34:11-56.86 Financial assistance, contract restrictions by public body.
10. No public body shall approve, fund, authorize, or administer, or otherwise provide financial assistance to a waterfront facility, by means of any new or renewed agreement to do so, without first ascertaining that no waterfront employer employing longshoreman at the facility is on the current debarment list of names of waterfront employers who have failed to pay waterfront prevailing wages required by this act. No contract shall be awarded by a public body to any listed waterfront employer or to any other waterfront employer in which the listed waterfront employer has an interest.
For purposes of this section, "interest" means an interest, affiliation, relationship or connection of a waterfront employer listed pursuant to section 9 of this act in or with another waterfront employer employing, or seeking to employ, longshoremen at a waterfront facility, whether having the interest is as an owner, partner, officer, manager, employee, agent, consultant or representative. The listed waterfront employer shall be regarded as having an interest in another waterfront employer if the listed waterfront employer enters into a contract or agreement with the other waterfront employer for services performed or to be performed, for services that have been or will be assigned or subletted, or for the sale, rental or lease of vehicles, tools, equipment or supplies during the period from the initiation of the proceedings under section 9 of this act against the waterfront employer until three years have elapsed from the date that the waterfront employer was listed by the commissioner under section 9 of this act. The term "interest" shall not include shares held in a publicly traded corporation if the shares were not received as compensation after the initiation of proceedings under section 9 of this act.
A rebuttable presumption that a waterfront employer listed by the commissioner under section 9 of this act has an interest in another waterfront employer may arise if the two share any of the following capacities or characteristics: occupy the same premises, have the same telephone number or fax number, have the same email address or internet website, employ substantially the same administrative employees, utilize the same tools and equipment, or employ or engage the services of any listed person or persons involved in the direction or control of the other.
If the rebuttable presumption that a listed waterfront employer has an interest in another waterfront employer results in a determination to include of the other waterfront employer in the debarment list, the other waterfront employer may request a hearing to challenge the determination, to be conducted in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.).
L. 2021, c.336, s.10.