A4234

An Act concerning certain environmental permits, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Expediency and Accessibility in State Environmental Permitting Act.”

2. a. The Legislature finds and declares that:

(1) having endured a long history of industrial pollution and natural resource degradation from which its natural environment is still recovering, the State has advanced and must continue to implement policies to improve and protect public health, safety, and the environment, and which promote smart growth and sustainable economic development;

(2) the people of New Jersey, their communities, and businesses depend upon the State to secure healthy air, clean water, safe lands, and a stable climate;

(3) both legacy and emerging environmental hazards demand that the State advance the science and technology necessary to develop and implement strong public health, safety, and environmental standards;

(4) State policies to protect residents from exposure to unnecessary pollution, reduce the risk of environmental hazards, and restore and conserve our valuable natural resources require expedient and technologically adept governance; and

(5) the implementation of Statewide public health, safety, and environmental programs must be efficiently and timely deployed to ensure their protective ends while facilitating the economic and community development that enriches quality of life for all New Jerseyans.

b. The Legislature further finds and declares that:

(1) improving and maintaining environmental quality and economic development requires that the State ensure that its process for implementing Statewide public health, safety, and environmental programs are transparent and accessible to regulated entities and the general public;

(2) the State must pursue continual process improvement consistent with the pace of technological developments; and

(3) the State must consistently invest in and leverage information technology in order to expedite the environmental review and permitting of commercial, industrial, and public development, and to ensure the accountability of all permit process participants.

3. As used in this act:

“Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection.

“Expediency and Accessibility in State Environmental Permitting Portal” or “EASE Permitting Portal” means the online permit transparency portal developed by the department pursuant to subsection a. of section 4 of this act.

“New Jersey Environmental Management System” or “NJEMS” means the integrated database management tool utilized by the department in the administration of Statewide public health, safety, and environmental programs, including, but not limited to, the receipt and processing of permit applications for individual, commercial, industrial, and public development. “NJEMS” includes the legacy, existing, and potential future iterations of the NJEMS.

“Permit” means any general or individual permit, registration, or license issued by the department establishing the regulatory and management requirements for a regulated activity under the following State laws:

(1) R.S.12:5-1 et seq.;

(2) P.L.1975, c.232 (C.13:1D-29 et al.);

(3) the “Solid Waste Management Act,” P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.);

(4) section 17 of P.L.1975, c.326 (C.13:1E-26);

(5) the “Comprehensive Regulated Medical Waste Management Act,” sections 1 through 25 of P.L.1989, c.34 (C.13:1E-48.1 et seq.);

(6) P.L.1989, c.151 (C.13:1E-99.21a et al.);

(7) the “New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act,” P.L.1987, c.102 (C.13:1E-99.11 et al.);

(8) the “Pesticide Control Act of 1971,” P.L.1971, c.176 (C.13:1F-1 et seq.);

(9) “The Wetlands Act of 1970,” P.L.1970, c.272 (C.13:9A-1 et seq.);

(10) the “Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act,” P.L.1987, c.156 (C.13:9B-1 et al.);

(11) the “Coastal Area Facility Review Act,” P.L.1973, c.185 (C.13:19-1 et seq.);

(12) the “Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act,” P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et seq.);

(13) the “Air Pollution Control Act (1954),” P.L.1954, c.212 (C.26:2C-1 et seq.);

(14) the “Water Supply Management Act,” P.L.1981, c.262 (C.58:1A-1 et al.);

(15) P.L.1947, c.377 (C.58:4A-5 et seq.);

(16) the “Water Pollution Control Act,” P.L.1977, c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.);

(17) P.L.1986, c.102 (C.58:10A-21 et seq.); or

(18) the “Flood Hazard Area Control Act,” P.L.1962, c.19 (C.58:16A-50 et seq.).

“Permit” shall not include any authorization or approval necessary to perform a remediation, as defined pursuant to section 23 of P.L.1993, c.139 (C.58:10B-1).

