Senator Phil Haines, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement regarding his withdraw from the Co-Prime sponsorship of legislation authorizing a $600 million bond act to endow the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) fund.
“Sadly, I am forced to withdraw my Co-Prime sponsorship of Senate Bill 1858. Political maneuvering has caused the bill to double in size to $600 million. This will make it the second largest single bond issuance in the modern history of the state. In its current form, the legislation ignores the unease of middle-class property taxpayers.
“A bond issuance of this size, in these perilous economic times, will almost certainly fail at the ballot box. Failure will cause irreparable harm to the cause of preserving open space and farmland.
“I will work with my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle to draft new legislation to fund the Garden State Preservation Trust. This common-sense, fiscally responsible measure will be sensitive to the mounting financial pressures affecting property taxpayers.
“Preserving open space and farmland is an extremely important issue in New Jersey. It must not be influenced by partisan politics.”
A letter from Senator Haines to Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith follows:
May 7, 2009
Honorable Bob Smith
Chairman, Senate Environment Committee
216 Stelton Road, Suite E5
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-3284
Dear Senator Smith:
I am writing with regard to Senate Bill No. 1858, entitled the “Green Acres, Farmland, and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2008,” which passed the Senate Environment Committee. The legislation, which you are the Prime sponsor and I am the Co-Prime sponsor, will authorize new funding for the state’s open space and farmland preservation programs.
As you are no doubt aware, S-1858 authorizes the issuance of $300 million in State general obligation bonds for acquiring and developing lands for recreation and conservation purposes, preserving farmland, and funding historic preservation projects. Of the total sum authorized, $175 million will be used for acquiring and developing lands for public recreation and conservation purposes, $116 million will be used for farmland preservation purposes, and $9 million will be used for historic preservation.
It has been relayed to me from your committee staff that it is your intention to calendar the bill for consideration in the Senate Environment Committee and amend it to double the amount of general obligation bond authorization to $600 million. In this case, please be advised that I withdraw as Co-Prime sponsor of the bill.
The need to reauthorize the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) has not crept up on the Corzine Administration; rather, the impending depletion of the trust has been known for some time. The Governor has had three and one-half years to devise a means by which to reauthorize the GSPT, and the Legislature has accommodated his need for additional time to consider this issue by passing an interim Green Acres bond act in 2007 (P.L. 2007, c. 119). After obtaining little more than a stream of vague endorsements of the benefits of open space preservation from the Governor, the GSPT is now without a permanent source of funding and no plan to provide any funding is on the horizon.
While I was supportive of another interim bond act as a means of allowing the Governor the time to finally articulate a plan for funding open space acquisition, farmland preservation and historic preservation, I cannot support a doubling of the amount of general obligation bonds authorized by S-1858. To increase the authorization in the bill to $600 million is a disastrous public policy choice. First, it allows the Corzine Administration to “kick the can down the road” on yet another public policy issue confronting the State. If the Governor is proposing that we should fund Green Acres and farmland preservation from general obligation bonds on a long-term basis, then he or his Commissioner of Environmental Protection should finally say that they have no ideas to offer on this topic other than to offer the same answer to this issue that was first devised in 1961.
Second, a $600 million general obligation bond act, even for a program as worthy as Green Acres, will likely fail at the polls. New Jersey’s middle class is confronting an economic crisis worse than any other state in the northeast. The failure of this planned $600 million bond act, which would be the second-largest general obligation act in the modern history of this State, would also badly undermine public support for the Green Acres and farmland preservation programs for years to come.
I urge you not to expand the provisions of S-1858 without first using the forum of the Senate Environment Committee to compel the Corzine Administration to offer some kind of long-range plan for open space, farmland and historic preservation projects. If they have no plan to offer, then the Legislature and the public at-large can make their judgments about this administration’s leadership — or lack thereof. If they do have a plan, then they should be required to explain it.
Thank you for your consideration of my views. If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Very truly yours,
Phillip E. Haines
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