TRENTON - Legislation aimed at enhancing protections and oversight for public investments in private redevelopment projects in New Jersey may soon become law, but some environmentalists say it doesn't go far enough.
The Legislature approved the measure in late June, and Gov. Corzine is expected to sign it.
Known as the "EnCap reform bill" - a reference to the failed multimillion-dollar development plan to build a golf course and housing on four Meadowlands landfills - it requires businesses getting more than $50 million in public aid for private redevelopment projects to file annual, independently audited financial statements with the state treasurer and each entity from which it secured financing.
A date for Corzine to sign the bill has not been set, said Robert Corrales, his spokesman.
The Sierra Club of New Jersey has urged Corzine to veto the measure conditionally, saying the bill has been weakened and deviates greatly from its original intent.
"What started out as a reform bill ended up as a sham," state Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel said last week. "The goal was to protect state residents when large amounts of public money are used for development, but what the lawmakers have done is taken out all the oversight."
Tittel said the bill had initially called for oversight of projects with $25 million or more of public financial aid. He also said the final version exempts many projects in large cities, including some where corruption has been a problem.
Assemblymen Gary S. Schaer (D., Passaic) and Fred Scalera (D., Essex), who sponsored the measure, said they didn't approve of all the changes the Senate made. However, they said the bill would create important safeguards and reforms that were sorely needed.
"This is a phenomenal first step, and I'm hopeful that over time many of the provisions can be strengthened even further," Scalera said. "You can't sacrifice something just because it's not perfect."
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