New Jersey-2018-A3431-Introduced

An Act concerning the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority, amending and supplementing various sections of law, and repealing section 8 of P.L.2016, c.56.

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

1. Section 21 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-21) is amended to read as follows:

21. a. There is hereby established a separate fund entitled "Special Transportation Fund." This fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer and may be held in depositories as may be selected by the treasurer and invested and reinvested as other funds in the custody of the treasurer, in the manner provided by law. The commissioner may from time to time (but not more frequently than monthly) certify to the authority an amount necessary to fund payments made, or anticipated to be made by or on behalf of the department, from appropriations established for or made to the department from revenues or other funds of the authority. The commissioner's certification shall be deemed conclusive for purposes of the act. The authority shall, within 15 days of receipt of the certificate, transfer from available funds of the authority to the treasurer for deposit in the Special Transportation Fund the amount certified by the commissioner, provided that all funds transferred shall only be expended by the department by project pursuant to appropriations made from time to time by the Legislature for the purposes of the act.

b. The department shall not expend any money except as appropriated by law. Commencing with appropriations for the fiscal years beginning on July 1, 1988, the department shall not expend any funds other than for permitted maintenance except as are appropriated by specific projects identified by a description of the projects, the county or counties within which they are located, and amounts to be expended on each project, in the annual appropriations act. Funds expended for permitted maintenance may be appropriated as one item of appropriation and subject to allocation at the commissioner's discretion.

c. No funds appropriated, authorized or expended pursuant to this act shall be used to finance the resurfacing of highways by department personnel, where that resurfacing would require the use of more than 100,000 tons of bituminous concrete for that purpose in any calendar year, except that the commissioner may waive this provision when the commissioner determines the existence of emergency conditions requiring the use of department personnel for the resurfacing of highways, after the department has effectively reached the 100,000 ton limit.

d. In order to provide the department with flexibility in administering the specific appropriations by project identified in the annual appropriations act, the commissioner may transfer a part of any item to any other item subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting and of the Joint Budget Oversight Committee or its successor. Upon approval of the director and the committee, the transfer shall take effect.

e. Any federal funds which become available to the State for transportation projects which have not been appropriated to the department in the annual appropriations act, shall be deemed appropriated to the department and may, subject to approval by the Joint Budget Oversight Committee and the State Treasurer, be expended for any purpose for which such funds are qualified.

f. There shall be no appropriations from the revenues and other funds of the authority for regular and routine maintenance of public highways and components thereof, or operational activities of the department unrelated to the implementation of, and indirect costs associated with, the capital program. The commissioner shall include in [his] the commissioner's annual budget request sufficient funding to effectuate the purposes of P.L.2000, c.73 (C.27:1B-21.14 et al.).

g. To the extent that salaries or overhead of the department or the New Jersey Transit Corporation are charged to transportation projects, each agency shall keep adequate and truthful personnel records[,] and time charts to adequately justify each such charge and shall make those records available to the external auditor to the authority.

h. The commissioner shall annually, on or before January 1 of each fiscal year, report to the Governor and the Legislature how much money was expended in the previous fiscal year for salaries and overhead of the department and the New Jersey Transit Corporation. However, the amount expended from the revenues and other funds of the authority for salaries and overhead of the department and the New Jersey Transit Corporation for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006 through the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015 shall not exceed 13 percent of the total funds appropriated from the revenues and other nonfederal funds of the authority for those fiscal years, and shall not exceed $208,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016 and each fiscal year thereafter.

i. No revenues or other funds of the authority shall be expended for emergency response operations, the review of applications for access permits under the State highway access management code and membership fees or other fees connected with membership in TRANSCOM, the Transportation Operations Coordinating Committee.

j. Every project in which revenues or other funds of the authority are expended shall be included on a website created by the authority whose exclusive purpose shall be reporting on the status of State and federal projects and serving as a singular location for State and federal public documentation concerning those projects. The website shall document the status of each project, presented in tabular form outlining the budgeted amount, the amount spent and committed, and the amount necessary to complete each project. The website shall include a chart which compares the planned and actual quarterly and cumulative expenditures for each project. The website shall chronicle actions which have a bearing on the progress of projects, including, but not limited to, awards for legal, insurance, and engineering services, environmental review, public involvement and outreach, property acquisitions, and construction contracts. The website shall also include a description of any action by an external regulatory agency such as the Department of Environmental Protection, or any other party, which occurred during the reporting period that affected the cost or timely completion of any project in any manner. Information concerning each project shall be included and updated, at minimum, once per month.

k. There shall be a minimum appropriation from the revenues and other funds of the authority of $25,000,000 each fiscal year, commencing with the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016, for the design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, land acquisition, and environmental mitigation of freight rail projects that: are significant to port commerce connectivity; eliminate rail freight missing links to port facilities; or upgrade freight rail trackage to a 286,000 pound load carrying capacity. The amount appropriated pursuant to this subsection shall be inclusive of all amounts annually appropriated for the New Jersey Rail Freight Assistance Program.

l. Appropriations from the revenues and other funds of the authority may be used to fund transportation projects undertaken through a public-private partnership agreement between the commissioner of the department or the New Jersey Transit Corporation and a private entity, pursuant to sections 2 and 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

m. The appropriations from the revenues and other funds of the authority shall prioritize the repair and reconstruction of existing transportation infrastructure in the following order:

(1) transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition to such an extent that it is in need of immediate repair and in imminent risk of being closed to the public;

(2) transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition and is located on heavily traveled public highways, bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, and public transportation routes;

(3) all transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition, but is not included in categories (1) or (2);

(4) routine maintenance of public roads, streets, expressways, freeways, parkways, motorways, and boulevards;

(5) routine maintenance of bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, and interchanges;

(6) the closing out and completion of public highway projects that have been funded through a budget appropriation in a current or prior annual transportation capital program but construction of the entire project has not been completed as of the date of enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);

(7) projects related to alleviating congestion on public highways;

(8) any types of department projects that are not included in categories (1) through (7), including projects related to freight rail and bicycle and pedestrian traffic; and

(9) new passenger rail projects that qualify for matching federal grant funds, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. s.5309, and are estimated to meet or exceed the average farebox recovery ratio for the entire New Jersey Transit Corporation passenger rail system.

