NJ State Senate and General Assembly Approve the Transportation Trust Fund Authorization

The NJ State Senate and General Assembly both approved the 5-year reauthorization of the Transportation Trust Fund in bipartisan votes earlier today.

The Reauthorization now goes to the Governor’s desk for signature. The reauthorization includes the following key elements:

• Bonding authorization extended from FY2024 to FY2029.
• Authorized bonding amount increased from $12 Billion to $15.6 Billion.
• Creates a new registration fee on zero-emissions vehicles which is dedicated to the TTF Capital Reserve Account.
• This new fee is set at $250 per vehicle for FY2025 and increases $10 per year through FY2029.
• The new fee is not permitted to be used for debt service until such time as it is dedicated.
• The proposal establishes a Capital Program of $10,367,000 over 5 years, as follows.
o FY2025- $2 Billion
o FY2026- $2 Billion
o FY2027- $2.060 Billion
o FY2028- $2.122 Billion
o FY2029- $2.185 Billion
• This program increase equals $60 Million for FY2027, $122 Million for FY2028 and $185 Million for FY2029 over current Capital Program levels.
• The increased funding will be distributed as follows.
o 25% for Local Aid to Counties
o 25% Local Aid to Municipalities
o 25% for NJDOT
o 25% for NJ Transit
• The proposal maintains the annual adjustment of gas tax revenues based on CPI to support the overall Capital Program amount.
• The proposal will also increase the motor fuels tax by 1.9 cents per year over the 5-year program, equating to an overall fuel tax increase of 9.5 cents per gallon.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Kevin Monaco.

Thank you.

Kevin P. Monaco, CAE
Executive Director
Office: (609)-838-1867
Cell: (732)-620-6223

 

 

NJAPA RAP Legislation Signed

NJAPA achieves major legislative success with signing of Recycled Asphalt Pavement Bill. Acting Governor Tahesha Way today signed Assembly Bill 4797 into law.

The legislation will help to provide significant environmental benefits and will lower the overall carbon emissions footprint of the asphalt manufacturing industry. The legislation also;


• Increases NJDOT from 15% to 20% RAP as the default allowable limit.
• Makes clear that all Counties and Municipalities must allow 20% RAP by law.
• Allows up to 35% recycled material for non state-funded, low volume roads.
• Protects and maintains our ability to use the NJDOT High RAP Specification on County and Municipal roads. This is important language as we move to the next step in our efforts to increase RAP use which is expedited approval of Ideal-CT.


In addition to the benefits specific to the legislation, we also achieved two other beneficial outcomes during this effort;


• During the negotiation process, NJDOT committed to do 6 High RAP projects with a minimum of 25,000 tons of asphalt each during Fiscal Year 2024.
• NJDOT committed to expedited approval for Ideal-CT testing.


Assembly Bill 4797 sponsored by Assemblyman Rob Karabinchak (D-18), Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-14), Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli (D-15), Senator Steve Oroho (R-24) and Senator Patrick Diegnan (D-18). During the legislative process, NJAPA worked cooperatively with several stakeholder groups including NJDOT, NJ Society of Municipal Engineers, NJ Association of Counties and NJ Association of County Engineers. Several industry groups and trade organizations also lent their support to this effort including UTCA of NJ, ACC of NJ, NJ Concrete & Aggregate Association, Operating Engineers Local 825, NJ Chamber of Commerce and NJ Business & Industry Association among others.

The legislation will go into effect on March 1, 2024. Click here to view a copy of the legislation.

Please contact the Association office should you have any questions or wish to discuss.

Thank You.