Winners and losers after N.J. Legislature's marathon session

TRENTON - Commercial developers and libraries lost out, while offshore wind projects and advocates for school choice were winners during a marathon session of the New Jersey Legislature from Monday into the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

A bill to promote offshore wind power gained final legislative approval after passing the Assembly early Tuesday. It would create an offshore wind renewable energy certificate program and allow for up to $100 million in tax credits for the development of wind energy facilities.

The proposal, which supporters said would benefit the economy, sets a schedule for the amount of electricity sold in New Jersey that would have to come from offshore wind energy.

Meanwhile, a 2.5 percent fee on nonresidential development will kick in starting Thursday, after the Senate failed to act on a bill approved by the Assembly on Monday that extends the current moratorium on those fees through the end of October. The money collected goes toward affordable housing.

Gov. Christie has said he would veto the measure if it landed on his desk, after Democratic leaders in the Senate would not support it. They and the governor wanted the Assembly to pass another bill that adopts broader changes in affordable housing policy instead. Members of the lower house said they would finish resolving the issue by the fall and did not want to rush it.

Proponents of school choice fared better, winning a victory with final legislative approval for a program that expands the number of public schools that can accept students from other districts.

The legislation permits students to apply for a transfer to a designated "choice" district after one year of enrollment at their assigned district, with admission administered through a lottery if demand outpaces supply of available seats.

Sending districts would have to provide or pay for the costs of transporting the students to the new school, unless the students live more than 20 miles away.

Also winning approval from both houses were bills delaying the implementation of the medical marijuana law by 90 days and enhancing penalties for Medicaid fraud. Lawmakers approved another measure directing free municipal libraries to transfer surplus funds above 20 percent to their towns for general purposes, including tax relief.

Final legislative approval was given to a bill granting freeholder directors veto power over actions by independent authorities in their counties. The legislation is significant because Christie, who has railed against alleged excesses at independent authorities, can only veto actions of those at the state level, while a broad array of local entities has been largely exempt from any similar interference.

The bill was sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the Democratic freeholder director in Gloucester County, and Sen. Donald Norcross (D., Camden).

Another measure that would have reined in local authorities further did not gain traction in the Senate, after the Assembly passed a bill Monday that would ban new executive directors at independent authorities from earning more than the governor. The bill has yet to win approval from a Senate committee.

One of the few authorities that would be affected in South Jersey is the Mount Holly Municipal Utilities Authority, which has about 13,000 ratepayers and pays Executive Director Bill Dunn $181,834, among the highest MUA salaries in the state. That's nearly $7,000 more than what Christie earns.

Both houses also approved a resolution that creates a task force to evaluate Christie's proposal to transfer operations of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority, which oversees the public television and radio New Jersey Network, to a nonprofit organization.

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