Bill > A2619

Introduced Session

This bill would establish explosive blasting-related liability and insurance requirements for the owners and operators of rock quarries, as well as a dedicated, revolving fund and tax-based funding mechanism, to enable residential property owners and residents to seek and obtain appropriate compensation for residential property damages and other related damages (defined as "compensable damages" under the bill), which have proximately resulted from blasting operations or activities undertaken at a nearby rock quarry. In order to provide enhanced public transparency in association with rock quarry blasting operations and activities undertaken in the State, and in order to ensure and facilitate the timely and accurate identification and documentation of compensable damages proximately resulting therefrom, the bill would require the owner or operator of each rock quarry, which is being excavated in this State through the use of blasting techniques and methods, to: 1) provide for appropriate staff employed, or third-parties contracted, thereby to independently conduct separate pre-blasting and post-blasting residential property and natural resource blast impact assessments, both immediately before and immediately after each blasting operation or activity undertaken at the quarry, in order to monitor and document the condition of residential properties and natural resources located within the blast impact zone and identify damages, to such properties and resources, which have proximately resulted from each such blasting operation or activity; 2) provide advanced public and municipal notice of each blasting operation or activity to be undertaken at the rock quarry, at least two weeks prior to the commencement thereof, through use of all of the following means and methods: the prominent online posting of blasting notice on the department's Internet website; the delivery, by certified mail or other verified means, of written blasting notice to the governing body of each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the relevant blast impact zone; the prominent posting of relevant and readily identifiable blasting notice signs and signage, on residential streets and street corners and at other prominent or centralized locations in residential neighborhoods lying within the relevant blast impact zone; and the publication of blasting notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation covering each municipality that is fully or partially situated within the blast impact zone; 3) within 30 days after the conclusion of each post-blast impact assessment conducted under the bill, deliver to each residential property address falling within the blast impact zone, by certified mail, a written blast impact and damage assessment notice that identifies the damages, if any, to such residential property and to any assessed natural resources in the blast impact zone, which have been identified during the course of the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments conducted pursuant to the bill, and which sets forth the assessor's independent findings as to whether, and the extent to which, such damages have proximately resulted from blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry; 4) develop and submit, to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in a form and manner, and on an annual or other regular basis, as prescribed thereby, a written blast impact and insurance coverage report: describing the processes, procedures, and standards used, by relevant rock quarry employees or third-party contractors, in conducting the pre-blast and post-blast impact assessments required by the bill; identifying and categorizing, by location, type, and severity, the residential property damages, natural resource damages, and other related damages, discovered through such blast impact assessments or otherwise, which are or may be deemed to be compensable under the bill; indicating whether, and the extent to which eligible claimants may seek and obtain reimbursement, through an insurance policy or a self-insurance fund maintained by the rock quarry owner or operator, in accordance with the bill's provisions, for the eligible compensable damage costs incurred by such claimants as a proximate result of blasting operations or activities undertaken at the quarry; and identifying the total number and dollar amount of insurance claims submitted and paid-out, during the reporting period, under the terms of such insurance policy, or through such self-insurance fund; and 5) provide other public disclosures relevant to the blasting operations and activities being undertaken at the rock quarry and the blast impact assessments being undertaken pursuant to the bill, as directed by the DEP. Each blast impact and insurance coverage report, submitted under the bill, would be posted at a publicly accessible location on the DEP's Internet website, and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection would be required to provide an electronic means by which members of the public can search for and locate relevant blast impact and insurance coverage reports and other blasting-related information appearing on the website, by county or municipality. The bill would provide for the Department of Banking and Insurance, working in cooperation and consultation with the DEP and licensed insurance carriers operating in the State, to provide for the development and initial issuance, or for the modification and reissuance, as appropriate, of new or existing insurance policies providing