Albany, NY and Trenton, NJ – Assemblymember Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) hailed today’s announcement that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy would sign the Gateway Development Commission Act.

The law is the product of a six-way negotiation between both houses of the legislature and both governors in New York and New Jersey, and was shepherded through the legislative process by New York Assemblymember Amy R. Paulin, the chair of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, and Senator Loretta Weinberg, the Senate Majority Leader. Both bills passed with bipartisan majorities at the end of June.

“The Gateway Program is perhaps the most important and urgently needed infrastructure project in the United States,” said Assemblymember Paulin. “Given the project importance to the region’s economy, our transportation system, our infrastructure, and our residents’ safety, and the failure so far of the federal government to provide leadership or funding, New York and New Jersey felt it was imperative to act and to put Gateway on firm footing.”

The legislation establishes the bi-state Gateway Development Commission to act as a coordinating agency for the facilitation of projects related to the stretch of the Northeast Corridor railway between Newark, New Jersey and Penn Station, including the rehabilitation and construction of tunnels under the Hudson River. Once established, this public commission would take over oversight for the Gateway Program from the Gateway Development Corporation, a New Jersey not-for-profit, which would make the project eligible to receive certain federal infrastructure grants that are indispensable to the successful completion of the project.

“The safeguards our legislation puts into place, the requirement for open meetings, the whistleblower protections, and the rules for procurement and annual, independent audits should give our residents full confidence in our two great states’ ability to continue to work together to get the job done,” added Paulin.

The new bi-state law:

• Establishes the Commission as an applicant eligible to apply for and be awarded financial assistance, loans, grants or other funding.
• Establishes a board of seven commissioners with three appointments each from New York and New Jersey and one from Amtrak.
• Requires the commission to establish bylaws, a code of conduct and whistleblower protections.
• Requires open meetings, annual reporting and independent audits.
• Provides that any portion of projects located within New York shall be designated public work, provided such designation does not prevent compliance with federal law/requirements.
• Requires the commission to adopt procurement guidelines.
• Provides that the appointment of the New York commissioners shall be appointed by the commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation.
• Provides that the commission shall dissolve upon a joint determination by the Governors of each state that the project has been completed or should be transferred.