Bill Text: NJ S2203 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides useful life of three years for certain permitted maintenance projects with Transportation Trust Fund monies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-12-06 - Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee [S2203 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S2203-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator STEPHEN M. SWEENEY
District 3 (Salem, Cumberland and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Provides useful life of three years for certain permitted maintenance projects with Transportation Trust Fund monies.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the use of certain transportation funds, amending P.L.1984, c.73.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-3) is amended to read as follows:
3. The following words or terms as used in this act shall have the following meaning unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
a. "Act" means this New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority Act of 1984, as amended and supplemented.
b. "Authority" means the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority created by section 4 of [this act] P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-1 et seq.).
c. "Bonds" means bonds issued by the authority pursuant to the act.
d. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Transportation.
e. "Department" means the Department of Transportation.
f. "Federal aid highway" means any highway within the State in connection with which the State receives payment or reimbursement from the federal government under the terms of Title 23, United States Code or any amendment, successor, or replacement thereof, for the purposes contained in the act.
g. "Federal government" means the United States of America, and any officer, department, board, commission, bureau, division, corporation, agency or instrumentality thereof.
h. "South Jersey Transportation Authority" means the public corporation created by section 4 of P.L.1991, c.252 (C.27:25A-4) or its successor.
i. ["New Jersey Highway Authority" means the public corporation created by section 4 of P.L.1952, c.16 (C.27:12B-4) or its successor.] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. c. , (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
j. "New Jersey Turnpike Authority" means the public corporation created by section 3 of P.L.1948, c.454 (C.27:23-3) or its successor.
k. "Notes" means the notes issued by the authority pursuant to the act.
l. "Public highways" means public roads, streets, expressways, freeways, parkways, motorways and boulevards, including bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, rest areas, express bus roadways, bus pullouts and turnarounds, park-ride facilities, traffic circles, grade separations, traffic control devices, the elimination or improvement of crossings of railroads and highways, whether at grade or not at grade, bicycle and pedestrian pathways and pedestrian and bicycle bridges traversing public highways and any facilities, equipment, property, rights of way, easements and interests therein needed for the construction, improvement and maintenance of highways.
m. "Public transportation project" means, in connection with public transportation service, passenger stations, shelters and terminals, automobile parking facilities, ferries and ferry facilities, including capital projects for ferry terminals, approach roadways, pedestrian accommodations, parking, docks, and other necessary land-side improvements, ramps, track connections, signal systems, power systems, information and communication systems, roadbeds, transit lanes or rights of way, equipment storage, pedestrian walkways and bridges connecting to passenger stations and servicing facilities, bridges, grade crossings, rail cars, locomotives, motorbuses and other motor vehicles, maintenance and garage facilities, revenue handling equipment and any other equipment, facility or property useful for or related to the provision of public transportation service.
n. "State agency" means any officers, department, board, commission, bureau, division, agency or instrumentality of the State.
o. "Toll road authorities" means and includes the New Jersey Turnpike Authority[, the New Jersey Highway Authority] and the South Jersey Transportation Authority.
p. "Transportation project" means, in addition to public highways and public transportation projects, any equipment, facility or property useful or related to the provision of any ground, waterborne or air transportation for the movement of people and goods including rail freight infrastructure.
q. "Transportation system" means public highways, public transportation projects, other transportation projects, and all other surface, airborne and waterborne methods of transportation for the movement of people and goods.
r. "Permitted maintenance" means, in relation to public transportation projects, direct costs of work necessary for preserving or maintaining the useful life of public transportation projects, provided the work performed is associated with the acquisition, installation, and rehabilitation of components which are not included in the normal operating maintenance of equipment and facilities or replaced on a scheduled basis. The work shall ensure the useful life of the project for not less than five years and shall not include routine maintenance or inspection of equipment and facilities that is conducted on a scheduled basis. This definition shall not apply to the term "maintenance" as used in subsection l. of this section. For purposes of this subsection, "permitted maintenance" means, in relation to public highways, the direct costs of work necessary for preserving or maintaining the useful life of public highways, provided the work is not associated with the regular and routine maintenance of public highways and their components. The work shall ensure the useful life of the project for not less than five years, except for any work involving depressions in the surface of public highways caused by traffic or surface deterioration, the useful life of which shall be for not less than three years.
s. "Circle of Mobility" means an essential group of related transit projects that include (1) the New Jersey Urban Core Project, as defined in section 3031 of the "Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991," Pub.L.102-240, and consisting of the following elements: Secaucus Transfer, Kearny Connection, Waterfront Connection, Northeast Corridor Signal System, Hudson River Waterfront Transportation System, Newark-Newark International Airport-Elizabeth Transit Link, a rail connection between Penn Station Newark and Broad Street Station, Newark, New York Penn Station Concourse, and the equipment needed to operate revenue service associated with improvements made by the project, and (2) the modification and reconstruction of the West Shore Line in Bergen County connected to Allied Junction/Secaucus Transfer Meadowlands Rail Center; the construction of a rail station and associated components at the Meadowlands Sports Complex; the modification and reconstruction of the Susquehanna and Western Railway, as defined and provided in section 3035 (a) of the "Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991"; the modification and reconstruction of the Lackawanna Cutoff Commuter Rail Line connecting Morris, Sussex and Warren Counties to the North Jersey Transportation Rail Centers; and commuter rail service in the central New Jersey region terminating at the proposed Lakewood Transportation Center in Ocean County or other location, as determined by the Board of the New Jersey Transit Corporation, pursuant to a resolution of the board providing for the achievement of a consensus among the interested parties as to the direction of the proposed rail line; provided, however, that this 2000 amendatory act shall not be construed as affecting any priorities which may have been assigned to any other project in the Circle of Mobility.
(cf: P.L.2000, c.73, s.15)
2. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2011.
STATEMENT
Current law provides for the use of Transportation Trust Fund monies for "permitted maintenance" of transportation projects, such work that will ensure the useful life of the project for not less than five years. This bill would provide an exception to this requirement for permitted maintenance of public highways, such that any work involving depressions in the surface of public highways caused by traffic or surface deterioration, the useful life shall be for not less than three years.
