Michael Darcy, the executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, has announced that he will retire in July.
Darcy has been with the organization, which advocates on behalf of local governments, since 1990. New Jersey has had ten governors during his tenure.
Hardwick Mayor James Perry, Sr. will head a transition committee that includes current NJLM vice presidents and past presidents.
“On behalf of the Board, we thank Michael Darcy for his three decades of service,” Perry said. “His leadership has seen the services offered to the League membership expand and the League’s annual conference continue as the largest municipal conference in the country.”
Darcy became executive director in 2015 following the retirement Bill Dressel. Dressel, who joined the NJLM in 1974 was named to the post after Jack Trafford stepped down after nearly 38 years of service.
Considering the organization’s long tradition of promoting from within, the front runner for the executive director post could be the current assistant executive director, Mike Cerra. Cerra has been with the NJLM since 1996.
“My decades with the League have provided unexpected learning opportunities and a constant variety of experiences,” said Darcy. “The work of local government and the League never ends but rather it transitions along with society and the evolving needs of municipalities and their residents. I look forward to assisting with the next transition.”
According to the NJLM website, Darcy had held positions in “ every program, service, and management area of the League, including Advertising Manager of New Jersey Municipalities magazine; Program Specialist in charge of producing seminars; Exhibit Manager for the Annual League Conference, which is the largest municipal conference in the United
Yesterday we reported on environment bills scheduled for action in the NJ Assembly. Below is a combination of bills appearing on upcoming committee agendas and board lists in both the NJ Assembly and Senate. Again, we caution that bill additions and deletion are subject to frequent change during the sometimes tumultuous lame-duck session.
A1212 AcaSa (2R) McKeon (D27); Gusciora (D15) Clarifies intent of P.L.2007, c.340 regarding NJ’s required participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00a Party Conferences; 12:00p Party Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session.
A4267 Aca (1R) McKeon (D27); Space (R24); Wirths (R24) Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A4382 Aca (1R) Pinkin (D18); Lopez (D19); Kennedy (D22) Requires paint producers to implement or participate in a paint industry-sponsored stewardship program. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A5518 Aca (1R) Benson (D14); Karabinchak (D18); Pinkin (D18) +1 Establishes “Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission” to examine the manner in which alternative fuel vehicles may be taxed to contribute to cost of maintaining the State transportation system. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session
A5854 Aca (1R) Pintor Marin (D29); Speight (D29); Schaer (D36) +5 Allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to enter properties to perform lead service line replacements. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session
A5971 Mukherji (D33); Pintor Marin (D29); Spearman (D5) +21 Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2020. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A6014 Aca (1R) Vainieri Huttle (D37); Pinkin (D18) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S611 ScsSa (SCS/1R) Sweeney (D3); Smith (D17); Bateman (R16); Greenstein (D14) Clarifies intent of P.L.2007, c.340 regarding NJ’s required participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00p Voting Session.
S874 Sweeney (D3); Smith (D17) +3 Requires State’s full participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00p Voting Session.
S1683 ScaSaAca (3R) Smith (D17); Greenstein (D14) +2 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 1:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S3215 Sca (1R) Greenstein (D14); Singleton (D7) +1 Requires State to use a 20‐year time horizon and most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report when calculating global warming potential to measure global warming impact of greenhouse gases. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S3457 Sweeney (D3); Andrzejczak (D1) +5 Appropriates $450,000 for Hooked on Fishing‐Not on Drugs Program. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00 p Voting Session.
S3985 Smith (D17) Expands the definition of “qualified offshore wind project” to include “open access offshore wind transmission facility.” 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00a 1:00p Voting Session.
S4162 Sca (1R) Smith (D17) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00p Voting Session.
SCR180 Sca (1R) Sacco (D32); Stack (D33) +2 Urges NJ Sports and Exposition Authority and DEP to take immediate action to close and cap Keegan Landfill. 12/16/2019—Senate, 100p Voting Session.
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Currently scheduled environment bills. Subject to frequent change in this fast-moving lame-duck session.
