An Act authorizing certain municipalities to impose a tax on the storage of empty shipping containers to fund redevelopment plan activities and supplementing P.L.1970, c.326 (C.40:48C-1 et seq.).

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

1. a. A municipality having a population greater than 150,000 persons, according to the latest federal decennial census, may, by ordinance, impose a tax on empty ISO shipping containers stored within the municipality, at the rates, and in the manner, provided in this section:

The rates imposed under an ordinance adopted pursuant to this section, which shall be applied to each Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) as is kept in storage, shall be:

Storage period Maximum tax per TEU per day of storage

From day 1 through day 30 $0.00

From day 31 through day 60 $0.25

From day 61 through day 90 $0.50

In excess of 90 days $0.75

b. As used in this section:

"ISO shipping container" or "ISO container" means any standardized shipping container constructed in accordance with the standard sizes promulgated by the International Standards Organization for use in intermodal transportation of goods by ship, rail or truck, which shall include but shall not be limited to containers that are 20 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 40 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 45 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 48 feet in length and 8 feet in width, and 53 feet in length and 8 feet in width.

"TEU" or "Twenty-foot equivalent unit" means a measure of capacity of ISO shipping containers used to approximate the comparable size of the various types of ISO containers. For the purposes of this act, the TEU measure for any ISO container shall be the result of dividing the base area measured in feet of any ISO container, determined by multiplying its external length by its external width, by the number 160.

c. All local ISO container taxes collected by a municipality pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be remitted to the chief financial officer of the municipality, who shall deposit those tax revenues in a trust account established by the municipality and dedicated exclusively to the purpose of funding activities set forth in one or more redevelopment plans adopted by the municipality pursuant to section 7 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-7).

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would supplement the "Local Tax Authorization Act," P.L.1970, c.326 (C.40:48C-1 et seq.) to authorize certain municipalities to impose a tax on empty ISO shipping containers stored within their borders.

The bill would authorize a municipality having a population greater than 150,000 persons, according to the latest federal decennial census, by ordinance, to impose a tax on empty ISO shipping containers stored in the municipality. The bill would require that all local ISO container taxes collected by a municipality must be deposited into a trust account established by the municipality and dedicated exclusively to the purpose of funding activities set forth in one or more redevelopment plans adopted by the municipality pursuant to section 7 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-7).

The bill sets the following rates to be imposed by a municipality that enacts an ordinance imposing the tax, which are to be applied to each twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) as is kept in storage:

Storage period Maximum tax per TEU per day of storage

From day 1 through day 30 $0.00

From day 31 through day 60 $0.25

From day 61 through day 90 $0.50

In excess of 90 days $0.75

The bill defines "ISO shipping containers" as any standardized shipping container constructed in accordance with the standard sizes promulgated by the International Standards Organization for use in intermodal transportation of goods by ship, rail or truck, which shall include but shall not be limited to containers that are 20 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 40 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 45 feet in length and 8 feet in width, 48 feet in length and 8 feet in width, and 53 feet in length and 8 feet in width. The bill defines "Twenty-foot equivalent unit" as a measure of the capacity of ISO shipping containers used to approximate the comparable size of the various types of ISO containers. The bill defines the calculation of the TEU measure for any ISO container as the result of dividing the base area measured in feet of any ISO container, determined by multiplying its external length by its external width, by the number 160.