Bill > A4454

Introduced Session

This bill provides a supplemental appropriation of $300,000 from the General Fund to the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers University for the Veterans Environmental Technology and Solutions (VETS) program. The VETS program is an initiative that seeks to empower local unemployed veterans with environmental job skills. Local veterans receive an educational stipend while undergoing certified training programs in a range of sustainable landscaping, environmental, and business skills. New trainees learn through a combination of in-class lectures, site visits, and hands-on engagement within the community. The VETS program also provides resources to help participating veterans readjust to civilian life, become self-sufficient, and re-engage in their community through environmental improvement initiatives. The Essex County VETS program was established in 2014, as a collaborative effort between the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension, the Metropolitan Resurrection Community Development Corporation, and the Lower Passaic River Study Area Cooperating Parties Group. The funds appropriated under this bill would be allotted to the VETS program for the continuation and expansion of the program now that program funding has ended.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Bob Andrzejczak (D)*,  Timothy Eustace (D)*,  R. Bruce Land (D)*,  Cleopatra Tucker (D)*, 

Reported and Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee (on 01/19/2017)