NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka issued the following statement regarding passage of the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020 (S-3295/A-4) by the Assembly and the Senate today. The bill now heads to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.
“NJBIA is grateful that a comprehensive economic development program is finally on the way for the state of New Jersey.
“While there are always improvements that can be made with legislation of such scope, this bill unquestionably provides ample opportunity for New Jersey to capitalize on the foundations of innovation, workforce development and manufacturing.
“It does contain caps, but with flexibilities to ensure that we don’t limit the benefits of successful projects. There are protections and upgrades of net benefits a project must attain to get an incentive awarded.
“In short, it attempts to seek balance at a critical time – when New Jersey has been rendered much less competitive by virtue of not having an incentive program for 18 months, and during an economic downturn of historic proportion.
“There are areas where we will continue to recommend changes in the program. Obviously, we would like to see much more in the way of help for Main Street businesses and less in the way of regulatory burdens that might restrict projects from succeeding.
“We also continue to recommend to the Legislature that there is opportunity to revisit the program in the future, as its strengths and weaknesses are better established, and to make necessary and appropriate changes.
“Ultimately, however, the passage of this bill today is a strong economic step in the right direction for New Jersey and we look forward to Governor Murphy enacting this program to help our great state recover and thrive.”
