The Senate Thursday approved legislation sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney and Senator Troy Singleton that would help schools and small businesses in New Jersey upgrade their water and ventilation systems to protect the health of students, educators, customers and workers.

The bill, S3033, would establish the School & Small Business Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program within the Board of Public Utilities to provide the resources to ensure that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in schools and small businesses are upgraded to improve the health and safety of the environment and to allow safe operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will also fund improvements to old, inefficient plumbing fixtures that waste water and energy.

The legislation would create two separate sub-programs to administer the water system improvements and ventilation upgrades. It would allocate 25 percent of the funding for water systems and 75 percent for ventilation / HVAC systems. Further, the bill is expected to create jobs around the state.

The program would be funded by the Societal Benefits Charge, an existing surcharge on the energy bills of New Jersey’s seven investor-owned electric public utilities and gas public utilities, and would make use of other resources. President Biden’s economic relief plan, which includes $130 billion for schools, could be another potential source of funding.

The Senate vote was 24-9. The measure now goes to the Assembly where an identical version, A4819has been referred to the Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.

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