Environmental group releases its legislative scorecard and expresses frustration with a lack of progress on key environmental bills

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

In a news release announcing the release of its 2018-2019 Scorecard today, the environmental group Clean Water Action charged state lawmakers with failing to meet key environmental challenges.

“As the scorecard shows, from the climate crisis to the lead crisis, our legislators have been unwilling to rise to the occasion,” said Eric Benson, NJ Campaign Director. “Luckily there is plenty of time in the lame-duck session to change course. Legislative leadership needs to start listening to the public and following the lead of the pro-environment bill sponsors to make New Jersey a leader on environmental protection again.”

After reviewing dozens of bills, Clean Water Action scored the legislature on the 22 most significant actions and found the following:

• Too many incompletes: 13 key pro-environment actions that are stalled in the legislature
• Failing Grades: 6 significant bills that were anti-environment, by design or by process, that quickly passed both houses
• Too few passing Grades: 3 pro-environment bills that did pass and become law
• Emerging Environmental Leaders: 19 legislators who stood up for the environment even when the majority of the legislature would not stand with them

“The legislature has kicked responsible budget solutions down the road, and appointments to critical environmental commissions have been neglected,” said Janet Tauro, NJ Board Chair. “Too few individual legislators have been willing or able to challenge a process that allows good environmental bills to stall while bills catering to special interests pass quickly.”

Rather than giving each legislator a score based on their individual votes, as it has in the past, the organization graded the legislature as a whole because of what it called the “near-total failure of the legislature to pass substantial environmental bills so far this term.”

What legislation would the group like to see advanced when the legislature returns in November from its extended summer recess?

Clean Water Action cited plastic bag ban and electric vehicle bills as well as an environmental justice bill and a package of bills and funding sources to address lead service lines.

Not all legislators received bad scores.

“We would like to give a special shout-out to the 19 legislators who stood up for the environment this term. It’s not easy being green in NJ,” said Benson. “Colleagues should listen to these environmental legislative leaders and the public and do everything they can to get the stalled bills over the finish line in the strongest form possible before the end of lame duck.”

Clean Water Action’s Legislative Scorecard 2018–19 represents an overview of the New Jersey Legislature as a whole on bills, funding, appointments, and leadership focused on environmental and health issues from January 2018 through September 2019.

The full report is available: www.CleanWaterAction.org/NJscorecard2019.

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