Recently, the Assembly Housing Committee favorably reported A-4626, which requires construction permit applicants to disclose the financing for their construction projects. While the amendments removed home improvement projects from the bill, the League, along with several development groups, testified in opposition to the legislation due to several concerns.
The financing of projects is outside the expertise of construction code officials to determine whether a project has sufficient funding. If a municipality must determine a projects viability, there is a potential for legal challenges if a construction permit is not issued based on the financing of the project.
Secondly, construction permits are a government record and as such the documentation on the financing of the project. Governor McGreevey Executive Order 26 does exempt “information describing a natural person's finances, income, assets, liabilities, net worth, bank balances, financial history or activities, or creditworthiness, except as otherwise required by law to be disclosed.” However there is a potential for the requirements under the bill to be an unfunded mandate. A-4626 does not explicitly exempt the information from disclosure under OPRA, therefore, we anticipate legal challenges.
Finally, there is a potential for the requirements under the bill to be an unfunded mandate.
The legislation will likely be second referenced to another committee. The Senate companion, S-3481 has not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing. We will keep you updated as developments warrant.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.