Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 5394 (January 5, 2026)

Summary

A committee statement to the New Jersey Assembly, No. 5394, from the Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee, dated January 5, 2026, reporting Assembly Bill No. 5394 favorably and with committee amendments. As amended, the bill would require plastic construction materials used by a State-funded construction project to contain at least 10 percent postconsumer recycled content if purchased within two years of the bill's effective date, and at least 15 percent thereafter. It would apply to materials that contain greater than 50 percent plastic, calculated by cost, with exemptions including a cost increase of 20 percent, rather than 25 percent, as amended. The statement says the bill is identical to Senate Bill No. 3802 (2R).

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ASSEMBLY COMMERCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND
           AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

                          STATEMENT TO

                     ASSEMBLY, No. 5394
                        with committee amendments



       STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                          DATED: JANUARY 5, 2026

          The Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and
      Agriculture Committee reports favorably and with committee
      amendments Assembly Bill No. 5394.
          As amended, this bill would require that any plastic construction
      materials used by a State-funded construction project carried out by
      the State, a county, a municipality, or a public utility contain at
      least 10 percent postconsumer recycled content if purchased within
      two years of the bill's effective date, and at least 15 percent for
      plastic construction materials purchased thereafter.
         The bill would apply to construction materials that contain
      greater than 50 percent plastic, calculated by cost. The bill defines
      "construction material" as an article, material, or supply that is
      brought to the site of a construction project for incorporation into
      the building or work, which meets applicable standards related to
      performance and is of a satisfactory quality.
         The bill would provide exemptions to the bill's postconsumer
      recycled content requirements if: (1) the use of plastic construction
      material that contains the necessary recycled content would increase
      the overall cost of the State-funded project by 20 percent, (2)
      construction materials, other than plastic materials that meet the
      postconsumer recycled content in the bill’s provisions, do not exist
      for the intended application, are not available in sufficient
      quantities, or are not available within 60 days of the start of the
      construction of the State-funded construction project; or (3) the
      licensed architect or engineer of record has certified in writing that
      the use of construction materials that meet the bill’s provisions
      would cause structural integrity issues and that the structurally
      integrity issues cannot be reasonably mitigated without the use of
      construction materials that do not meet the bill’s provisions.
         As amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No.
      5394 is identical to Senate Bill No. 3802 (2R), which was also
      amended and reported by the committee on this date.
                                   2

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
    The committee amended the bill to:
    (1) revise the definition of “construction material” to exclude road
surface materials and hazard, caution, or traffic signs, signage,
markings, or symbols; and
    (2) include publicly owned utilities in the definition of
“governmental entity”;
    (3) stipulate that the exemption to the bill’s postconsumer recycled
content requirements applies if the use of plastic construction
material that contains the necessary recycled content would increase
the overall cost of the State-funded project by 20 percent, rather
than 25 percent;
    (4) permit the use of construction materials that are not plastic
that contains the necessary postconsumer recycled content if there
are no comparable plastic construction materials that exist for the
intended application or if the comparable plastic construction
materials are not available in sufficient quantities;
    (5) provide an exemption from the bill’s provisions when the use
of plastic construction materials with the requisite amounts of
postconsumer recycled content would cause structural integrity issues
in the construction project;
    (6) provide that if a State-funded construction project cannot
procure materials that meet the requirements of the bill within 60 days
of the start of construction, the construction project would be exempt
from the recycled content requirements in order to prevent significant
delays; and
    (7) make clarifying revisions.


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