32:23-229 Findings, declarations.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. The Port of New York and New Jersey (port) has been one of the backbones of the region's economy for decades. When ranked by tonnage, the port is the largest port complex on the East coast of North America and the third largest in the United States. When ranked by the value of shipments passing through it, the port is the second busiest freight gateway in the United States. The port's strategic location, within one day's drive of a significant percentage of the national market and developed transportation infrastructure, are key assets that have made the region a gateway for international trade. Since the birth of containerization in 1956, the marine terminals on the New Jersey side of the port have grown significantly in comparison to the New York terminals. Today more than 82 percent of the cargo and 82 percent of the work hours are on the New Jersey side of the port. The port and freight industry in New Jersey alone supports more than 143,000 direct jobs and 250,000 total jobs, nearly $14.5 billion in personal income, over $20 billion in business income, and nearly $4.9 billion in federal, State, and local taxes, of which State and local taxes account for $1.6 billion.

b. The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor (commission) was created through a compact between the states of New Jersey and New York and approved by Congress in 1953. The commission's mission is to ensure fair hiring and employment practices and investigate, deter, and combat criminal activity and influence in the port. The commission has itself been tainted by corruption in recent years and, moreover, has exercised powers that do not exist within the authorizing compact, by dictating the terms of collective bargaining agreements of organized labor, and by requiring stevedoring companies to hire and retain independent inspectors to examine company operations in order for those companies to continue to operate in the port. Further, the commission, despite changes in the industry to drive out organized crime's influence, has over-regulated the businesses at the port in an effort to justify its existence as the only waterfront commission in any port in the United States. As a result, the commission has become an impediment to future job growth and prosperity at the port.

c. While there is a continued need to regulate port-located business to ensure fairness and safety, there are numerous federal, State, and local taxpayer funded agencies that have jurisdiction that the commission lacks to regulate port operations, including, but not limited to: the United States Department of Homeland Security; United States Customs and Border Protection; the United States Coast Guard; the Transportation Security Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the United States Department of Labor's Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation; the National Labor Relations Board; the Food and Drug Administration; the United States Environmental Protection Agency; the United States Department of Transportation; the Federal Maritime Commission; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department; depending on the particular location of the facility in New Jersey, the City of Newark Police Department, City of Elizabeth Police Department, City of Bayonne Police Department, City of Jersey City Police Department, and the New Jersey State Police; and, in matters of fair hiring and employment discrimination, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

d. Abolishing the commission and transferring the New Jersey portion of the commission's law enforcement responsibilities to the New Jersey State Police would be practical and efficient, as the State Police is suited to undertake an investigation of any criminal activity in the ports of northern New Jersey without impeding economic prosperity.

L.2017, c.324, s.1.