Bill

Bill > A3078


NJ A3078

NJ A3078
Requires DEP to establish online flood, rainfall, river level, and sewer capacity dashboard.


summary

Introduced
01/13/2026
In Committee
01/13/2026
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead

Introduced Session

2026-2027 Regular Session

Bill Summary

This bill requires that the Department of Environmental Protection (department) develop and establish on its Internet website a publicly accessible, searchable, and readily updated dashboard to track real-time rainfall, river levels, sewer capacity, and flood patterns at the municipal level. The online dashboard created by the department would include, at a minimum, rainfall and precipitation levels, local river levels, total water level rise, storm and flood surge, drainage complaints, reported flood damage, current sewer and stormwater capacity, history of flooding, and any other features determined by the department to be necessary to establish a comprehensive dashboard system. The dashboard would be updated at least weekly during periods of active storm warnings. The bill would require municipal and county emergency offices to report information the department determines necessary to operate the dashboard. Under the provisions of this bill, the department is required to annually review the dashboard, as well as reporting requirements imposed on each local government unit, take steps to standardize and consolidate reporting, and ensure that a comprehensive, system-wide scope of data is collected. This would include identifying and eliminating duplicative reporting; assessing the need to establish or change standardized formats, requirements, protocols, and systems for data reporting; assessing State information technology needs to support technology-enabled and data-driven regulatory flood risk monitoring; anticipating potential uses for the enhanced technologies and systems; enabling systems to readily accept and analyze additional data metrics; identifying opportunities to centralize and modernize State flood and stormwater infrastructure, processes, and analytic capabilities; and identifying available federal funding to support flood risk data collection improvement.

AI Summary

This bill mandates that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) create and maintain a publicly accessible online dashboard on its website to track flood risks at the municipal level, which will include real-time data on rainfall, river levels, sewer and stormwater system capacity, drainage complaints, reported flood damage, and historical flooding incidents, with updates at least weekly during active storm warnings. Municipal and county emergency offices will be required to report necessary information to the DEP for the dashboard's operation, and the DEP will establish standardized digital formats for this reporting. Furthermore, the DEP must annually review the dashboard and reporting requirements to standardize and consolidate them, aiming to reduce administrative burdens on local governments, improve data utility and sharing across different government systems, and identify opportunities to modernize flood risk monitoring and secure federal funding for improvements. The DEP is also authorized to seek federal grants to support the dashboard's creation and upkeep.

Committee Categories

Business and Industry

Sponsors (1)

Last Action

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (on 01/13/2026)

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