Bill Text: NJ A4862 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Imposes restrictions on vehicle idling.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-11-14 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee [A4862 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A4862-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Imposes restrictions on vehicle idling.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning motor vehicle idling restrictions and supplementing Title 39 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):
"Autobus" means any bus of any size or configuration, whether registered in this State or elsewhere, that is designed or used for intrastate or interstate transportation of passengers for hire or otherwise on a public road, street, or highway or any public or quasi-public property in this State, including, but not limited to, autobuses under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Department of Transportation pursuant to Titles 27 or 48 of the Revised Statutes; autobuses of the New Jersey Transit Corporation and its contract carriers; autobuses that are subject to federal motor carrier safety regulations; school buses, as defined pursuant to R.S.39:1-1; and hotel, casino, charter, and special buses.
"Diesel bus" means any diesel-powered autobus or motorbus of any size or configuration, whether registered in this State or elsewhere, that is designed or used for intrastate or interstate transportation of passengers for hire or otherwise on a public road, street, or highway or any public or quasi-public property in this State, including, but not limited to, autobuses under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Department of Transportation pursuant to Titles 27 or 48 of the Revised Statutes; autobuses of the New Jersey Transit Corporation and its contract; autobuses that are subject to federal motor carrier safety regulations; school buses, as defined pursuant to R.S.39:1-1; and hotel, casino, charter, and special buses.
"Diesel engine" means a compression ignition type of internal combustion engine.
"Diesel-powered" means utilizing a diesel engine.
"Gasoline-powered motor vehicle" means a vehicle powered in whole or in part by a hydrocarbon fuel other than diesel fuel, including, but not limited to, gasoline, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or propane or powered by alcohol fuels, hydrocarbon-alcohol fuel blends, or hydrogen.
"Motor vehicle" means all vehicles propelled otherwise than by muscular power, excepting such vehicles as run only upon rails or tracks, low-speed electric bicycles, low-speed electric scooters, and motorized bicycles. "Motor vehicle" does not include electric vehicles.
2. a. No person shall cause the engine of a diesel-powered motor vehicle to idle for more than two consecutive minutes if the vehicle is not in motion, except:
(1) a motor vehicle that has been stopped for three or more hours may idle for up to 15 consecutive minutes when the ambient temperature is below 25 degrees Fahrenheit; and
(2) a diesel bus may idle for up to 15 consecutive minutes during any 60-minute period while the bus is actively discharging or picking up passengers.
b. No person shall cause any emission control apparatus or element of design installed on any diesel-powered motor vehicle or diesel engine to be disconnected, detached, deactivated, or in any other way rendered inoperable or less effective, in respect to limiting or controlling emissions than it was designed to be by the original equipment or vehicle manufacturer, except for the purposes of diagnostics, maintenance, repair or replacement and only for the duration of such operations.
c. The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) any motor vehicle idling in traffic, or a motor vehicle other than a school bus idling in a queue of motor vehicles, that are intermittently motionless and moving because the progress of the motor vehicles in the traffic or the queue has been stopped or slowed by the congestion of traffic on the roadway or by other conditions over which the driver of the idling motor vehicle has no control;
(2) a motor vehicle whose primary power source is utilized in whole or in part for necessary and definitively prescribed mechanical operation other than propulsion, including, but not limited to, operating lift gate pumps and controlling cargo temperature. This paragraph shall not apply to passenger compartment heating or passenger compartment air conditioning;
(3) a motor vehicle being or waiting to be examined by a State or federal motor vehicle inspector;
(4) a motor vehicle that is actively engaged in the performance of emergency services, including, but not limited to, fire vehicles, police vehicles, public utility vehicles, military tactical vehicles, and snow removal vehicles;
(5) a motor vehicle while it is being repaired or serviced, provided that operation of the engine is essential to the proper repair or service;
(6) a vehicle equipped with a sleeper berth and which is equipped with a model year 2007 or newer engine, or has been retrofitted with a diesel particulate filter that is connected and properly functioning, while it is being used by the vehicle's operator for sleeping or resting in an area that is not zoned as residential. This exception shall not apply to a vehicle that is equipped with a functional auxiliary power unit; or
(7) the operation of technology designed to reduce engine idling, such as auxiliary power units, generator sets, and bunk heaters, provided the vehicle's main engine is not operating.
d. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to penalties pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1966, c.15 (C.39:3-70.2).
3. a. No person shall cause the engine of a gasoline-powered motor vehicle to idle for more than two consecutive minutes if the vehicle is not in motion.
b. The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) autobuses while actively discharging or picking up passengers. This exemption is limited to 15 consecutive minutes in a 60-minute period;
(2) motor vehicles idling in traffic, or motor vehicles other than a school bus idling in a queue of motor vehicles, that are intermittently motionless and moving because the progress of the motor vehicles in the traffic or the queue has been stopped or slowed by the congestion of traffic on the roadway or by other conditions over which the driver of the idling motor vehicle has no control;
(3) motor vehicles whose primary or secondary power source is utilized in whole or in part for necessary and definitively prescribed mechanical operation other than propulsion, including, but not limited to, operating lift gate pumps and controlling cargo temperature. This paragraph shall not apply to passenger compartment heating or passenger compartment air conditioning;
(4) motor vehicles being or waiting to be examined by State or federal motor vehicle inspectors;
(5) motor vehicles that are actively engaged in the performance of emergency services, including fire vehicles, police vehicles, public utility vehicles, military tactical vehicles and snow removal vehicles;
(6) motor vehicles while being repaired or serviced, provided that operation of the engine is essential to the proper repair or service; or
(7) motor vehicles manufactured with a sleeper berth while being used, in a nonresidentially zoned area, by the vehicle's operator for sleeping or resting, unless the vehicle is equipped with a functional auxiliary power system designed in whole or in part to maintain cabin or sleeper berth comfort or to mitigate cold weather start-up difficulties.
c. In no case shall the provisions of this section relieve any person from compliance with any applicable local, State, or federal laws.
d. Any person who violates the
provisions of this section shall be subject to penalties pursuant to section 2
of P.L.1966, c.15 (C.39:3-70.2).
4. a. Notwithstanding sections 2 and 3 of P.L. , c. (C. and C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), no person shall cause the engine of a motor vehicle to idle:
(1) for more than two consecutive minutes when that vehicle is parked in a parking space with available electrification technology or in a residential, condominium, townhouse development, or apartment complex; or
(2) with the exhaust pipe of the motor vehicle facing toward any unit entrance, entryway, or window where the parking space is within 50 feet in a townhome, condominium, or apartment complex.
b. In no case shall the provisions of this section relieve any person from compliance with any applicable local, State, or federal laws.
c. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to penalties pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1966, c.15 (C.39:3-70.2).
5. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill bans gasoline-powered and diesel-powered motor vehicles from idling for more than two minutes with certain exceptions, including for traffic congestion on a highway and for emergency service vehicles. The bill is based on current Department of Environmental Protection regulations and prohibits idling in residential neighborhoods, condominiums, townhouse developments, and apartment complexes, as well as focusing on creating buffer zones to protect entry ways and windows leading into residences from exhaust fumes created during the idling time period.
The bill also makes any individual who violates the provisions of the bill subject to certain civil administrative penalties.
