An Act providing for an annual assessment upon certain rail carriers transporting crude oil, dedicated for State aid to municipalities for use by local government unit emergency responders, amending and supplementing P.L.1972, c.133.

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

1. (New section) a. The Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety shall annually assess upon railroad carriers operating unit trains in this State transporting crude oil, which railroad carriers are subject to the notification and reporting requirements of the Emergency Order of the United States Secretary of Transportation issued May 7, 2014, and any amendment thereto, concerning high-volume rail transport of crude oil, Docket No. DOT-OST-2014-0067, a total annual amount of $10,000,000 that shall be paid from among those railroad carriers pursuant to the formula set forth in subsection b. of this section.

b. The director shall bill a railroad carrier pursuant to an apportionment of the total annual assessment amount based upon the proportion of route miles of unit trains operated within this State by the railroad carrier to the total of all route miles of unit trains operated by all railroad carriers in this State, regardless of whether a unit train transport of unit cars originates or terminates within or without this State.

c. The director, on or before April 1 of each year, shall fix the annual sum to be paid for each assessment based upon route miles of unit trains operated in the prior calendar year, provide written notice of the amount to each railroad carrier on or before April 15 of each year, and shall collect the full amount due to be paid from each railroad carrier on or before May 15 of each year. The assessment imposed pursuant to this section shall be administered by the director and the director shall have all the authority and powers of the Director of the Division of Taxation under, and the assessment shall be governed by, the provisions of the State Uniform Tax Procedure Law, R.S.54:48-1 et seq., not otherwise inconsistent with State law.

d. The assessments collected by the director shall be credited to a dedicated special account established pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) in the emergency services fund established pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1972, c.133 (C.52:14E-5). Monies in the dedicated special account shall be annually appropriated only for State aid to municipalities in which are located route miles of unit trains travelled during the previous calendar year, as shall be determined by the director, to be allocated by the director based upon the extent of the possible imminent hazard determined by the director to be present in a municipality related to the route miles travelled and prioritized based on firefighter training needs, community risk from discharge incidents or spills, geographic balance, and recommendations with county emergency management coordinators, the Director of the Division of Fire Safety in the Department of Community Affairs the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Commissioner of the Department of Health. The State aid shall be used by local government unit emergency responders only for the following purposes:

(1) training costs, which may include, but shall not be limited to, training curriculum, trainers, trainee overtime salary, other personnel overtime salary, and tuition;

(2) costs of gear and equipment related to hazardous materials, readiness, response, and management, which may include, but shall not be limited to, original purchase, maintenance, and replacement;

(3) supplies related to uses under paragraphs (1) and (2); and

(4) emergency preparedness planning and coordination.

e. As used in this section:

"crude oil" means a naturally occurring, unrefined petroleum product composed of hydrocarbon molecules and is described as Petroleum Crude Oil, UN1267, Class 3, PG I, II, or III, a hazardous material subject to the requirements of the United States Department of Transportation's hazardous materials regulations, 49 CFR 171-180.

"director" means the Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

"railroad carrier" means a railroad company engaged in rail transportation as a common carrier for hire.

"unit train" means a train with more than 25 tanker railcars carrying crude oil.

2. Section 5 of P.L.1972, c.133 (C.52:14E-5) is amended to read as follows:

5. a. There is hereby created a fund to be known as the Emergency Services Fund which shall consist of such sums as the Legislature may, from time to time, appropriate and such additional sums as may be granted or donated to the fund from any public or private source, together with income to the fund from investments authorized for the purposes set forth in section 6 of [this act] P.L.1972, c.133 (C.52:14E-6).

b. There is established within the fund a dedicated special account to be credited with the amount of the annual assessments collected by the Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety from each railroad carrier operating a train with more than 25 tanker railcars carrying crude oil in this State, the balance of which shall be annually appropriated exclusively for State aid to municipalities for use by local government unit emergency responders only as provided in section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as this bill).

(cf: P.L.1972, c.133, s.5)

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes an annual assessment upon certain rail carriers transporting crude oil in this State and dedicates the annual assessment revenue for State aid to municipalities for use by local government unit emergency responders. The assessment will raise a total annual amount of $10,000,000. This amount will be annually appropriated as State aid is to be used by local government unit emergency responders exclusively for:

(1) training costs, which may include, but shall not be limited to, training curriculum, trainers, trainee overtime salary, other personnel overtime salary, and tuition;

(2) costs of gear and equipment related to hazardous materials, readiness, response, and management, which may include, but shall not be limited to, original purchase, maintenance, and replacement;

(3) supplies related to uses under (1) and (2), and

(4) emergency preparedness planning and coordination.

The Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety will administer the collection of the annual assessment. Assessment monies in the dedicated special account will be annually appropriated to municipalities in which are located route miles of trains with more than 25 tanker railcars carrying crude oil.

State aid is to be allocated based upon the extent of the possible imminent hazard present in a municipality related to the route miles travelled and prioritized based on firefighter training needs, community risk from discharge incidents or spills, and geographic balance.

This bill imposes a rail carrier crude oil transport fee to fund the increasing training, equipment and emergency preparedness planning and coordination costs of local government emergency responders necessary to respond to the imminent hazard of the recent significant surge in crude oil shipments by rail to New Jersey refineries. "Crude-by-Rail" has been identified in a recent federal Department of Transportation order as an imminent hazard to local communities through which these trains carry their highly flammable, toxic materials. The recent increase in petroleum crude oil railroad accidents in North America has concerned local emergency responders over the quantity of crude oil spilled and the severity of crude oil fires and explosive damage caused.

The federal order has required railroads to provide written notice to state level emergency responder contacts regarding the transportation of trains transporting large quantities of crude oil. The notification must reflect the expected volume and frequency of train traffic implicated in each county with updated notifications required when there is a material change in the number of those trains. The Director of the State Office of Emergency Management in the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety is the designated contact person to receive these rail carrier notifications and is best situated to allocate the annual public safety assessment proposed in this bill for collection that will be equitably shared among the railroads carrying crude oil through this State.