Bill Text: NJ SCR122 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Determines that DEP rules and regulations known as " New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change - Resilient Environment and Landscapes" are inconsistent with legislative intent.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 6)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-02-03 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee [SCR122 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-SCR122-Introduced.html
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 122
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 3, 2025
Sponsored by:
Senator MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Determines that DEP rules and regulations known as "New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change - Resilient Environment and Landscapes" are inconsistent with legislative intent.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution concerning legislative review of Department of Environmental Protection rules and regulations pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.
Whereas, Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey provides that the Legislature may review any rule or regulation of an administrative agency to determine if the rule or regulation is consistent with the intent of the Legislature and, upon a finding that the rule or regulation is not consistent with legislative intent, may transmit such finding to the Governor and the head of the agency; and
Whereas, In the August 5, 2024 New Jersey Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed a set of rules and regulations, known as "New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change - Resilient Environment and Landscapes" (NJPACT - REAL), which would make sweeping changes to various DEP rules and programs in response to climate change, including drastically increasing the size of the Flood Hazard Area under the "Flood Hazard Area Control Act," P.L.1962, c.19 (C.58:16A-50 et seq.); and
Whereas, The rules and regulations, if implemented, would have significant impacts on ordinary New Jerseyans, particularly those in coastal regions of the State, by increasing property taxes, the cost of living, and the costs of building and renovating homes and businesses; and
Whereas, Under the State Constitution, the duties and powers of the Executive Branch are limited to executing those laws that are enacted by the Legislature and the Governor; and
Whereas, The Legislature recognizes this principle by including, within its laws, an explicit authorization for an Executive Department to adopt rules and regulations to implement the law; and
Whereas, However, in this case, the Legislature did not merely neglect to include such an authorization, it enacted no law; and
Whereas, Instead, the DEP proposed the NJPACT - REAL rules and regulations, which constitute a major climate change law, unilaterally, likely with the well-intended aim of combating the negative effects of climate change, but forgetting that the DEP does not represent the people of New Jersey and thus that it oversteps its constitutional authority by proposing entirely new laws, and ignoring the fact that inaction can also be an expression of the Legislature's will; and
Whereas,
The DEP claims, in its rule proposal, that approximately 50 existing laws
provide it with the statutory authority to advance the NJPACT - REAL rules and
regulations; and
Whereas, However, there are several issues with this claim: first, several of the laws, including P.L.1951, c.80 (C.58:10-35.1 et seq.) and the "Radiation Protection Act," P.L.1958, c.116 (C.26:2D-1) et seq., have not been amended for at least 40 years, meaning that the Legislature could not possibly have intended them to authorize the DEP to combat the effects of climate change, since the issue of climate change was not salient at that time; and
Whereas, Second, the DEP cites statutes that have subsequently been repealed by the Legislature, namely P.L.1940, c.100 (C.45:15C-1 et seq.) and section 1 of P.L.1948, c.448 (C:13:1B-1); and
Whereas, Third, the DEP fails to cite the one significant statute that has been enacted specifically in response to climate change, the "Global Warming Response Act," P.L.2007, c.112 (C.26:2C-37 et seq.), perhaps in tacit recognition of the fact that that law explicitly provides the DEP with the authority to establish a greenhouse gas monitoring and reporting program only, and that the Legislature specifically removed a provision that would have authorized the DEP to adopt rules and regulations to implement the other provisions of the law, including the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, during the passage of the law; and
Whereas, It is therefore clear that the DEP has overstepped its authority in proposing the NJPACT - REAL rules and regulations, and the Legislature urges the DEP to follow the principles of the Constitution and await future Legislative enactments regarding how best to protect New Jerseyans lives and property from the negative effects of climate change; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):
1. The Legislature declares that the rules and regulations proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection in the August 5, 2024 New Jersey Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), and known as "New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Change - Resilient Environment and Landscapes," are inconsistent with legislative intent.
2. Copies of this concurrent resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the Governor and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
3. Pursuant to Article V, Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, the Department of Environmental Protection shall have 30 days following transmittal of this resolution to amend or withdraw the proposed rules and regulations or the Legislature may, by passage of another concurrent resolution, exercise its authority under the Constitution to invalidate the rules and regulations in whole or in part.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution embodies the finding of the Legislature that the rules and regulations proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection in the August 5, 2024 New Jersey Register, 56 N.J.R. 1282(a), are not consistent with the intent of the Legislature. The Department of Environmental Protection would have 30 days from the date of transmittal of this resolution to amend or withdraw the proposed rules and regulations or the Legislature may, by passage of another concurrent resolution, exercise its authority under the Constitution to invalidate the rules and regulations in whole or in part.
