12:6B-4 - Priority list for dredging projects; appropriations
12:6B-4 Priority list for dredging projects; appropriations.
4. a. It shall be the duty of the Office of Maritime Resources in the Department of Transportation to establish, from time to time, a project priority list for dredging, dredged material disposal projects and decontamination projects based primarily on the maintenance of the viability of the Port of New Jersey and New York as a deep water port accessible to international commerce, on the maintenance of the viability of navigation channels not located in the port region to promote commerce, recreation and tourism, and on the prospects for the creation and retention of jobs in New Jersey. In developing a project priority list, the office shall consult with the task force and the Department of Environmental Protection, and shall review and consider the plan developed pursuant to subsection a. of section 5 of P.L.1997, c.97 (C.12:6B-5). The office, in consultation with the task force and the Department of Environmental Protection, shall identify in the project priority lists developed pursuant to this subsection, not less than a total of $5 million for decontamination projects. Upon the development of a project priority list, the office shall submit the list to the task force for its approval. The task force is authorized to approve, disapprove, or approve in part, a project priority list.
b.Upon approval of a project priority list for projects authorized to receive funding pursuant to sections 5 and 7 of P.L.1996, c.70, or upon the failure of the task force to approve or disapprove a project priority list within 60 days of receipt of the list from the office, the task force shall submit the list to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly, who shall cause the project priority list to be introduced in each House in the form of legislative appropriations bills.
c.The Legislature shall consider, and may amend or supplement, the appropriations bills containing the project priority list. Any bill introduced pursuant to subsection b. of this section and approved by the Legislature shall appropriate monies from the "1996 Dredging and Containment Facility Fund," established pursuant to section 18 of P.L.1996, c.70, only for the projects authorized pursuant to sections 5 and 7 of P.L.1996, c.70, and shall identify the specific projects, including the individual amounts therefor, for which monies are appropriated.
d.No monies appropriated pursuant to subsection c. of this section shall be expended for any project unless the expenditure is authorized pursuant to the project priority list contained in the legislation approved in accordance with the provisions of subsection c. of this section.
e.Nothing in this section shall preclude the Legislature from developing a project priority list and making appropriations therefor.
L.1997,c.97,s.4; amended 2001, c.429, s.13.