34:1B-2 Legislative findings, determinations.

2. The Legislature hereby finds and determines that:

a. Department of Labor and Workforce Development statistics of recent years indicate a continuing decline in manufacturing employment within the State, which is a contributing factor to the drastic unemployment existing within the State, which far exceeds the national average, thus adversely affecting the economy of the State and the prosperity, safety, health and general welfare of its inhabitants and their standard of living; that there is an urgent need to protect and enhance the quality of the natural environment and to reduce, abate and prevent environmental pollution derived from the operation of industry, utilities and commerce within the State; and that the availability of financial assistance and suitable facilities are important inducements to new and varied employment promoting enterprises to locate in the State, to existing enterprises to remain and expand in the State, and to industry, utilities and commerce to reduce, abate and prevent environmental pollution.

b. The provision of buildings, structures and other facilities to increase opportunity for employment in manufacturing, industrial, commercial, recreational, retail and service enterprises in the State is in the public interest and it is a public purpose for the State to induce and to accelerate opportunity for employment in such enterprises.

c. In order to aid in supplying these needs and to assist in the immediate reduction of unemployment and to provide sufficient employment for the citizens of the State in the future, it is necessary and in the public interest to aid and encourage the immediate commencement of new construction projects of all types, to induce and facilitate the acquisition and installation at an accelerated rate of such devices, equipment and facilities as may be required to reduce, abate and prevent environmental pollution by industry, utilities and commerce.

d. The availability of financial assistance by the State will reduce present unemployment and improve future employment opportunities by encouraging and inducing the undertaking of such construction projects, the location, retaining or expanding of employment promoting enterprises within the State, and the accelerated acquisition and installation of energy saving improvements and pollution control devices, equipment and facilities.

e. In many municipalities in our State substantial and persistent unemployment exists; and many existing residential, industrial, commercial and manufacturing facilities within such municipalities are either obsolete, inefficient, dilapidated or are located without regard to the master plans of such municipalities; and the obsolescence and abandonment of existing facilities will increase with further technological advances, the provision of modern, efficient facilities in other states and the difficulty which many municipalities have in attracting new facilities; and that many existing and planned employment promoting facilities are far from or not easily accessible to the places of residence of substantial numbers of unemployed and underemployed persons.

f. By virtue of their architectural and cultural heritage, their positions as principal centers of communication and transportation and their concentration of productive and energy efficient facilities, many municipalities are capable of ameliorating the conditions of deterioration which impede sound community growth and development; and that building a proper balance of housing, industrial and commercial facilities and increasing the attractiveness of such municipalities to persons of all income levels is essential to restoring such municipalities as desirable places to live, work, shop and enjoy life's amenities; that the accomplishment of these objectives is beyond remedy solely by the regulatory process in the exercise of the police power and cannot be dealt with effectively by the ordinary operations of private enterprise without the powers provided herein, and that the exercise of the powers herein provided is critical to continuing the process of revitalizing such municipalities and will serve an urgent public use and purpose.

The Legislature further determines that in order to aid in remedying the aforesaid conditions and to further and implement the purposes of this act, that there shall be created a body politic and corporate having the powers, duties and functions provided in this act; and that the authority and powers conferred under this act, and the expenditure of moneys pursuant thereto constitute a serving of a valid public purpose; and that the enactment of the provisions hereinafter set forth is in the public interest and for the public benefit and good, and is hereby so declared to be as a matter of express legislative determination.

The Legislature further finds and determines that:

g. It is essential that this and future generations of young people be given the fullest opportunity to learn and develop their intellectual capacities; that institutions of public elementary and secondary education within the State be provided with the appropriate additional means required to assist these young citizens in achieving the required levels of learning and the complete development of their intellectual abilities; and that the resources of the State be employed to meet the tremendous demand for public elementary and secondary educational opportunities.

h. Public elementary and secondary educational facilities are an integral part of the effort in this State to provide educational opportunities; it is the purpose of P.L.2000, c.72 (C.18A:7G-1 et al.) and P.L.2007, c.137 (C.52:18A-235 et al.) to provide a measure of assistance and an alternative method of financing to enable school districts to provide the facilities which are so critically needed; the inventory of public elementary and secondary school buildings and the equipment and capital resources currently available are aging, both chronologically and technologically; and the current funding at the federal, State, and local levels and the current mechanisms for construction of these capital projects are inadequate to meet the demonstrated need for school facilities, and these inadequacies necessitate additional sources of funding and the coordination of construction activities at the State level to meet those needs.

i. While the credit status of New Jersey's school districts is sound, it can be economically more reasonable to finance the costs of developing the educational infrastructure of the State's public elementary and secondary schools by providing for the funding of capital projects through the issuance of bonds, notes or other obligations by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, to be retired through annual payments made by the State subject to appropriation by the State Legislature, and to provide for the use of the proceeds of those bonds, notes or other obligations to pay for educational infrastructure projects; and such a structure would substantially reduce the costs of financing and provide for a more efficient use of the funds available for the development of the educational infrastructure.

j. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2007, c.137).

L.1974, c.80, s.2; amended 1975, c.32, s.1; 1975, c.253, s.1; 1977, c.393, s.1; 1983, c.282, s.1; 2000, c.72, s.43; 2007, c.137, s.51.