58:11B-20.1 - Priority system for water supply projects; policies
58:11B-20.1 Priority system for water supply projects; policies.
24. a. The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall for each fiscal year develop a priority system for water supply projects and shall establish the ranking criteria and funding policies therefor. The commissioner shall set forth a project priority list for funding by the trust for each fiscal year and shall include the aggregate amount of funds of the trust to be authorized for these purposes. The commissioner may include a water supply project on the project priority list if it meets the eligibility requirements for funding pursuant to the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996," Pub.L.104-182. The project priority list shall include a description of each project and an explanation of the manner in which priorities were established. The priority system and project priority list for the ensuing fiscal year shall be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 15 of each year on a day when both Houses are meeting. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly shall cause the date of submission to be entered upon the Senate Journal and the Minutes of the General Assembly, respectively. Incremental revisions or supplements to the project priority list may be submitted to the Legislature at any time between January 15th and May 15th of each year. On or before May 15 of each year, the trust shall submit the project priority list, including any revision thereof or supplement thereto, to be introduced in each House in the form of legislative appropriations bills, which shall be referred to the Senate Environment Committee and the General Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, or their successors, for their respective consideration.
b.The Senate Environment Committee and the General Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee shall, either individually or jointly, consider the legislation containing the project priority list, and shall report the legislation, together with any modifications, out of committee for consideration by each House of the Legislature. On or before July 1 of each year, the Legislature shall approve an appropriations act containing the project priority list, including any amendatory or supplementary provisions thereto, which act shall include the authorization of an aggregate amount of funds of the trust to be expended for loans and guarantees for the specific water supply projects, including the individual amounts therefor, on the list.
c.The trust shall not expend any money for a loan or guarantee during a fiscal year for any water supply project unless the expenditure is authorized pursuant to an appropriations act as provided in the provisions of this section, or as otherwise set forth in an appropriations act.
L.1997, c.224, s.24; amended 2001, c.223, s.6; 2002, c.69, s.3; 2009, c.59, s.4.