Bill: A4267 Aca (1R) McKeon (D27); Space (R24); Wirths (R24) +1 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. (‘Dirty Dirt’ Bill) Related: 2018:S1683; 2016:A1352; 2016:S2306; 2014:A1581; 2012:A2580; 2012:S1351 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session. ____________________________________________________________
Bill: A4382 Aca (1R) Pinkin (D18); Lopez (D19); Kennedy (D22) +3 Requires paint producers to implement or participate in paint stewardship program. Related: 2018:S2815; 2016:A1373; 2016:S986; 2014:A1603; 2014:S1420; 2012:A4470; 2012:S2958 History: 11/14/2019—Reported out of committee, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/16/2019—Assembly, 1 pm Voting Session. _____________________________________________________________
Bill: A6014 Aca (1R) Vainieri Huttle (D37); Pinkin (D18) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. Related: S4162 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. ___________________________________________________________
Bill: A5971 Mukherji (D33); Pintor Marin (D29); Spearman (D5) +21 Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2020. Related: 2018:S4202 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee, referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. |__________________________________________________________
Bill: 5854 Aca (1R) Pintor Marin (D29); Speight (D29); Schaer (D36) +5 Allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to enter properties to perform lead service line replacements. Related: 2018:S4110 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session. ___________________________________________________________
Bill: A5518 Aca (1R) Benson (D14); Karabinchak (D18); Pinkin (D18) +1 Establishes “Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission” to examine manner in which alternative fuel vehicles may be taxed to contribute to the cost of maintaining State transportation system. Related: 2018:S4090 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session. ____________________________________________________________
Bill: S1683 ScaSaAca (3R) Smith (D17); Greenstein (D14) +2 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. Related: 2018:A4267; 2016:A1352; 2016:S2306; 2014:A1581; 2012:A2580; 2012:S1351 History:12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00 am 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session.
Sponsors may be forced to walk back a provision in their single-use, bag-ban bills dealing with the provision of free reusable bags.
By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
Legislation to ban single-use plastic and paper bags seemed to be racing toward passage in New Jersey but amendments added last week in the Senate Budget Committee blindsided the supermarket industry and caused a ruckus. So much so that the legislation was pulled yesterday from the agenda of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee.
What went wrong?
Thelatest version would require large grocery stores to provide their customers with free, reusable bags for up to two months after the bill takes place.
The New Jersey Food Council was surprised by the change and argued that it would cost a single chain with 30 stores in the state $1.8 million over the two months.
Food Council Executive Director Linda Doherty said that would constitute an unconstitutional ‘taking,’ something that the bill’s Assembly sponsor, John McKeon, seemed to concede when asked about the provision yesterday in the Assembly committee.
Doherty suggested that, rather than providing a free, reusable bag to customers every time they visit a store for two months, grocers would be willing to work with organizations like Clean Communities to provide a limited distribution of free, reusable bags at community events.
Although the current legislative session ends in mid-January, we think it’s still a safe bet that a bag ban will end up on the governor’s desk before then. There are too many parties all agreeing that the legislation is necessary to prevent an ultimate compromise.
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The state has adopted a much-debated plan to help the solar sector transition to a new way of financing solar projects, an overhaul the Murphy administration hopes will rein in costs to utility customers who pay for the program.
The plan, the first step to scrapping a decade-old system of subsidizing solar projects, has met a mixed reception from solar developers who have helped build a robust solar industry in New Jersey. The industry employs about 7,000 people, and homes and businesses have installed a total of 117,893 solar arrays.
But the state Board of Public Utilities’ vote to approve the new program will allow the agency and solar advocates to focus on designing a more permanent program in which the sector can continue to thrive using a less expensive system. Ratepayers have been hit with $2.6 billion in subsidies since the program began about a decade ago.
The new incentive program reduces the subsidies given to developers and owners of solar arrays, as was sought by a law enacted in 2018. It sets up a tiered level of incentives depending on what solar projects are installed — those built on homes; on corporate campuses and businesses; on landfills and brownfield; grid supply projects and community solar facilities.
“Our mission is to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2050, and we won’t get there without solar power, a critical industry for our state,’’ said BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso. “Ultimately, our aim is to balance ratepayer impacts with ensuring a thriving and stable solar industry.’’
Skepticism among solar advocates
Whether that is achieved provokes skepticism among some solar advocates. Modeling for a new energy master plan for the state projects solar energy will provide up to 34% of the state’s electricity by 2050.
“Our members are in a panic right now,’’ said Lyle Rawlings, founder of Advanced Solar Products in Flemington, referring to the Mid-Atlantic Solar and Storage Industries Association. “They don’t see how they can stay in business.’’
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Separate New Jersey Senate and Assembly bills requiring the licensing of persons involved in the sale and transport of soils for fill were merged yesterday and are now in place for final passage in both houses.
A-4267 (McKeon) and S1683 (Smith) would expand the requirements for background checks and so-called ‘901’ solid waste licensing to companies and persons involved in the “collection, transportation, processing, brokering, storage, purchase, sale, or disposition of soil and fill recyclable material.”
The legislation comes in response to a 2011 report by the State Committee of Investigations that found organized crime members posing as legitimate recyclers but supplying construction projects with contaminated soils.
The legislation referred to during the legislative process as the ‘dirty dirt’ bill, is now in place for an Assembly floor vote.
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