This holiday season, job creators are growing frustrated by burdensome proposals from lawmakers who should be working instead to improve New Jersey’s business climate, NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka said in an op-ed published Monday on BINJE.
Siekerka cited several pending initiatives—including the Climate Superfund Act, Tariff Transparency Bill, expanded paid family leave requirements for small employers, and a stricter independent contractor rule—as being costly and burdensome if enacted.
“Sadly, what we’re currently seeing in Trenton are more Scrooge-like policies and Grinch-like approaches for business that are closer to coal in a stocking than a gift of reduced burdens under the tree,” Siekerka wrote.
The proposed Climate Superfund Act would assess tens of billions of dollars on New Jersey fossil fuel companies that have long provided a legal product necessary to heat homes and fuel vehicles. Beyond likely being unconstitutional, it will lead to higher gas and energy costs for everyone during an affordability crisis, she said.
The pending Tariff Transparency Bill would require retailers to display the portion of a product’s cost that is derived from federal tariffs, a complicated and burdensome mandate that carries a $500 fine for every product they sell without tariff attribution.
The Expanded Paid Family Leave bill would force small employers in New Jersey to comply with the job reinstatement provisions of the state's Family Leave Act. Currently the law has a 30-employee threshold for the job reinstatement mandate to apply, but the Legislature is considering lowering that threshold to 15, affecting even more small businesses.
Finally, the Murphy administration’s proposed Independent Contractor Rule, which would make it more difficult to be classified as a gig worker, is still alive. If the rule is adopted by the Murphy administration, it will hit both New Jersey freelance workers and employers incredibly hard, Siekerka said.
To read the entire op-ed, go here.
