Governor Whitman recently signed legislation making compliance with New Jersey's Employer Trip Reduction Program ("ETRP") voluntary and providing tax incentives to those employers that voluntarily implement a trip reduction program registered with and certified by the Department of Transportation. As previously enacted, the ETRP required employers of 100 persons or more to develop and implement a plan to decrease the number of workers who drive to work alone during peak commuting hours. One of the purposes of the ETRP was to reduce air contaminants, carbon monoxide and ozone in particular, by reducing emissions from motor vehicles.
The new legislation repeals those sections of the previous law that made compliance with the ETRP mandatory. The new legislation also expands the tax incentives of the old ETRP legislation so as to afford employers of less than 100 employees the opportunity to obtain tax credits for implementing trip reduction programs.
Overall, the new legislation relieves employers of the burden of mandatory compliance with an act that was overly burdensome to many, while providing a financial incentive for additional employers to reduce vehicle air emissions caused by their employees' commuting habits.
