TRENTON – The permit extension bill so maligned by environmental groups has been signed into law.
The bill, A1338, extends permit approvals for development projects until Dec. 31, 2014.
The prior law was set to expire at year’s end.
The goal of the law is to help get projects going which were slowed down, if not halted, due to difficulty obtain financing in the current economic downturn. The permit extension helps to prevent declining property values, supporters said.
“We want New Jersey businesses struggling to survive this economy to use their vital resources on job creation, not on applying over and over again for new permits,” Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-6), a prime sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “Businesses and workers need to know New Jersey is doing everything it can to help them through this difficult time and keep us competitive with neighboring states.”
Earlier this year at a Chamber of Commerce event, Greenwald spoke strongly for such an extension, so businesses would not have to pay thousands of dollars to go through a bureaucratic process of filing a permit they had previously gone through. He added the legislation could serve as an economic driver. He was joined at the event by Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-21) of Westfield.
