Bill > S291

Introduced Session

This bill would require the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, in consultation with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), to establish the "Household Water Assistance Program" (program). The purpose of the program would be to provide affordability assistance for water, sewer, and stormwater utility services, to eligible households throughout New Jersey. Under the bill, "eligible households" means a household regardless of the federal immigration status of the members of the household that: (1) has an income at or below an adjusted gross income to be determined by the department, which shall be equal to or greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines; (2) has individuals residing in the eligible household who are receiving the following: (a) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; (b) Supplemental Security Income payments under title XVI of the Social Security Act; (c) food stamps; (d) payments under section 415, 521, 541, or 542 of the title 38, United States Code, or under section 306 of the "Veterans' and Survivors' Pension Improvement Act of 1978;" or (e) payments under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program; (f) benefits under the Universal Service Fund; (g) benefits under the Lifeline Credit Program; (h) benefits under the Tenants' Lifeline Assistance Program; (i) benefits under the Winter Termination Program; (j) benefits under the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program; or (k) benefits as defined under P.L.1997, c.14; or (3) can demonstrate either temporary or ongoing financial hardship according to the department. Additionally, the bill defines "water system" to include all of the following: (1) a public community water system, as that term is defined by section 3 of P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-3); (2) a stormwater utility established pursuant to P.L.2019, c.42 (C.40A:26B-1 et seq.); and (3) an authority, as defined in P.L.1983, c. 313 (C.40A:5A-3), municipal public utility, as defined in P.L.1960, c.169 (C.40A:1-1), or public utility, as defined pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1983, c.78 (C.48:2-13.1), that provides sewer service. The bill provides that the program would provide the following types of financial assistance: (1) direct assistance; (2) assistance to renters and other households who do not receive a bill from a water system but pay other amounts, fees, or charges related to residential water system service; (3) water crisis intervention assistance; (4) water efficiency, leak detection, and plumbing repair measures for eligible households; and (5) debt relief for arrears, including arrears accrued prior to implementation of the program. The commissioner is required to coordinate the program with any existing assistance programs and in developing the program, the commissioner would consider adapting elements of one or more existing low-income energy assistance programs, including the Universal Service Fund and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The bill provides that in administering the program, the commissioner is required to consult and coordinate with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the Household Water Assistance Advisory Group to develop and publish performance metrics that are disaggregated by utility name, type of water service provided, municipality, and zip code, which include enrollment levels water shutoffs for inability to pay, and on-time payment levels. The bill would establish a "Household Water Assistance Advisory Group" to advise the commissioner in the development of the program. The advisory group would include representatives of each of the following entities, to be appointed by the Governor: a public community water system that is not a public utility; a public community water system that is a public utility; a stormwater utility once created; an authority or municipal public utility that provides sewer services; three representatives of non-governmental organizations; a member from the public that comes from an eligible household; at least one technical assistance provider, such as organizations that support the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program or other low income utility assistance programs; at least one local agency or non-profit organization that manages multifamily housing serving low-income residents; at least one person with technical expertise in measuring the affordability of water services; at least one municipal official appointed by the Governor, upon the recommendation of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities; and at least one county official appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Association of Counties The bill provides that the commissioner would be required to consult, coordinate, and collaborate with the advisory group on certain matters. The bill would also require the commissioner to annually adopt an expenditure plan for assistance to be provided under the program through the "Water Rate Assistance Fund" (fund) created pursuant to the bill. The fund would be a non-lapsing fund to contain monies appropriated annually by the Legislature, federal and other grants received by the State, and any other monies made available to fund the water affordability assistance required to be provided in the bill. The bill provides that no later than one year after the enactment of this bill, BPU would be required to establish a mechanism for public utilities that provide electric or natural gas services to regularly share data with the department regarding customers currently enrolled in low-income energy assistance programs. Additionally, the commissioner would be allowed to enter into agreements with municipal public utilities that provide electric or natural gas service, for the purposes of regularly sharing data with the department regarding utility customers enrolled in, or eligible to be enrolled in, affordability programs benefiting low-income households. The board and the commissioner would be required to ensure that the data shared and collected under the bill would be subject to existing confidentiality protections provided under State law. The bill would appropriate $75 million to the fund within the department for the purpose of administering the program from the funds provided to the State by the United States government under the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021," Pub.L. 117-2.

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Committee Categories

Linda Greenstein (D)*,  Nellie Pou (D)*,  Holly Schepisi (R),  Troy Singleton (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 01/11/2022)

Official Document