S 309 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Requires DEP to provide public access for boats to certain State-and county-owned lakes and reservoirs.

S 309 requires New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide public boat access to all state and county-owned lakes and reservoirs where boats (with or without motors) are permitted, within two years of the law's enactment. The DEP must either build access points, contract with private marinas (through public bidding), or enter long-term agreements to achieve this. If access cannot be provided due to funding constraints, the DEP must report the specific locations and required funding to the Governor and Legislature. This bill directly affects public recreational users and private marina operators by mandating accessible waterways and transparent reporting for inaccessible sites.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Feb 12, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Technical Review Of Prefiled Bill Introduced · 3 edits · Jan 13, 2026
MINOR
The bill moved from a committee-reported status back to an introduced status pending technical review by Legislative Counsel. A new STATEMENT section was added at the end summarizing the bill's purpose: requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to construct or contract with private marinas to provide public boat access to State- or county-owned lakes and reservoirs where boats are permitted, with contracts subject to public bidding. No substantive changes were made to the operative text of the bill.
TECHNICAL

Bill designation changed from 'S309 TR' to 'S309', removing the technical review suffix.

Status line changed from 'As reported by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee with technical review' to 'Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel', indicating a procedural status change rather than a policy change.

A STATEMENT section was appended at the end of the bill summarizing its purpose: DEP must construct or contract with private marinas for public boat access to State- or county-owned lakes/reservoirs where boats are allowed, and any such contracts must go through a public bidding process.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
3
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Feb 12, 2026
Committee
Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
upper
Jan 13, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee
upper
2 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors