Bill > S3888

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Commissioner of Community Affairs (commissioner), in consultation with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (board), to establish the "New Jersey Low Income Household Water Assistance Program" (program). The purpose of the program is to provide affordability assistance for water and sewer services to eligible households throughout New Jersey. Under the bill, "eligible household" means a household that pays for its own water or sewer services and which has a monthly household income at or below 60 percent of the New Jersey State median income, to be established by the Department of Community Affairs based on the most recent Statewide data from the United States Census Bureau. Under the bill, the programs would provide the following types of assistance:· direct assistance;· 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;· water crisis intervention assistance;· water efficiency, leak detection, and plumbing repair measures for eligible households; and· 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 is also required to review and 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 also establishes the "New Jersey Low Income Household Water Assistance Program Fund." 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. To participate in the program, each public utility, local authority, or municipal utility is required to enter into a vendor contract with the department, on a form and in such manner as determined by the commissioner, to provide assistance to eligible households. The bill requires the commissioner to submit an annual written report concerning the operations of the program to the Governor and to the Legislature, which is required to include information concerning: · the number of persons who applied for the program; · the number of persons who have been approved and denied for the program, respectively; · the number of public utilities, local authorities, and municipal utilities that have entered into a vendor contract, including the names of any such public utility, local authority, or municipal utility; and· the amount of funding that has been expended on the program, including administrative expenses and program assistance payments, respectively. The bill appropriates $25 million from the General Fund to the Department of Community Affairs to provide grants to effectuate the bill's provisions.

Committee Categories

Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*,  Renee Burgess (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee (on 11/18/2024)

Official Document