Image: Hoboken’s Northwest ResilienCity Park
Clean Water and Safe Communities Bond Act
New Jersey’s communities are facing increasingly frequent and extreme weather, from flooding and severe storms to extreme heat. Adding to the challenge, federal funding for climate resilience and disaster mitigation remains limited and uncertain.
New Jersey needs to identify new sources of funding to meet the scale of investment required to protect communities, modernize infrastructure, and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Senators Bob Smith, Raj Mukherji, and John F. McKeon have introduced the Clean Water and Safe Communities Bond Act (SB 4603) that would authorize $5 billion in bonds to finance clean water and resilient infrastructure projects across New Jersey.
The proposed legislation would make investments across three major areas: flood prevention and recovery, water infrastructure, and resilience projects.
Read the legislation here>>
Learn more about Rebuild by Design’s work in New Jersey here>>
HOW THE FUNDS WOULD BE SPENT
$1.7 billion for Flood Prevention, Protection, and Post-Flood Recovery
These funds would support projects that protect residents, property, and infrastructure from flooding and reduce the impacts of future flood events, including nature-based solutions, wetland and floodplain restoration, green infrastructure, stormwater improvements, structure elevation, floodproofing, and drainage system upgrades.
This funding would include:
- $300 million for post-flood recovery projects, with at least 20% dedicated to nature-based solutions
- $300 million for restoration projects, with at least 20% dedicated to nature-based solutions
- $400 million for voluntary property buyouts in flood-prone areas
- The remaining funds for municipal resilience projects, including projects identified through resilience, adaptation, or hazard mitigation plans
$1 billion for Water Infrastructure
The legislation would establish a grant program through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to help local governments and nonprofit organizations finance water infrastructure projects.
This funding would include:
- $300 million for drinking water infrastructure
- $400 million for stormwater infrastructure, with at least 20% dedicated to nature-based solutions
- $300 million for wastewater infrastructure
- Additional funding for other water infrastructure projects
$2.3 billion for Resilience Projects
The legislation would establish a grant program through the State Office of Emergency Management for local governments and nonprofit organizations, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection and in collaboration with the Board of Public Utilities.
This funding would include:
- $500 million for grid modernization
- $600 million for green buildings, including building decarbonization, energy efficiency, and indoor air quality improvements
- $450 million for green communities, including projects that improve community sustainability and reduce the impacts of severe weather, such as heat resilience
- Additional funding for other resilience projects
INVESting in new jersey's workforce
Investing in resilient infrastructure can provide benefits well beyond protecting communities, by creating jobs and strengthening New Jersey’s workforce through training programs, apprenticeships, and targeted hiring practices.
The bill would also require projects funded through the act to utilize project labor agreements and pay prevailing wages, helping ensure that these public investments support good jobs and workforce development alongside stronger infrastructure.
AECOM, working in collaboration with Rebuild by Design, evaluated the economic impacts associated with potential investment scenarios in resilience in New Jersey. The analysis estimated that even a $3 billion investment scenario could support 26,000 jobs. Should projects funded by such investments leverage additional funding from federal sources by providing local matches, a $3 billion investment scenario could support $2.2 billion in additional spending and 45,000 jobs.
Read the jobs study here>>
3 in 4 New Jerseyans SUppoert a resilient infrastructure bond
Across party lines, New Jersey voters support large-scale investment in resilient infrastructure, according to a survey by Rebuild by Design and Environmental Defense Fund, in partnership with Fairleigh Dickinson University. Read the poll results >>