Statement from NJ LCV on Bipartisan Passage of Natural Resource Damages Ballot Question (SCR39/ACR127)

​Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, issued the following statement on bipartisan passage of SCR39/ACR127, a resolution asking voters to require pollution restoration funds be spent as intended and not diverted for other, unrelated purposes:
 
“We’re relieved that families and local businesses harmed by years of industrial pollution are one step closer to knowing that they will receive the entire pot of restoration monies intended to help communities recover,” said Potosnak. “In a fair and just world, this ballot question would not be necessary. But, as we’ve witnessed in the past two state budgets, legislators of both parties have grabbed pollution settlement money above $50 million to cover unrelated expenses. It’s time to establish a lockbox on these funds, which will ensure that our urban neighborhoods and communities of color are protected from money grabs and will receive due compensation.”
 
The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, the leading political voice for the environment, has been spearheading the effort to get SCR39/ACR127 on the ballot.
 
A resolution is placed on the ballot if it passes both houses of the Legislature by a simple majority two years in a row, or by three-fifths votes in one year, as it did today. With today’s legislative votes of 28 affirmative votes in the Senate and 56 in the Assembly, voters will see this important question on the ballot in 2017.