Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 3034 (2024)

Summary

Statement of the Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee, State of New Jersey, dated February 22, 2024, reporting favorably Assembly Bill No. 3034. The bill requires the Department of Agriculture to advertise and promote aquaculture products as part of the Jersey Fresh Program, extending the program to fish and shellfish produced in the State or in State waters through aquaculture. The department would develop a quality grading system specific to aquaculture products, as distinguished from wild-caught seafood. The bill provides an initial appropriation of $100,000 and an annual appropriation of $100,000 in each later fiscal year.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

ASSEMBLY COMMERCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE
COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY,
No. 3034

STATE
OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY
22, 2024

The Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and
Agriculture Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 3034.

This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to
advertise and promote aquaculture products as part of the Jersey Fresh
Program. The Jersey Fresh Program is the marketing and quality grading program
that is currently used, by the department, to advertise and promote the
availability of fruit and vegetable agricultural commodities that have been
produced in the State and graded for quality. This bill would expand the Jersey
Fresh Program to additionally include marketing for fish and shellfish that are
produced in the State, or in State waters, through means of aquaculture, and
the quality of which complies with standards adopted by the department and is
verified thereby through the use of an appropriate quality grading system. The
bill would require the department to develop and implement a quality grading
system that is specific to the grading of aquaculture products, as
distinguished from wild-caught seafood products, which system is to be
consistent with, and similar to, the quality grading system that is used, by
the department, to grade the quality of other agricultural commodities for the
purposes of the Jersey Fresh Program.

The bill provides an initial appropriation of $100,000
for the bill’s purposes, and it additionally provides for an annual
appropriation of $100,000 to be made in each fiscal year after the bill’s
effective date, in order to facilitate the ongoing marketing and promotion of
aquaculture products under the Jersey Fresh Program. The monies made available
under the bill would be in addition to any other monies that may be
appropriated or allocated to the Jersey Fresh Program.

This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the
2024-2025 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the
changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

File and source

File

2024-02-22_ACE_A3034_S1.htm

Size

6,627 bytes

SHA-256

0d4254db285399dd559fbe0ba4babc0afc0a5b32ca8f0e06fe5c2c48d890fecc

Our copy

2024-02-22_ACE_A3034_S1.htm

Original

No public link identified.