Bill > S3233

Introduced Session

This bill, the "Food Desert Elimination Act," establishes the Food Desert Elimination Program (program) and requires the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (authority) to administer the program. The bill requires the authority, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, to designate the physical boundaries of urban food desert communities in the State. The program provides certain tax credits to supermarkets and grocery stores that newly open in urban food desert communities in order to provide a consistent, and easily accessible, source of fresh produce to residents in those communities. Under the program, a taxpayer that opens for business to the public a supermarket or grocery store, that meets program requirements, in an urban food desert community after the bill's effective date is to be allowed a credit against certain taxes due, in an amount equal to the total amount the taxpayer is assessed in property taxes by the municipality in which the supermarket or grocery store is located, during the first full tax year for the property where the supermarket or grocery store is open for business to the public, and for the three subsequent tax years after opening. Under the program, the authority may also direct the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in the Department of Law and Public Safety to issue a special retail distribution permit to supermarkets and grocery stores located in urban food desert communities after the bill's effective date to allow the supermarket or grocery store to sell alcoholic beverages. Under the bill, the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, upon the direction of authority and the approval of the municipal governing body, is permitted to issue a special permit to an individual corporation or other type of legal entity for use in connection with the operation of a supermarket or grocery store that is located within an urban food desert community. The permit entitles the holder to sell alcoholic beverages in original containers for consumption off the premises of the supermarket or grocery store and is not transferrable for use in connection with another premises. The bill provides that the special retail distribution permit is to be used in a manner consistent with a plenary retail distribution license issued pursuant to current law and is to be subject to any other fees and regulations promulgated by the director. Under current law, a municipality may only issue one plenary retail distribution license for every 7,500 persons residing in that municipality. This limitation on the number of plenary retail distribution licenses would not apply to the issuance of a special retail distribution permit under the program. In addition, current law prohibits a person from holding an interest in more than two retail licenses unless that person held more than two retail licenses prior to August 3, 1962. This limitation also would not apply to the issuance of a special retail distribution permit. The special retail distribution permit's initial issuance fee is based upon the average sales price of plenary retail distribution licenses during the five years preceding the bill's enactment in the municipality in which the supermarket or grocery store is located. If less than three licenses have been sold in the municipality within the previous five years, the municipality is required to obtain an appraisal, at the applicant's expense, to determine the appropriate fair market value of the permit. The initial issuance fee is to be reduced by the fair market value of the limitation on the permit's transferability. The bill takes effect on the first day of the seventh after enactment, but the authority and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control are permitted to take administrative action in advance as necessary to effectuate the bill.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*,  Troy Singleton (D)*,  Tom Kean (R), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 11/26/2018)