Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 4850 - Assembly Commerce and Economic Development (October 21, 2020)

Summary

A statement of the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee to the Assembly on Assembly Bill No. 4850 of the State of New Jersey, dated October 21, 2020. The committee reports the bill favorably. The bill would establish, under the State Uniform Construction Code Act, an alternate inspection process for property owners willing to pay a premium fee to expedite inspections, with a premium fee of $100 per inspection unless the municipality establishes an alternative price. It would let an owner retain a private agency to perform inspections if the local code enforcing agency does not complete an inspection within three business days of the owner's request. A private inspection agency would have to be licensed and authorized by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA).

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ASSEMBLY COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
                COMMITTEE

                          STATEMENT TO

                     ASSEMBLY, No. 4850

       STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                          DATED: OCTOBER 21, 2020

          The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee
      reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4850.
          This bill would establish an alternate inspection process, under the
      State Uniform Construction Code Act, for property owners willing to
      pay a premium fee to expedite inspections. The bill would also
      authorize a property owner to retain a private agency to perform
      construction code inspections if the local code enforcing agency is
      unable to complete an inspection within three business days of the
      time the owner requests the inspection to be performed.
          Under the bill, an applicant for a construction permit may opt to
      pay a premium fee to have inspections under the permit performed on
      an expedited basis, i.e., within two calendar days of the time requested
      for an inspection. The premium fee would be $100 per inspection
      unless the municipality establishes an alternative price, or variety of
      alternative prices depending on application size and other relevant
      factors. The bill would allow an applicant to exercise this option at the
      time of submitting an application for a construction permit.
          The expedited inspection program would provide that:
           a municipal governing body may participate in the program by
              requiring its enforcing agency to conduct expedited inspections
              or by allowing an applicant to have a private agency perform
              expedited inspections ;
           an owner of a project located in a municipality that is not
              requiring its enforcing agency to conduct expedited inspections
              may select a private inspection agency to conduct expedited
              inspections;
           to conduct expedited inspections under the bill a private
              inspection agency must be licensed and authorized to perform
              inspections by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA);
           an owner may opt to participate in the expedited inspection
              program at the time of submission of an application for a
              construction permit;
           an owner participating in the expedited inspection program
              would pay a premium in addition to all otherwise applicable
              fees;
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        each expedited inspection would be completed within two
         calendar days of an owner's request for an inspection;
     if a local enforcing agency or a private inspection agency fails
         to complete an expedited inspection within two calendar days
         of an owner's request for an inspection, the agency must
         complete the inspection within the following 24 hours and
         must refund the premium for that expedited inspection to the
         owner.
    The bill provides that regardless of whether the local enforcing
agency or a private inspection agency are conducting expedited
inspections, the enforcing agency would retain the power and
responsibility over issuance of the certificate of occupancy for the
construction project. The enforcing agency would observe the
progress of a construction project receiving expedited inspections by a
private inspection agency, and would retain jurisdiction over the
project in order to be responsive to inquiries from the general public
and from special interests, to the needs of the owner and the private
inspection agency, and to the obligations and requirements imposed by
the construction code.
    The bill would require DCA to establish a program to license and
authorize business entities as private inspection agencies for the
purpose of contracting with owners to conduct expedited inspections
or to perform inspections when an enforcing agency is unable to
complete inspection within the time required by law. The bill specifies
requirements for a business to be licensed and authorized as a private
inspection agency.
    Additionally, the bill would codify that a local enforcing agency
must perform a construction code inspection within three business
days of the time the owner requests it to be performed. If a local
enforcing agency fails to perform an inspection within that timeframe,
the bill would authorize the owner to retain a private inspection agency
to perform the remainder of inspections required for the project.
Under the bill, the owner would be required to notify the local
enforcing agency in writing, that the owner has retained a private
inspection agency to perform the remaining inspections. The bill
would require the local enforcing agency to provide the private
inspection agency a copy of the plans and specifications for the
construction and all other materials relevant to inspecting the
construction project. Under the bill, the local enforcing agency must
return to the owner a proportional amount of the fees paid by the
owner to the local enforcing agency, however, the local enforcing
agency may retain a portion of the fees to cover its costs associated
with its continued responsibilities related to the project. The bill
would allow a private inspection agency to charge the owner fees to
cover the cost of providing inspection services. Despite the transfer
of control over the inspection function to a private agency, the bill
would require the local enforcing agency to observe the progress of
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a construction project, and to retain oversight jurisdiction of the
project in order to be responsive to inquiries from the general public
and from special interests, to the needs of the owner and the private
agency, and to the obligations and requirements imposed by the
code.


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