4. a. The department shall develop and maintain on its Internet website an accessible online permit transparency portal utilizing publicly accessible NJEMS data, which portal shall be unidirectional and provide information sufficient to enable permit applicants and the general public to remotely monitor the submission, progress, and disposition of permit applications. The portal shall be known as the Expediency and Accessibility in State Environmental Permitting Portal or EASE Permitting Portal.

b. The department shall ensure that the EASE Permitting Portal reflects, at a minimum:

(1) the department’s receipt of a permit application;

(2) the completeness of a permit application, including its administrative and technical completeness, any applicant or agent deficiencies in attaining application completeness, and the applicant or agent responsible for curing the application deficiencies;

(3) stages of permit application review;

(4) process ownership by stage of review; and

(5) the projected timeline to final disposition of the permit application.

c. The department shall deploy the EASE Permitting Portal in a sequential phased manner by permitting divisions within the department, as follows:

(1) no later than 12 months after the effective date of this act or the availability of necessary appropriations, whichever is later, the department shall make the portal available for the monitoring of permit applications pending before the department’s Division of Land Resource Protection;

(2) no later than 18 months after the effective date of this act or the availability of necessary appropriations, whichever is later, the department shall make the portal available for the monitoring of permit applications pending before the department’s Division of Air Quality and Radiation Protection;

(3) no later than 24 months after the effective date of this act or the availability of necessary appropriations, whichever is later, the department shall make the portal available for the monitoring of permit applications pending before the department’s Division of Sustainable Waste Management; and

(4) no later than 30 months after the effective date of this act or the availability of necessary appropriations, whichever is later, the department shall make the portal available for the monitoring of permit applications pending before the department’s Division of Water Quality.

d. In order to ensure the effective implementation of Statewide public health, safety, and environmental programs, the department shall consistently review its processes and procedures to identify and address barriers to the accessibility of environmental data and information, assist permit applicants and the general public in navigating department processes and information technology systems, promote accountability permit applicants, and collect and evaluate program management diagnostics necessary to support permit and process efficiency and streamlining efforts. The department shall pursue continual process and information technology improvements consistent with the pace of technological developments in the broader economy.

5. a. The department shall plan for, and prepare to transition its legacy and existing permit management platforms, including NJEMS, to a permitting workflow management system that features a permit applicant interface for application submission, tracking, management, and bidirectional communication between applicants and the department, such that all permitting activities and communications occur within a single unified database and user interface.

b. The department, in consultation with its information technology providers, shall develop a needs assessment, workplan, and order of magnitude cost estimate for implementing the transition described in subsection a. of this section over a 36-month period.

c. No later than 12 months after the effective date of this act or the availability of necessary appropriations, whichever is later, the department shall report the needs assessment, workplan, and cost estimate to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature.

6. a. To establish and maintain the information technology necessary to expedite the environmental review of permits for residential, commercial, industrial, and public development, and to ensure the accountability of all permit process participants, the department shall assess a three percent technology surcharge on all permit fees, the proceeds of which shall be placed in a dedicated account accessible only to the department for purposes of supporting technology improvements consistent with the provisions of this act.

b. In each State fiscal year following the enactment of this act, the department shall report, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature on the status and use of funds dedicated to technology improvements pursuant to this act.

7. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection the sum of $3,750,000, of which $3,000,000 shall be used to implement the provisions of section 4 of this act and $750,000 shall be used to implement the provisions of section 5 of this act.

8. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill, to be known as the “Expediency and Accessibility in State Environmental Permitting Act,” would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop an accessible online permit transparency portal, which would be known as the Expediency and Accessibility in State Environmental Permitting Portal or EASE Permitting Portal.

The portal would enable permit applicants and the general public to remotely monitor the submission, progress, and disposition of permit applications, in particular for those permits enumerated in the bill’s definition of “permit.” The bill would establish certain minimum requirements for the portal, for example that it allows an applicant to view the completeness of a permit application, including its administrative and technical completeness, any applicant or agent deficiencies in attaining application completeness, and the applicant or agent responsible for curing these application deficiencies.

The bill would also direct the DEP to develop a needs assessment, workplan, and order of magnitude cost estimate for implementing a transition in its permitting processes over a 36-month period. The transition would be to a permitting workflow management system that features a permit applicant interface for application submission, tracking, management, and bidirectional communication between applicants and the department, such that all permitting activities and communications occur within a single unified database and user interface.

The bill would authorize the DEP to assess a three percent technology surcharge on permit fees, for those permits covered under the bill. The proceeds of the surcharge would be used to support the technology improvements described by the bill. The bill would also appropriate $3,750,000 from the General Fund to the DEP. $3 million would be used to establish the EASE Permitting Portal and $750,000 would be used to develop the permitting process upgrade needs assessment.