coverage sufficient to enable eligible claimants to recover, without threat of exorbitant insurance premium increases or policy cancellation, and to require rock quarry owners or operators to pay, the costs incurred by such claimants for residential property damages and other compensable damages, as set forth in the bill, proximately resulting from rock quarry blasting operations or activities. The bill would require the owner or operator of a rock quarry to deposit, on a monthly basis, in an interest-bearing account with an accredited financial institution, an amount equal to $1.00 per ton (or the equivalent, as determined by the Division of Taxation) of all rock and other material excavated from the quarry during the preceding month. Such interest-bearing account would be deemed to constitute an escrow account for blasting-related insurance claims coverage, and the moneys deposited therein are to be dedicated and used only in order to enable the rock quarry owner or operator: 1) to purchase, from a licensed insurance carrier, general liability insurance that includes coverage for damages proximately resulting from blasting operations or activities; or 2) as authorized or directed by the DEP, to establish and maintain a self-insurance fund sufficient to ensure the rock quarry's ability to satisfy its known and anticipated compensable damage insurance claims obligations in association with blasting operations and activities undertaken at the quarry. The bill would additionally provide for the Director of the Division of Taxation, in the Department of the Treasury, to levy a tax, to be paid by the owner or operator of each rock quarry, on all rock and other materials excavated from each rock quarry. The bill would require a quarry owner or operator to file a tax return, at the close of each tax period, indicating the total amount of materials excavated from the quarry during the tax period, and paying the full amount of the tax due. Every owner or operator of a rock quarry in the State would be required to register with the director, for such purposes, within 20 days after the date on which rock or other material is first excavated from the quarry following the bill's effective date. Any taxpayer who fails to file a tax return, or who fails to pay the requisite tax, when due, as provided by the bill, would be subject to appropriate tax penalties and interest, as provided by the State Tax Uniform Procedure Law, R.S.54:48-1 et seq. Any rock quarry owner or operator who fails to comply with the public transparency or insurance coverage requirements, established by the bill, would be subject to a penalty of $100 to $5,000 for the first offense, $300 to $10,000 for the second offense, and $500 to $20,000 for the third or subsequent offense, which penalty is to be collected, by the DEP, in a summary proceeding, and deposited into the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund - a nonlapsing revolving fund to be established under the bill and administered by the DEP - for the fund's dedicated use and purposes. The bill would further specify that every owner and operator of a rock quarry is to be deemed jointly and severally liable for the payment of any penalty that is imposed, under the bill, against any single such owner or operator; and that any offense committed by a rock quarry employee or third-party contractor will be deemed to constitute an offense committed by the quarry owner or operator, for which all such owners and operators are jointly and severally liable. Under the bill's provisions, all moneys in the Rock Quarry Blasting Contingency Fund are to be dedicated and used for the reimbursement of eligible and uninsured costs incurred by eligible claimants in association with the repair, restoration, or remediation of residential property damages or other compensable damages, as set forth in the bill, which have proximately resulted from rock quarry blasting operations or activities. Any person seeking reimbursement from the fund would be required to submit an application therefor within one year after the discovery of damages for which compensation is due. The commissioner would further be required to develop and institute a streamlined and accessible process to promote and facilitate timeliness and accuracy in association with the reporting of compensable damage claims, the submission of applications for reimbursement from the fund, and the issuance of appropriate compensable damage awards from the fund. This process would be required to provide, at a minimum, for the use of mediation, arbitration, and other appropriate non-adversarial means and methods to facilitate and ensure the extrajudicial resolution of disputes arising in association with compensable damage claims submitted through the fund. In any case where the total amount of compensation to be awarded from the fund, in any year, exceeds the remaining balance of moneys in the fund, the bill would provide for individual compensation awards to be awarded on a pro-rated basis until paid in full. The bill would further require each individual compensation award to be reduced by the total amount of compensable damages, as reported by the claimant, for which reimbursement is already authorized by, or has been provided under, an insurance policy or a self-insurance fund maintained under the bill, less any amount of money that is owed or paid by the claimant for insurance deductible purposes.

AI Summary

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Carmen Morales (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document