101. a. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority shall employ a Chief Compliance Officer, who shall be appointed by the Chief Executive Officer of the authority.

b. The Chief Compliance Officer shall:

(1) create, maintain, monitor, and coordinate procedures to ensure that all economic development incentive programs, authority employees, and economic development incentive program applicants and recipients comply fully with the requirements of the corresponding economic development incentive program;

(2) on such periodic basis as determined by the authority, arrange for systematic audits of economic development incentive programs for compliance with the laws, regulations, codes, orders, procedures, advisory opinions and rulings concerning those programs;

(3) maintain a central database of information concerning the management of all economic development incentive programs and information on economic development incentive program applicants and recipients to provide for the regular and ongoing reporting, verification, and monitoring of the State‘s economic development incentive programs;

(4) prior to the adoption of any rule or regulation by the authority or the board related to the general administration of the programs administered by the authority pursuant to section 6 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-274), section 19 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-287), section 29 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-297), section 34 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-302), section 41 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-309), section 52 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-320), section 67 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-335), section 79 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 52:27D-520), section 88 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-354), and section 97 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C. 34:1B-361), or any other regulation specifically related to the recapture of economic development incentive award values, review and certify that the provisions of program rules or regulations provide the authority with adequate procedures to pursue the recapture of the value of an economic development incentive in the case of substantial noncompliance, fraud, or abuse by the economic development incentive recipient, and that program rules and regulations are sufficient to ensure against economic development incentive fraud, waste, and abuse; and

(5) refer, to the Economic Development Inspector General and to the Attorney General, information on suspected fraud or abuse identified by the Division of Portfolio Management and Compliance.

c. The Chief Compliance Officer, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Department of the Treasury, shall:

Develop, adopt, and implement a corrective action plan within six months of receiving notice of any program deficiency issued by the Economic Development Inspector General, that is designed to enable the authority to properly manage the economic development incentive programs administered by the authority.

d. To ensure against economic development incentive fraud, waste, and abuse, the authority may recapture all or any portion of the value of an economic development incentive awarded pursuant to any of the authority’s economic development incentive programs in the case of substantial noncompliance, fraud, or abuse by the economic development incentive recipient. The authority may incorporate provisions in the regulations for each economic development incentive program that the authority deems necessary to implement this subsection.

L.2020, c.156, s.101; amended 2021, c.160, s.48.