Bill Text: NJ A2498 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires posting of signs warning of presence of, and potential danger caused by, duckweed on water bodies in public parks.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee [A2498 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A2498-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN ALLEN
District 32 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires posting of signs warning of presence of, and potential danger caused by, duckweed on water bodies in public parks.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning public safety at public parks, and supplementing P.L.1983, c.324 (C.13:1L-1 et seq.) and Title 40 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Environmental Protection shall periodically, but at least annually at the appropriate season, survey and inspect all ponds, lakes, and other water bodies located in any State park or forest for the presence of duckweed (Lemna spp.). Whenever duckweed is detected at any such pond, lake, or other water body, the department shall erect a clear and conspicuous sign or signs at the pond, lake, or other water body warning of the presence of duckweed and the danger caused by its false appearance of being a solid surface to walk upon.
b. The Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs, shall:
(1) develop educational materials on duckweed, including information on how to identify it, which shall be distributed to every county and municipality in the State for the purposes of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);
(2) develop the language to be used on the warning signs required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and produce an appropriate quantity of such signs for use by counties and municipalities; and
(3) distribute to any requesting county or municipality a sufficient number of signs needed by the county or municipality to comply with section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
2. a. Every county and municipality shall periodically, but at least once annually at the appropriate season, survey and inspect all ponds, lakes, and other water bodies located in any public park it owns for the presence of duckweed (Lemna spp.). Whenever duckweed is detected at any such pond, lake, or other water body, the county or municipality, as the case may be, shall erect a clear and conspicuous sign or signs at the pond, lake, or other water body warning of the presence of duckweed and the danger caused by its false appearance of being a solid surface to walk upon.
b. A county or municipality may request the Department of Environmental Protection to supply it with a sufficient number of warning signs needed by the county or municipality to comply with the requirements of subsection a. of this section. The department shall supply those signs as required pursuant to subsection b. of section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), counties, and municipalities to periodically, but at least annually at the appropriate season, survey and inspect all ponds, lakes, and other water bodies located in any park they respectively own for the presence of duckweed (Lemna spp.). Duckweed is a small aquatic plant that floats on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of freshwater and often appears as a deceptively thick-looking mat on the water body's surface.
The bill would require, whenever duckweed is detected at any pond, lake, or other water body, the DEP, county, or municipality, as the case may be, to erect a clear and conspicuous sign or signs at the pond, lake, or other water body warning of the presence of duckweed and the danger caused by its false appearance of being a solid surface to walk upon. In addition, the bill would require the DEP, in consultation with the Department of Community Affairs, to:
(1) develop educational materials on duckweed, including information on how to identify it, which would be distributed to every county and municipality;
(2) develop the language to be used on the warning signs required by the bill, and produce an appropriate quantity of these signs for use by counties and municipalities; and
(3) distribute to any requesting county or municipality a sufficient number of duckweed warning signs needed by the county or municipality to comply with the bill's posting requirement.
