Trenton – As legislative leaders move towards creating dedicated funding for NJ Transit through the Corporate Transit Fee proposed by Gov. Murphy in his FY25 budget, more than 40 organizations with the Jersey Renews coalition and more than 10 legislators are supporting Sen. Andrew Zwicker’s Budget Resolution S4468 to ensure that $70 million of Clean Energy Fund dollars are rightfully allocated to NJ Transit bus electrification capital projects, as specified in past budget language. The legislative support buttresses the support from the Jersey Renews coalition with allies from labor, faith, business, community, and environmental organizations calling on state legislators to ensure dedicated funds are being used for their intended purposes to fund NJ Transit bus electrification projects.

“Electric buses offer a tangible solution to reduce air pollution from diesel emissions, improve air quality, and overall quality of life, particularly in urban and environmental justice communities,” said Drew Tompkins, Director of the Jersey Renews Coalition. “Especially now that we have a stable funding source for New Jersey Transit, we must prioritize NJ Transit fleet electrification, and the elimination of harmful tailpipe emissions, which will not only advance environmental goals but also decrease the public health risks for workers, riders, and the community more broadly.”

The Corporate Transit Fee, proposed by Governor Murphy during his FY25 Budget Address will maintain the Corporate Business Tax surcharge, but only for businesses with more than $10 million in profits, and will provide an estimated $800 million to prevent NJ Transit from going over a fiscal cliff. The fee is retroactive to January 2024 and will provide an additional $200 million in operating funds.

“Taxing corporations to fund NJ Transit would be a historic first for New Jersey, but lawmakers will still have to find ways to support the agency’s transition to clean energy,” said Alex Ambrose, policy analyst, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP). “One place to start would be using the Clean Energy Fund for its intended purpose instead of using it to plug unrelated budget holes. By investing these funds in green infrastructure, like electrifying NJ Transit’s bus fleet, lawmakers can cut down on diesel emissions and improve air quality all over the state.”

Despite New Jersey’s ambitious goals to achieve a cleaner, more sustainable future with the transition to clean energy, Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed FY25 budget allocates $70 million from the Fund to support NJ Transit’s operating budget. To date, nearly $2 billion has been diverted from the Fund by current and former administrations, rather than being invested to address climate change challenges.

“The faster we can transition to a transportation system that runs on clean energy, the healthier and more sustainable our economy will be” said Richard Lawton, Executive Director of the New Jersey Sustainable Business Council. “While the corporate business tax credit represents a critically important and stable source of funding to maintain current operations, it does not address the capital needs required to fund the agency’s recently updated sustainability strategy. Using a portion of the Clean Energy Fund to invest in the electrification of public transit will yield ‘triple bottom line’ benefits in cleaner air, improved public health, and a more vibrant green economy using superior 21st century technology.”

Supporters of the budget resolution including Sen. Vin Gopal, Sen. Linda Greenstein, Sen. Andrew Zwicker, Sen. Patrick Diegnan, Sen. Raj Mukherji, Sen. Britnee Timberlake and Asw. Shama Haider, Asw. Jessica Ramirez, Asw. Alixon Collazos-Gill and Asw. Garnet Hall.

“NJ Transit’s lack of proper funding has hit hard on the agency’s effective operability and the meaningful capital investments needed for a transportation service to serve the public adequately. Lack of access, modern routes that serve today’s communities, maintenance, and electrification”, said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director for the Sierra Club. “If the state wants to bring NJ Transit to today’s day and age and properly support the millions of daily New Jersey commuters, the agency must receive meaningful funding for its operation and capital budgets. With capital investments focused on bus electrification, we modernize the buses and provide better public health while at it.”

Ensuring these dollars are invested appropriately is critical to expand a variety of programs to reduce air pollution, improve public health disparities, develop clean and renewable energy sources, lower electricity bills, and create good, family-sustaining jobs.

“In recent decades, over $2 billion was diverted from the Clean Energy Fund that should have supported New Jersey’s transition to clean, renewable energy, along with the jobs, public health benefits and more affordable electricity bills that come with that transition,” said Debra Coyle, Executive Director, NJ Work Environment Council. “Now that the Corporate Transit Fee is in place, it is far past time to ensure all transfers to NJ Transit from the Clean Energy Fund are going to advance these goals through capital electrification projects, which will directly improve air quality for riders, workers, and our communities, while also helping our state achieve our climate goals.”

Residents exposed to greater levels of air pollution, which consistently fall along race and class lines, are disproportionately burdened with detrimental health impacts that Fund investments are meant to address.

“New Jersey LCV supports the creation of a dedicated, stable source of funding through the corporate business tax transit fee for NJ Transit, but we also need to transition to electric buses, trucks, and other forms of clean transportation,” said Ed Potosnak, Executive Director, New Jersey LCV. “The transportation sector is the single largest emitter of dirty air in our state. A vibrant, electrified public transit system is critical to fight climate change, to build healthy communities, and to keep New Jersey economically competitive.”

As the FY25 budget negotiations speed up ahead of a possible vote in Senate Budget and Assembly Appropriations tomorrow, the mad rush to finalize a budget by the July 1 state deadline has occurred along with two other significant events – a historic nation-wide heat wave and infrastructure catastrophe with the failure of Northeast Corridor catenary lines during the heat.

“The transit disaster that the heat wave unleashed on NJ Transit commuters is a symbol of a lack of investment in urgent NJ Transit capital expenses. The Clean Energy Fund is an obvious source of funding for bus electrification of NJ Transit buses – which is desperately in need of state funds to match federal grant dollars. Now is the time to use the upcoming influx of operating dollars for NJ Transit to work to end the raids of the Clean Energy Fund,” said Doug O’Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey. “There’s nothing clean about dirty diesel. NJ Transit’s bus fleet has been dependent on diesel fuel – and diesel fumes – for generations. It’s imperative that the NJ Legislature and Gov. Murphy in the final days of budget negotiations provide the needed funding for NJ Transit bus electrification – it’s time to use Clean Energy Fund dollars to advance clean energy.”

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