(cf: P.L.2016, c.56, s.4)

2. (New section) a. The commissioner of the department, with the approval of the State Treasurer and in consultation with the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority, may enter into a public-private partnership agreement with a private entity to provide for the construction and maintenance of transportation projects in this State.

b. As used in this section, "public-private partnership agreement" means an agreement made for the purpose of permitting a private entity to assume financial and administrative responsibility for the development, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement, extension, operation, or maintenance, or any combination thereof, of a transportation project of, or for the benefit of, the department.

3. The commissioner shall promulgate, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.54:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

4. (New section) a. The corporation, with the approval of the State Treasurer and in consultation with the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority, may enter into a public-private partnership agreement with a private entity to provide for the construction and maintenance of transportation projects in this State.

5. The board shall promulgate, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.54:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

6. Section 8 of P.L.1987, c.460 (C.27:1B-21.1) is amended to read as follows:

8. a. Commencing with the reports of the commissioner, which shall include the Transportation Master Plan, Statewide Capital Investment Strategy, Annual Transportation Capital Program, Transportation Trust Fund Authority Financial Plan, and Five-Year Capital Plan, as may be amended, required to be submitted pursuant to section 22 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-22) on or before March 1, 2006 and on each succeeding March 1 thereafter through March 1, 2015, the annual amount so reported by the commissioner for proposed projects shall not exceed $1,600,000,000 exclusive of federal funds, and beginning with the reports due March 1, 2016, and on each succeeding March 1 thereafter through March 1, 2023, the amount so reported by the commissioner for proposed projects shall not exceed an aggregate $16,000,000,000 over that eight year period.

b. For the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2006 and for each fiscal year thereafter through the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2011, the total annual amount authorized to be appropriated from the revenues and other nonfederal funds of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority for the projects listed in the appropriations act pursuant to section 21 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-21) shall not exceed $1,600,000,000, all amounts exclusive of federal funds. The total amount authorized to be appropriated from the revenues and other nonfederal funds of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority for the projects listed in the appropriations act pursuant to section 21 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-21) shall not exceed: $1,247,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2012; $1,224,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2013; $1,225,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2014; and $1,247,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2015. The total amount authorized to be appropriated from the revenues and other nonfederal funds of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority for the projects listed in the appropriations act pursuant to section 21 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-21) shall not exceed [an aggregate $16,000,000,000 in total for the fiscal years beginning on July 1, 2016 through the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2023] $2 billion per fiscal year in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016 through the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2023.

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1991, c.40[.])

d. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1992, c.10)[.]

e. The State Auditor shall provide for a unified annual audit of expenditures from the "Special Transportation Fund," established by section 21 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-21), in order to determine that these funds are expended for costs eligible for funding from the authority and in a manner consistent with appropriations made by the Legislature. The findings of such audits shall be transmitted to the presiding officer of each House of the Legislature, and to the Chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Senate Transportation Committee, the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee or their successors.

f. The State Auditor shall review bond issuances of the authority and report to the Joint Budget Oversight Committee and to the members of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee, or their successors, on the status of the bonds of the authority and projects financed from the proceeds of the bonds. The report shall include the investment status of all unexpended bond proceeds and provide a description of any bond issues expected during a fiscal year, including type of issue, estimated amount of bonds to be issued and the expected month of sale.

(cf: P.L.2016, c.56, s.5)

7. Section 8 of P.L.2016, c.56 (C.27:1B-22.5) is repealed.

8. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill amends existing law to require the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority (TTFA) to allocate funds to fund transportation projects undertaken through a public-private partnership agreement with the New Jersey Department of Transportation or the New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJT) and a private entity.

The bill requires TTFA funds to be prioritized to repair existing transportation infrastructure in the following order: 1) transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition to such an extent that it is in need of immediate repair and in imminent risk of being closed to the public; 2) transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition and is located on heavily traveled public highways, bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, and public transportation routes; 3) all transportation infrastructure that is structurally deficient or in poor condition, but is not included in categories 1) or 2); 4) routine maintenance of public roads, streets, expressways, freeways, parkways, motorways, and boulevards; 5) routine maintenance of bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, and interchanges; 6) the closing out and completion of public highway projects that have been funded through a budget appropriation in a current or prior annual transportation capital program but construction of the entire project has not been completed as of the date of enactment of this bill; 7) projects related to alleviating congestion on public highways; 8) any types of department projects that are not included in categories 1) through 7), including projects related to freight rail and bicycle and pedestrian traffic; and 9) new passenger rail projects that qualify for matching federal funds and are estimated to meet or exceed the average farebox recovery ratio for the entire New Jersey Transit Corporation passenger rail system.

The bill also limits the amount authorized for transportation projects to $2 billion annually between fiscal years 2017 and 2024 and repeals the provisions of law establishing the Annual Transportation Capital Program Approval Committee.