat the effects of climate
change, since the issue of climate change was not salient at that time; and

Whereas,

Second, the DEP cites statutes that have subsequently been repealed by the
Legislature, namely P.L.1940, c.100 (C.45:15C-1 et seq.) and section 1 of
P.L.1948, c.448 (C:13:1B-1); and

Whereas,

Third, the DEP fails to cite the one significant statute that has been enacted
specifically in response to climate change, the "Global Warming Response
Act," P.L.2007, c.112 (C.26:2C-37 et seq.), perhaps in tacit recognition
of the fact that that law explicitly provides the DEP with the authority to
establish a greenhouse gas monitoring and reporting program only, and that the
Legislature specifically removed a provision that would have authorized the DEP
to adopt rules and regulations to implement the other provisions of the law,
including the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, during the passage of
the law; and

Whereas,

It is therefore clear that the DEP has overstepped its authority in proposing
the NJPACT � REAL rules and regulations, and the Legislature urges the DEP to
follow the principles of the Constitution and await future Legislative
enactments regarding how best to protect New Jerseyans lives and property from
the negative effects of climate change; now, therefore,

����
Be It
Resolved
by the Senate of the State of New
Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

���� 1.� The Legislature declares
that the rules and regulations proposed by the Department of Environmental
Protection in the August 5, 2024 New Jersey Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), and
known as "New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change � Resilient
Environment and Landscapes," are inconsistent with legislative intent.

���� 2.� Copies of this concurrent
resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the
Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the Governor
and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

���� 3.� Pursuant to Article V,
Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, the Department
of Environmental Protection shall have 30 days following transmittal of this
resolution to amend or withdraw the proposed rules and regulations or the
Legislature may, by passage of another concurrent resolution, exercise its
authority under the Constitution to invalidate the rules and regulations in
whole or in part.

STATEMENT

���� This concurrent resolution
embodies the finding of the Legislature that the rules and regulations proposed
by the Department of Environmental Protection in the August 5, 2024 New Jersey
Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), are not consistent with the intent of the
Legislature.� The Department of Environmental Protection would have 30 days
from the date of transmittal of this resolution to amend or withdraw the
proposed rules and regulations or the Legislature may, by passage of another
concurrent resolution, exercise its authority under the Constitution to
invalidate the rules and regulations in whole or in part.