TRENTON – Legislation has been recently proposed to increase the amount deposited in the Shore Protection Fund from realty transfer fees.
Currently, the fund receives $25 million per year. The bill, if passed, would increase that amount to $50 million. The bill is co-sponsored in the Senate by State Sen. Michael Testa (R-1). Both Assembly and Senate versions of the bill have been initiated by Republicans. They were referred to committees in the spring and have yet to emerge.
Money in the Shore Protection Fund is used by the state to foot its portion of the bill for federal replenishment projects.
According to the Stockton University Coastal Research Center, New Jersey has the most densely populated shoreline in the country. Protecting lives and property is a major goal of the federal program for coastal storm risk management.
Not everyone agrees. Environmental groups have opposed any increase to the Shore Protection Fund, seeing it as an encouragement for shore development, a trend they wish to curtail.
With more frequent and stronger storms, federal allocations for beach protection have increased and projects have become more expensive. This is the basis for the argument that the state needs to increase the Shore Protection Fund which does not now have the level of funding that may be needed for the state match of federal projects.
The legislation that started the fund became law in 1993 with a $15 million annual appropriation. That funding level was increased to $25 million in 1998. Shore lawmakers have unsuccessfully introduced legislation four times since 2015 to increase the funding level to $50 million. The bills now before the legislature represent the fifth attempt.
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