Bill Text: NJ A4789 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires electric public utilities to develop vegetation management plan.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-09-19 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee [A4789 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4789-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires electric public utilities to develop vegetation management plan.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning vegetation management and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Board" means the Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency.
"Distribution line" means a wire, line, pole, and other structure and facility which carries electricity from an electric public utility substation to customers, but does not include a service line to an individual customer.
"Electric public utility" or "utility" means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that transmits and distributes electricity to end users within this State.
"Vegetation management" means the clearing, moving, cutting, or destroying to remove, replace as reasonable and necessary, or maintain dangerous vegetation.
2. a. No later than six months after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), an electric public utility shall develop and submit to the board a vegetation management plan, which shall, at a minimum:
(1) identify on a map those areas in need of vegetation management and display the map and identified areas on the utility's Internet website;
(2) describe the type of vegetation management required to address dangerous vegetation at each of the areas identified on the map pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
(3) provide a timeframe for when vegetation management action will be taken at each of the areas identified on the map pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.
b. An electric public utility shall annually maintain and submit the plan required pursuant to subsection a. of this section to the board.
c. The board shall:
(1) determine criteria for dangerous vegetation that at a minimum shall include a tree, shrub, plant, or any other vegetation growing in, near, or adjacent to an electric public utility's right of way, and the electric distribution and transmission system, but not including a service line to an individual customer, which may include an electric distribution line, as determined by the electric public utility or local government entity that controls the right of way;
(2) establish criteria for a vegetation management plan as required pursuant to subsection a. of this section;
(3) review an electric public utility's vegetation management plan and approve or reject the plan within 60 days of the plan's submission to the board; and
(4) establish an appeal process for electric public utilities whose vegetation management plans have been rejected by the board.
3. The board shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires electric public utilities to develop and submit to the Board of Public Utilities (board) a vegetation management plan within six months of the bill's enactment. The plan is required to, at a minimum: (1) identify on a map those areas in need of vegetation management; (2) describe the type of vegetation management required at each of the identified areas; and (3) provide a timeframe for when vegetation management action will be taken at each of the identified areas. In addition, the bill requires an electric public utility to annually maintain and submit its vegetation management plan to the board.
Under the bill, the board is required determine criteria for "dangerous vegetation," which is required to, at a minimum, include a tree, shrub, plant, or any other vegetation growing in, near, or adjacent to an electric public utility's right of way, and the electric distribution and transmission system, but not including a service line to an individual customer, which may include an electric distribution line, as determined by the electric public utility or local government entity that controls the right of way. The board is also required to establish criteria for a vegetation management plan, approve or reject a plan within 60 days of its submission to the board, and establish an appeal process for electric public utilities whose plans have been rejected by the board. Additionally, the bill defines "vegetation management" as the clearing, moving, cutting, or destroying to remove, replace as reasonable and necessary, or maintain dangerous vegetation.
